Elizabethany's new home: The Real World DC House
A month ago she was just a newly minted West Virginia University graduate. A month ago she was just a waitress, living with her parents in Woodbridge, VA.
Now she’s the face of the Real World DC frenzy that has hit Washington, DC.
And she’s not even on the cast.
Beth Ploger (aka Elizabethany) has become one of the most notable of the stalkers and gawkers who’s fascination with the filming of the MTV reality series borders on clinical levels. Her escapades in following and meeting the The Real World DC cast has made local television, radio, and magazines. Her stalking adventures has even landed her a gig with Metromix DC.
However she’s not at all shy with her recent exposure, and will be the first to admit she enjoys being the center of attention. She is a regular at McFadden’s or Public Bar and it would not be a total surprise to see her dancing on top of the bar when the right song comes on.
An unlikely hobby: drag racing (photo courtesy Elizabethany)
Another place you can find her is on the race track where she races Volkswagens in Elimination-style Drag Racing. In regards to the surprising pastime, Elizabethany finds the hobby as a change of pace from her journalistic endeavors, “I love the feeling of being in control,” she tells me when describing what she loves most about the sport.
As a self-proclaimed Real World stalker, she says it’s her mission to simply, “get to know the cast better.” Elizabethany has become a sort of beat writer, taking her experiences with the cast and reporting them on her blog or on her new beat with Metromix. The journalistic side of her pursuits has been something long ingrained with her childhood.
Her dreams of being in the media have been around since she was a child. At the age of 13 she proudly proclaimed to her mother, “I’m a really nosy person, I should just be a journalist!” She grew up producing fake radio shows, delivering DJ-like banter into a home karaoke machine onto cassette tapes. “I still kinda want to find those tapes,” she admits to me.
After graduating from Osbourn Park High in 2005, Elizabethany enrolled at WVU to study broadcast news. However her dreams were not to become the next Katie Couric, but to become the next Maria Menounos. For her, the entertainment beat was more interesting than hard news.
However she wanted to give it a try and took on simultaneous internships with Fox 5 and Hot 99.5. Her days would start at 3:30 AM where she would come into to do work for the Kane Morning Show. Unlike typical interns that were delegated to answering phones, Beth worked her way up, being put in charge of producing the show’s podcast material.
Elizabethany worked simultaneous internships with Fox 5 and Hot 99.5 (photo courtesy Elizabethany)
After her shift at the radio station it was off to WTTG-TV where she assisted reporters with their stories- and gained some valuable insights on TV News, and how she’s come to realize it’s not for her. The kind of interviewing she wants to do is going to be more casual and less investigative, “I don’t wanna put anyone in a bad light- I just want to get to know them.” One of Beth’s biggest idols is Ellen DeGeneres, and aspires to one day have a talk show just like hers, “I think we have the same sense of humor.”
Last September she started her blog, Love, Elizabethany, where she covers entertainment stories in the form of personalized messages to celebrities in the news. Between work and job hunting, she spends 5-6 hours writing blog posts for the blog.
It was when she decided to spice the blog up with video that she came up with her “Finding the Real World Cast” episodes. “I heard that the show was coming to DC and I was thought, ‘I want in that freaking house!'” So she decided to document her attempts to find the Real World cast when they go out on the town.
Her weekly routine involves going out on Thursday nights with fellow RWDC stalker/blogger Martin Mongillo and a “companion” that she chooses every week. “My companion needs to be willing to do anything,” says Elizabethany when listing criteria for the job. Anything for what? Why get into The Real World house of course! It is unacceptable for a stalking companion to refuse to dance with a cast member because of a jealous girlfriend/boyfriend back home. Makes sense considering the cast members are probably willing to do anything as well despite any mates they left behind. Elizabethany has created six episodes of “Finding The Real World Cast” and more will be produced throughout the filming this summer.
You truly get a sense of her new found celebrity when you visit the house with her. Elizabethany and I took a walk down to 2000 S street earlier this month. We stood on the corner across from the house for only a few minutes before we are approached by two guys.
“Oh my god you are Elizabethany aren’t you?”
They walked over to look at the house and instantly recognized her from her videos. A car slows down in front of us as the driver takes a long look at the house, then recognizes Elizabethany in the crowd.
She is a truly a queen among gawkers, a person made a little more famous by following people a that will barely become famous.
“I like to refer to myself as their BFF… but call me whatever you want, I know inside what I am. ”
Check out the video below to see what it’s like to stalk the Real World House with Elizabethany.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-lCRbbvle8[/youtube]
Real DC Locals know that we have the odd habit of giving alliterate nick names to our Safeways. In fact I’ve been sitting on a half-finished piece on all the DC Safeways that I hope to finish sometime before the Redskins lose 20 games in a row.
