Dearborn's Sahar Dika Reflects on 'Real World' Experience

On Dec. 22, 2009, Sahar Dika received a phone call that would change her life forever. She and seven other people were selected to take part in MTV’s hit reality show, The Real World.

Dika left behind her family and friends in Dearborn to have her life taped in New Orleans for three months. Throughout this time, the lives of eight cast members were exposed to millions of viewers in times of hardship and happiness.

On the show, Dika was given the opportunity to sing on a famous New Orleans stage and live out a dream of hers in becoming a singer. She also was captured as an Arab, Muslim woman who wanted to break free from hearsay in her community, and be accepted for who she is.

Two years after her foray into TV, Patch caught up with the reality star to hear about what she learned and why she's happy to be home in Dearborn.

Patch: What was your reaction when you first found out you were casted on the Real World New Orleans?

Sahar Dika: I was at my friend’s house and I started screaming … I went crazy. It was just a good feeling for me because I didn’t really care so much about the show; I just kind of wanted to leave Michigan and experience something new. I was crying, I was so excited. My friend was crying, her mom was screaming and everyone was screaming … it was a happy moment.

Patch: What was the reason you decided to audition for the show?

S.D.:  I’ve always wanted to leave Dearborn. Everyone in my family kind of ventured off. My sister’s lived in New York for 10 years, my brother lives in Paris right now, and I felt like it was my time to do something. I saw the casting call–I was at Antonio’s (restaurant), it was playing on TV and I was like, "This is something I want to do." It’s an experience you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Patch: While you were in New Orleans, what about Dearborn did you miss the most?

S.D.: Our food. All of the Arabic food and even my mom’s cooking. I missed my friends a lot … I honestly thought leaving Dearborn that I would be like, "Ohh forget Dearborn, I’m just happy to get out here" and I was–don’t get me wrong, I still want to live somewhere else–but this is my hometown and I do appreciate it a lot more now that I left and I missed it.

Patch: What would you say is your most memorable moment on the show?

S.D.: Honestly it was going on stage at Tipitinas. It’s a famous New Orleans stage. James Brown has performed on it, Nine Inch Nails has performed on it–all of these amazing bands and artists, so it was kind of an honor that my footsteps touched where their footsteps were. That was my best experience the whole time I was there.

Patch: Do you want to pursue singing as a career?

S.D.: I do. I think I have a little bit of insecurity to overcome. Being a musician–a famous musician–is not an easy task, and you have to be willing to sacrifice things along the way to do what you want. I think it’s just nerve-wracking. You can sacrifice years and not become anything, so it’s just being secure with the road to getting where I want to be.

Patch: After the show, what kind of feedback did you receive from your family and friends?

S.D.: It was 50/50. There were people who would be extremely negative, telling me I deserved to get stoned to death, and there were people who were really positive. It’s just the way I choose to live my life some people don’t agree with it, especially coming from such a cultural city where everybody feels so strongly about their beliefs.

Some people felt like I was breaking free–like being myself–and to be honest, I felt like I wasn’t representing a group of people. I feel like people here couldn’t handle what I was doing: Drinking, going out and partying I represented myself and nobody else. My mom used to receive phone calls like, "I can’t believe she did that," from other family members. My mom would be like, "I don’t really care. It’s her business–she’s a woman, she’s an adult and I don’t need to tell her what to do."

Patch: You now have 8,847 followers on twitter. Do you ever feel like you have to censor yourself knowing that so many people are interested in your local celebrity?

S.D.: I really live by that motto–I know it sounds cliché–but love me or hate me, it really doesn’t matter to me, honestly. That’s what changed the most about me. I learned not to care what anyone says. And coming from Dearborn, I used to care a lot of what people said about me. I am who I am I live my life I make my own mistakes I learn from my life and that’s the one thing I don’t care what people think about me. There’s nothing that I censor anymore.

Patch: It seems a lot of people on reality TV blame editing for the way they are portrayed, would you say you were portrayed as someone other than yourself?

S.D.: For the most part, I do think it was me. I don’t think they can edit you and turn you into something you’re completely not. One percent of what we filmed is actually put onto television. So that’s a small percentage of what goes on there, and they pick and choose what is good for ratings and what’s going to be good for the show. For the most part I think I was myself and they captured me pretty well. There were certain times I’d get annoyed but just because like, "Oh, why’d they put that on there?"

Patch: Do you still keep in touch with your former cast-mates?

S.D.: I talk to most of my roommates. It’s not that I’m beefing with any of them, it’s just that I talk to some more than others. I definitely feel like you create life-long friendships, because nobody will understand what you go through on the show unless it’s them. It’s them and it’s you and that’s it.

Patch: Are we going to see you on MTV’s reality show challenges?

S.D.:  You have to be invited to go on them, and so far, nobody from our season has been invited. I don’t know if I would do them, just because I went on the show, I left for three months, and I came back and had to start back at square one. I had to go back to school and find a new job. I might do it just for the experience, but I’d have to think about it.

Patch: So what are you doing post-Real World?

S.D.: I work in promotions at 98.7 Amp radio. Any event the station has I’m there interacting with people, talking to listeners, getting audio and giving away free stuff like concert giveaways. So that’s my job, and I also help out around the station. I do a lot of voice over work. I sing for the station sometimes. I also work at European Tanning (in Dearborn Heights). I’ve always worked at salons.

Patch: The reality show is known as The Real World–would you say that it lives up to its name?

S.D.: As for living in a mansion with eight strangers, no. But there are things you go through down there that nobody will understand. I mean, you’re under surveillance 24/7 for three months. And we’re human beings and you need privacy and you can’t have it no matter what. People that watch it might think that it’s stupid or reality television–just entertainment and they just show the fighting. But the fighting is important because it’s the root of everything that you’re feeling and everything that you’re thinking.

For me, it was the realist experience I’ve ever had and I had to look at myself in ways that I never looked at myself before.