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Farewell to UT grad on MTV’s ‘Real World’
On tonight’s episode of “Real World,” the housemates learn the sad fate of a University of Texas grad who mentored some of them in their quest for careers in TV news and TV.
Brandon Schantz, a San Francisco, Calif. native who graduated from UT in 2002 with a degree in broadcast journalism, worked with the “RW” kids in this season’s Hollywood edition which began filming in early 2007. In the spring of that year, Schantz was diagnosed with lymphoma but continued working with the kids, even after undergoing surgery in October.
As the series was wrapping up, Schantz, then 27, died on Dec. 6. Tonight on “Real World” (at 9 p.m.), his death is revealed to the housemates, and Nick, in particular, takes it hard.
“He worked for me from 2000 to 2002, when I was at KEYE, and he was just a really special kid,” said meteorologist Troy Kimmel, the chief weather guy for KVET/KASE and a UT lecturer.
Besides the production internship at KEYE, Schantz also interned in the sports department at KXAN while he was at UT. After graduating, he became the sports director for a CBS station in Cheyenne, Wyo. — one of the youngest sports directors in the country at age 22.
The next step in Schantz’s career took him back to California, where he set up a successful production company in Los Angeles. He worked as a videographer with several music groups, including the quintet Rooney.
Friends and family are setting up an endowment in Schantz’s honor at UT’s College of Communication to fund summer internships for students hoping to go into broadcast journalism. Information on Schantz and the fund can be found here: http://brandonschantz.squarespace.com.
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