Name David Rainey | Spouse Betty Rainey (m. 2002) | |
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Children Rocco Kokopelli Rainey, Bogart Che Peyote Rainey Similar People Pedro Zamora, Pam Ling, John Fortenberry Born 18 July 1968 (age 52 years), San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States | ||
David "Puck" Rainey is an American reality television personality who first gained fame as a cast member on The Real World: San Francisco in 1994. A bicycle messenger during the show's shooting, he became notorious as the second Real World cast member ever to be evicted from the house, due to his increasingly antagonistic relationship with his housemates, most notably with Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive AIDS educator. Rainey's conflict with Zamora is credited with helping make The Real World a hit show, for which Time ranked it #7 on their list of 32 Epic Moments in Reality-TV History. TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
Contents
- Puck vs David The Spitting Incident
- Early life
- The Real World
- Other appearances
- Personal life
- In popular culture
- References
Puck vs. David: The Spitting Incident
Early life
Rainey was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has characterized his mother as a "hippie". He and his sister are of partial Swedish descent through their grandfather.
The Real World
Rainey was a cast member on the MTV reality TV series The Real World: San Francisco in 1994. He and his castmates moved into the house at 953 Lombard Street on Russian Hill on February 12 of that year. Among the cast, Rainey was an eccentric center of attention. In the season premiere he arrived at the house last because he was detained by police for a traffic incident. He incurred many minor injuries while bike riding, and kept photos of them, which he showed to his housemates. Although the producers informed the housemates that they would be living with someone who was HIV-positive, they did not reveal who it was, and as a result of these injuries, which included scabs on his face, some of the other castmates incorrectly assumed the HIV-positive cast member was Rainey. Rainey frequently clashed with his roommates over hygiene, being repeatedly criticized for poor hygiene. His housemates also complained of his lack of consideration for others, and his need to monopolize conversation. Rainey's Jewish housemate Judd Winick took offense to Rainey's wearing of a T-shirt that depicted four guns arranged in the shape of a swastika, and his refusal to take the shirt off, a confrontation only revealed in the MTV book The Real World Diaries and depicted in the 2009 film Pedro, not the series itself.
One of Rainey's closest relationships in the house was with Rachel Campos; they kissed on three occasions but Campos broke up with him after he told the other housemates.
Rainey's most contentious relationship was with Zamora, whose career as an AIDS educator Rainey denigrated and whose Cuban accent he mocked. Zamora, who had AIDS, distanced himself from Rainey and thereby from the other housemates, fearing the stress of his relationship with Rainey was affecting his health. When Zamora threatened to move out, the other housemates voted to evict Rainey instead.
Other appearances
Rainey made a cameo appearance in 1998 on Road Rules: All Stars, and competed in 2003 on Battle of the Sexes, during which he came into conflict with David Edwards of The Real World: Los Angeles, and married (on-camera) Betty Garcia, his fiancee and mother of his son, Bogart. He also made an appearance in Eminem's video for "Without Me".
Rainey had been cast to appear on the 2008 season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, but left before filming began.
Personal life
Rainey met his future wife, Betty, at a farmer's market in 1998. They had a son and later married on Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes, then had a second son. In 2008 they were living in the Los Angeles area, where Rainey worked as a truck driver, and by 2009 were living in Alabama, where Rainey made a living through public appearances and miscellaneous jobs.
On November 8, 2012, Rainey pleaded no contest to stalking an unidentified woman on February 22 of that year, and on November 8 was sentenced to two years in Wasco State Prison. Having received credit for 401 days already served, he was expected to be released in a little under a year. As of 2013, Rainey was on felony probation and forbidden from leaving Los Angeles County, California. By 2013 Rainey and his wife had a third child and lived "off the grid" in Neenach, California.
In popular culture
In Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing Pedro Zamora's life, Rainey is portrayed by Matt Barr.