Real World Miami Alum Nurse Dan Renzi Joins COVID-19 Fight in NYC

“The Real World: Miami” alum Dan Renzi, who works as a nurse in his home state of Kansas, flew 1500 miles to New York City to help fight the coronavirus.

The 45-year-old reality star and model turned healthcare professional has joined the battle on the front line to care for those falling ill during the pandemic.

Renzi, who starred on the MTV series back in the ’90s, has been detailing his experience working at hospitals in New York, the state which has more coronavirus cases than any other country outside of the US.

From how he sanitizes his N95 masks in a hotel room to reflecting on his journey as a nurse, Renzi has shared multiple social media posts describing the real-life horror of the hardest-hit location in the world. On Friday night, Renzi was even featured on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

In his latest video, which he shared on Friday, Renzi posted a video of himself getting emotional as he watched people applaud health care professionals and first responders. “7 pm clapping for nurses,” he wrote in the caption.

His post came just a day after he opened up about why he decided to join the fight against the coronavirus.

“When I was in nursing school, I was talking with some friends and we were going around the group discussing why we all signed up to be a nurse,” he began in a video from his hotel room, “Honestly, when I signed up for nursing school, I had these visions of myself working for a cosmetic dermatologist or something. You know I’d go to work and the Real Housewives would come in and they’d get a little facial filler and gossip and we’d have fun. They’d leave and I’d go into the breakroom and drink some tea and read a magazine and think about where I’d take my vacation and it all just seemed so exciting, ‘I’m gonna help people.'”

He continued, “And if you told me that not too many years after I graduated — because I went to nursing school as a second career — and if you told me that I’d be living in a hotel in New York while I was putting bodies in body bags because this mysterious virus was mowing down everybody’s grandparents, how do you process that?”

“I didn’t have to come, but at the same time I kinda did,” he concluded, urging his followers to stay at home. “But if I don’t come who will? But it does not make it any easier.”

In another video this week, Renzi revealed one of his duties is carrying the dead to the morgue and told his followers that if anyone saw his parents in public to advise them to go home.

“You know one of my jobs here at this hospital is I’m the guy who ties the toe tags on people and gets them ready to be sent to the morgue and they have me do this because I’m the biggest one on the floor and I can lift them easily in bed,” he explained. “So I’ve been looking at a lot of faces. And I keep seeing my parents and if you could please — I’m 1500 miles away from home, I can’t do anything about it here — so I’m just going to ask you guys a favor if anyone of you see my parents out and about, tell them to go home.”

As of April 11, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has more than 1.7 million confirmed cases and killed more than 100,000.

Though the outbreak originated in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus has now spread to at least 180 other countries and territories. In the US, more than half of
a million Americans have contracted the virus and 19,000 have died.

Many years before he was a nurse, Renzi starred on “The Real World: Miami” in 1996 and went on to compete on “The Challenge” seasons “Battle of the Sexes” “The Inferno II,” and “Extreme Challenge,” the latter of which he won. Renzi was also the first openly gay contestant on the reality competition series.

Got a story or a tip for us? Email TooFab editors at tips@toofab.com.

Social DIstancing
Getty/Instagram
How Celebrities Are Self-Isolating During Coronavirus Lockdown