Road Rules
Rat Poison
TV Flash files “Rat Poison” as hour 71 of 219 in the TV Flash guide — Road Rules (1995–2007) on MTV, season 5, episode 12, aired 1998-03-30, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E12: listed hour 71 of 219 in the Road Rules guide, hour 12 of 14 in season 5. It aired 1998-03-30 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Fred Astaire You Ain't” (S05E11). Next is “Picture Imperfect” (S05E13).
Viewer FAQ
Where does Rat Poison sit in the Road Rules guide?
S05E12 is listed hour 71 of 219 — hour 12 of 14 in season 5, season 5 episode 12.
When did Road Rules S05E12 air?
Rat Poison aired 1998-03-30 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this just The Real World in a van?
Companion format: same Bunim/Murray casting-for-conflict family, plus missions, an RV, and competition DNA the house show didn't score the same way.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Real World packed into an RV: missions, strangers, reality as a road trip. MTV turns docu-soap into competition — challenges, chemistry, and the pipeline that became The Challenge’s combat sport. Nineties youth TV learning to score conflict, ancestor of every later show that sent pretty people on a bus and called it a test.
In medias res in an RV: young cast members completing missions for cash and drama, *The Real World* packed onto wheels, competition instincts bolted onto Bunim/Murray casting philosophy. Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray's MTV series premiered in 1995 and ran through 2007. Max can keep his dating-show drop calendars; this is the pattern underneath — nineties youth TV learning to score conflict, ancestor of every later show that sent pretty people on a bus and called it a test. Strangers, challenges, chemistry,…