Once one of the most controversial figures on MTV during the 1990s, David ‘Puck’ Rainey, a star from The Real World, has made a surprising comeback with a fresh career path.

At 57, Rainey, famously known as Puck, first captured public attention when he appeared on The Real World: San Francisco in 1994. His brash behavior and frequent clashes with fellow housemates led to his eventual eviction, earning him a reputation as a notorious television personality of the decade.

Despite the intense spotlight he experienced during the show, Rainey gradually stepped out of the public eye in the subsequent years. His post-reality TV life included significant legal troubles and several incarcerations.

Now, in a twist few saw coming, Rainey has resurfaced in the public domain, not as a TV villain, but as a TikTok chef, showcasing a new side of himself to a different audience.

He went on to face numerous legal woes and multiple prison stints. But now, he has reemerged with a new profession: a TikTok chef.

The former reality star recently launched his own ‘farm-to-table’ cooking series on TikTok under the username @PuckCooks.

He started his account last month and has shared a slew of videos that show him making all kinds of dishes at home in his kitchen. 

He’s already raked in 15,000 followers, and some of his videos have gotten hundreds of thousands of views. 

He was one of MTV’s most notorious villains in the ’90s… and now, more than three decades on, The Real World star David ‘Puck’ Rainey has returned to the spotlight 

Rainey, known as his nickname Puck, now 57, was skyrocketed into the spotlight after he appeared on The Real World: San Francisco in 1994

Rainey’s return to social media has launched a wave of nostalgia amongst The Real World fans, many of whom can’t believe how different the star looks.

He is now practically unrecognizable; he has long, shoulder-length hair and no front teeth, which he said in one video was because they got ‘knocked out’ during a recent physical altercation.

He also revealed in one video that he is still in contact with his former Real World costar Rachel Campos as well as The Real World: Boston auditioner Sean Duffy.

‘Rachel and Sean, they are friends of mine,’ he said.

The Real World premiered in 1992 on MTV and placed seven diverse strangers in a house to live and work together, aiming to capture ‘real’ drama.

Rainey joined the show in 1994 while he was working as a bicycle messenger.

He famously clashed with fellow cast member Pedro Zamora, and their feud captured the globe at the time and helped turned the show into a massive hit.

In the years after The Real World he made small cameos in shows like Road Rules: All Stars, Celebrity Deathmatch and MTV Cribs.

He went on to face numerous legal woes and multiple prison stints. But now, he has reemerged with a new profession: a TikTok chef

The former reality star recently launched his own ‘farm-to-table’ cooking series on TikTok under the username @PuckCooks

He started his account last month and has shared a slew of videos that show him making all kinds of dishes at home in his kitchen

He went on to marry a woman named Betty whom he had met at a farmer’s market and their wedding was documented on the show Battle of the Sexes.

Together, they welcomed three children. He also told MTV in 2013 that he had fathered four other children ‘with lesbians.’

At the time he said he was living ‘off the grid’ on a farm in San Francisco where he spent his days raising chickens, tending to his crops and racing ATVs.

During a rare appearance on a podcast in 2020, however, he said he had moved to Hawaii with his mom. He also admitted at the time that he hadn’t seen his children in years. 

He’s had some run-ins with the law over the years; in 2009, he was sentenced to one year behind bars after pleading no contest to charges of committing battery upon his girlfriend. 

The Real World premiered in 1992 on MTV and placed seven diverse strangers in a house to live and work together. Rainey joined the show in 1994

His over-the-top antics and constant fighting with the other cast members ultimately got him evicted from the house, and cemented him as one of the most notorious TV stars of the era

That same year, he also pleaded no contest to felony possession of ammunition and was placed on three years’ probation. 

Then, in March 2010 he was reportedly arrested on a DUI charge after he got into a car accident with his then-eight-year-old son in the car. It’s unclear what ever came of the charge.

In 2012, he plead no contest to stalking an unidentified woman and was sentenced to two years in prison. 

And during his podcast appearance in 2020, he said he recently gotten out of prison after another two-year sentence but did not specify what had landed him back behind bars.