Christmas is coming early on MTV. The 30th season of The Real World premieres on Dec. 16, and just as last season's Ex-plosion twist was tailor-made for TV drama, this time around the housemates once again will not be able to escape their pasts.

Real World: Skeletons will start like any other season — seven strangers move into a former nightclub-turned-loft in Chicago. All will be hunky-dory until their secrets and unresolved issues come knocking on the door. While last season saw exes move into the house, this one will have the cast facing people from their pasts — family members, foes, or former flames.

Case in point: Roommate Bruno Bettencourt from East Providence, Rhode Island, will be getting a visit from his estranged brother, Briah. The siblings haven't spoken in three years, when a petty fight erupted into a shouting match and ended with Briah telling Bruno that he wished he had died in the car accident that nearly killed him. Yikes! Can't say we'd be too excited if he knocked on our door either.

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About that car accident — Bruno's near-death disaster happened after he was arguing with a girlfriend, stormed out of the house in a rage, and was hit by a car going almost 50 mph. According to his bio, he now "wears his scars proudly like a tattoo." But Bruno's problems don't end with his accident, temper, and brother drama. The 24-year-old, who was born in Portugal, has a sour relationship with his father and was bullied as a child when he moved to the United States and couldn't speak English very well.

But, hey, he once had a pet cow. So there's that.

"No one wants their worst enemy or embarrassing past moving in with them, but by facing your past you actually grow, and that growth, however painful it may be, is what makes this season of The Real World so watchable," Jonathan Murray, the show's creator and executive producer, promised.

The Real World: Skeletons premieres on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 10 p.m. on MTV.