MTV definitely set a precedent for the popularity of reality shows on television. With hit series like The Real World, Jersey Shore, and Road Rules, the network continued to churn out hit series each year. In the early 2000s, FOX series The OC brought to light teen drama against the background of Orange County in California, known for its lavish homes and matching lifestyles.
Possibly banking on the popularity of the show, MTV soon developed the series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. The show chronicled the lives of the well-to-do teens attending Laguna Beach High School.
However, as the cast members continued their high school careers and eventually graduated, producers realized that popular characters would have to leave the show eventually.
The popularity of cast member Lauren Conrad became so great that she was given a spinoff series of her own. The Hills chronicled her transition from high school to college, following her pursuit of a career in fashion. The series brought in new friends and coworkers as well as some familiar faces from Laguna Beach. MTV managed to create another popular series, with the show remaining on the air for six seasons. Despite the departure of Conrad mid-season in 2009, the show found a new lead in Laguna Beach alum Kristin Cavallari.
In this article, we will take a closer look into the making of The Hills and the real secrets behind the cast and crew.
From stage showdowns to unforgettable moments, here are 20 Wild Details Behind The Making Of The Hills.
The Girls' Hillside Villas Apartment Was Small and Untidy
Each week, viewers got a glimpse into the lives of the semi-wealthy lifestyles of these Californians. Living in lavish apartments and homes in Hollywood, fans envied their perfect lives. However, The Hills fans may be shocked to learn that those ideal homes were just for show.
To begin with, Lauren’s complex, the Hillside Villas in Hollywood Hills. turned out to be the Villas at Park La Brea in Mid-Wilshire. Also, the inside of the home was actually small and messy.
Executive producer Sara Mast pointed out that “they changed their cat box in like a year” so the place smelled terrible. Spike van Briesen, field producer for the series, added that the crew “used the most of our lens to make it look as spacious as we could” since the place was just a den with two bedrooms.
The Cast had to Provide Their Own Wardrobe
Despite serving as a spin-off for the popular Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, The Hills still was lauded as a “new beginning” for series lead Lauren Conrad. The crew also had to build upon the popularity of the show to gain more endorsements and sponsors. DiVello shared how the basic budget included the stars’ wardrobes as well. He stated, “We always wanted the girls to wear their own clothes. We never provided hair, or makeup, or wardrobe. What you wear represents who you are. It’s an extension of your personality.”
It sounds like a great plan for the show, but it was a struggle for some cast members.
Heidi Montag recalled how the majority of her clothing “was from thrift stores or hand-me-downs” during the first season.
Being on the show was part of Whitney's internship
As Lauren began her journey into the world of fashion, she was lucky enough to get an internship at Teen Vogue. She met fellow college student Whitney Port and the two become coworkers and later friends.
Despite being a primary cast member for four seasons, Port initially had no plans to pursue any work in show business.
She just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
In an interview with ET Online, she explained, “I applied for an internship at Teen Vogue for the fall … and they said, 'If you want the job, you kinda have to be comfortable with a camera crew because MTV's starting to film a TV show here.’” After a successful interview with producers, Port became a part of the series.
The Crew Ruined The Opening Night of The Area NightClub
Although viewers tuned in for the on-camera drama of the cast members, on occasion, the behind-the-scenes crew would get into mischief too. In charge of capturing all of the dramatic moments and the heartfelt tears, the production crew made sure every minute of drama was captured on film. However, in one particular incident out the production team at the center of the drama.
During a 10-year anniversary roundtable with the original crew, the team shared stories about their time working on the show. They shared a story of how the crew managed to flood the Area Nightclub on the night of its grand opening. A water main ruptured while removing overhead lighting, pooling about an inch of water on the floors of the establishment.
Spencer Decided to Join the Show After He saw Heidi on TV
The cast members of The Hills spent many episodes trying to find true love. Whether they're single in Hollywood or trying to maintain their relationships, viewers witness the good and bad side of love for everyone. In an interesting twist, future cast member Spencer Pratt fell in love while he was only a viewer.
He happened to see a pretty girl on TV that caught his eye-- his future wife Heidi Montag. Using a production connection to the show (Sean Travis, producer for The Hills and his own show Prices of Malibu), he managed to get info about the cast. He then set out to be noticed by Heidi and, thanks to their relationship, become a part of the show.
Audrina Had to Ask For a Pay Raise To Make Ends Meet
The limited budget during the inaugural season of The Hills not only affected production but the cast as well. Cast members had to be available for filming when required. This limited scheduled affected anyone who had other interests beyond the show.
Audrina Patridge found it difficult to balance her show life and to maintain a job.
During an interview with ET Online, she shared the following: "I was working full-time, but I had to take time off, and I wasn't getting paid. I was doing it all just for fun. It got to the point where I was like, I'm borrowing money from my parents to pay my rent. I had to talk to the producers and tell them, 'I'm either going to have to stop or you guys have to help me out.'"
Money Motivated Many of the Cast Members
Although the lack of a paycheck may have deterred some cast members, the money involved with starring on the show provided to be quite a motivation. Conrad admitted to InStyle that, “I initially signed on because I wanted the paycheck. I was going to college, my parents weren’t financially supporting me anymore, and I had used up all my Laguna money.”
Not only did money lead Conrad to a new show but it also made a Laguna favorite, Kristin Cavallari, make the leap back into reality tv. After Conrad left the show, Cavallari took over as lead for the series. However, she has stated that she viewed the new opportunity “strictly as a job."
The Famous “Paris” Quote Came From Anna Wintour
In season 1, viewers watched as Conrad turned down a summer internship to Paris to rekindle her relationship with her ex Jason Wahler. Her editor, Lisa Love then said the famous quote, “She will always be known as the girl who didn't go to Paris.”
Though Love was credited with stating the line, it actually came from a much more famous source: Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue. Conrad said, “Lisa later told me the reason she said I’ll ‘always be known as the girl who didn’t go to Paris’ is because that’s what Anna Wintour referred to me as. Apparently I came up in a conversation and she said, ‘Oh, you mean that girl who didn’t go to Paris?’ I was like, ‘Great!’”
You always pick Paris, Lauren. Always…
Speidi Began Acted Out To Earn More Money
When Heidi and Spencer started dating, the results of their relationship were catastrophic for Heidi's friendship with Lauren. The closer the couple became, the more distance began to increase between the two close friends.
Not only did their relationship divide the two women, but the couple began to act more and more over-the-top. Between confrontations and outlandish behavior,"Speidi" soon took center stage as the “couple you love to hate” on the series.
Their behaviors were planned once they discovered their increased screen time came with more money.
Montag even admitted that their boyfriend’s onscreen person wasn’t true to life: “From season 3 on, everything with Spencer was completely scripted.” The couple that fakes fights together, stays together…and profits!
Pratt Was Actually A Nice Guy Behind-The-Scenes
It may not be hard for some viewers to believe that the over-the-top antics of Spencer and Heidi were forced, but how about the fact that Spencer was really a nice guy?
Despite being vicious and scathing to other cast members (especially Lauren), he told InStyle Magazine that his mean side was completely fake. He said, “We wanted to have a show that people watched, so we did all this stuff that made us look like the worst humans on Earth. When the cameras were off, I was a complete gentleman—opening doors and going to the movies and cuddling. There was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on. If I did any of that in an indie film, people would think I’m the new Jennifer Lawrence.” A real gentleman or a psychopath? Maybe a little of both.
Some Scenes Had to be Recreated for the Crew to Film
No matter how caught up we may get in reality shows, we often have to take the actions that occur onscreen with a grain of salt. Though these types of shows promote showing the “real life’ of its cast members, we still realize it is meant for entertainment. As such, sometimes the actions the cast members have to be manipulated to make good programming.
Even with the ever-present cameras ready to capture every juicy moment, things can still be missed. On the set of The Hills, the cast found themselves having to re-create certain scenes to ensure the audience got to see them.
Conrad shared in an interview with Allure that some important moments that occurred between stars would sometimes be missed. To ensure the story got told, they would have to redo the events just for the cameras.
MTV Allegedly Paid off Heidi’s Family to be “Team LC”
The Hills thrived on the drama and conflicts between the leading cast members of the show. From jealousy to betrayal, the show became more entertaining as the tension increased. This became the case when Pratt and Montag took center stage as two of the “villains” on the show. Their ongoing feud with Conrad became the focus of the show for many episodes.
Interestingly, the show allegedly took steps to ensure the couple remained at the center of fans’ hatred. During an interview with Complex, Spencer shared how even Montag’s family was influenced to be against them.
He said, “They paid off her mom and her sister, who were broke. They were writing them twenty thousand dollar checks to be Team LC. They didn’t really feel that way. That was the hardest thing, when everyone else still had their families.”
Spencer Actually Started the Tape Rumors, Not Heidi
One of the biggest and most iconic moments from The Hills took was the confrontation between Heidi and Lauren during season 3. The season began with the deteriorating friendship between the former roommates, with Montag spending more time with Spencer than Conrad. However, rumors of a tape between Lauren and her ex began circulating around and seemed to lead to Montag as the source.
The tension came to a head while the two women were out at the club Les Deux and a confrontation finally occurred. Lauren famously delivered the “You know what you did!" line and openly accused Heidi of starting the rumors. Although Heidi appeared to be the cause of the rumor, Spencer actually admitted in an interview in 2015 that he was, in fact, the real culprit.
The Show only Filmed a Few Days Per Week
Six seasons of The Hills brought audiences closer to the lives of the cast members and detailed their romances, successes, and low moments. Most episodes revealed the events of their daily lives over a serious of a few days. Although it felt we got a glimpse into their lives daily, the actual filming schedule for the show was quite short.
DiVello detailed that the production team did not film constantly like other reality shows. Instead, they worked with a schedule that consisted of filming for three days per week. During that timeframe, they kept in contact with the cast knew where they were at all times. This filming schedule gave the cast the opportunity to live semi-normal lives beyond the camera lens.
Lauren Quit So She Could Have A Real Life
Lauren Conrad spent the better part of her early adult life in front of a camera lens. With her time on Laguna Beach starting when she was just 17, she completed high school and started college while being constantly filmed by cameras. However, by the fifth season of The Hills, Conrad grew tired of the constant scrutiny and wanted to love her life out of the public’s eye.
She shared her thoughts on leaving with US Weekly: “I've spent the last five years making every decision be about the show. People I date have to be able to film, the places I work have to let us film and the places I live have to have set lighting. I'm ready to do things on my own.” Conrad left the show after the episode “Something Old, Something New” in 2009.
Lauren Got Locked In A Basement By The Crew
The episode "Something Old, Something New" became the culmination of many storylines on the show. Not only did Spencer and Heidi get married but it served as the final lead appearance for Conrad and the entrance of Cavallari.
Conrad had plans to be somewhere else and wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
However, producers had other plans in mind. In an interview with US Weekly, she explained, “I needed to leave by a certain time because my boyfriend (Kyle Howard) was premiering an indie film… And the power and generator went out in the church…The producers literally locked me in the basement with two security guards and wouldn’t let me leave… I was throwing a fit.” What a way to send off your lead cast member.
Pratt Got into Crystals to help Heidi
The Hills fans watched as the behavior of both Heidi and Spencer became increasingly concerning over the years.
The couple viewed as the “villains” of the series.
One of Spencer’s craziest obsessions came with his every growing collection of crystals. Interestingly, he started the hobby to help out Montag. He explained to InStyle Magazine: “Plastic surgery is no walk in the park. That’s when I got into the crystals. I was playing nurse, and her painkillers weren’t working. I started Googling ‘homeopathic remedies’ and I read this article about Sugilite—this one rock with healing powers. So I go buy a $15,000 chunk of Sugilite, and when she held it, she said she felt no pain. Then I was like, ‘I’m filling the whole bedroom with crystals! I’m putting them on!’”
Pratt's Fake Apology Phone Call to Lauren
After the blowup of the tape scandal, the relationship between Lauren and Hedi basically deteriorated. The public blowout marked the end of their friendship, for the most part. However, Spencer’s friends encouraged him to apologize to Lauren for the unnecessary drama.
Viewers watched as Spencer swallowed his pride and called Heidi, and actually apologized.
It seemed like a genuine moment, right? Not so much. During her appearance on The View, Conrad admitted that the whole event had been staged. In fact, he never really called her. She stated, “To be perfectly honest, I wasn't on the other end of that call." Pratt also admitted he only apologized so that Conrad would attend their wedding-- which was also mainly staged.
The Hills was Supposed to be An Inspirational Show For Young Girls
The Hills wouldn’t have come to existence with the success of its predecessor, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. The show chronicled the lives of high schoolers at Laguna Beach High School. However, when cast member Lauren Conrad faced graduation, The Hills creator Adam DiVello saw an opportunity to make a show that focused on more than teen drama and issues.
He told InStyle Magazine: “It seemed like the perfect opportunity to follow her on the next stage of her journey. I wanted to make a reality TV Melrose Place, where characters deal with work and relationships in a new city. It was meant to be very aspirational for young girls who dream of working in fashion.”
While the intentions were good, the show still maintained the same level of drama to keep viewers tuning in each week.
The New Show will Return without Lauren or Kristin
2010 brought about the end of The Hills, concluding its run on MTV after its sixth season. Although fans learned to live without the series for the past eight years, they not have renewed hope for a return to the lives of their favorite cast members in Hollywood.
During the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on August 20th, a teaser premiered for the rebooted series The Hills: New Beginnings.
Not only will the show include members of the original cast but their children and family as well. However, the new series will return without the presence of former series leads Conrad and Cavallari. Conrad stated she wouldn’t be returning due to being “in a different place in her life.” Cavallari, on the other hand, can’t do the show due to her contract with E! for her series Very Cavallari.
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