The Hills is coming back into the national consciousness with a mighty roar on its 10th anniversary. The cast and crew have been candid about the reality and falsehood, and even teased a possible movie.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, who were made out to be The Hills ’ villains, spoke to Cosmopolitan to break down the reality or “reality” of several of the show’s most famous scenes.
Pratt says that the “You know what you did!” scene was something the producers didn’t script but had some idea might happen.
“So I think they kind of set Lauren up and then they set Heidi up and then all of a sudden it just, Boom! That happened,” Pratt tells Cosmopolitan. “I don't think Lauren even wanted to have that little moment and I don't think Heidi knew what she was even getting to, and then I think Audrina just threw gasoline on the fire when she was like "you're brainwashed, you're brainwashed!" And then I think that just got LC double pumped up.”
Heidi says it might have been more spontaneous than her husband thinks.
“Actually, for that one, they weren't ready for it, because that was just a real moment where I came and saw Lauren and Lauren was trying to avoid me,” Montag tells Cosmopolitan. “I think they rushed in a quick camera light. “
Pratt clarifies that the engagement scene was not only staged, but that it wasn’t even an engagement scene.
“Because at the time we were talking MTV into doing our own ‘newlyweds get engaged and get married’ mini-series special that would have been like six episodes, that would have aired while The Hills was on a break, in between seasons,” Pratt tells Cosmopolitan. “They actually stole that when they heard that that was happening, so they kinda like jacked it from us and turned a promise ring scene into an engagement ring and it kind of snowballed from there.”
Spencer and Heidi say that they had a first wedding, during which they eloped to Cabo San Lucas and got married for Us Weekly. Then, they had another wedding on The Hills, which included going into a real court to legalize their marriage. That was a famous scene in which they back out so they can give Heidi the big wedding she’s dreamed of. That interaction was real.
“[The producers] told us, ‘Legally you have to go in there with the intention that you're gonna do it, but Heidi you can change your mind in there,’” Montag tells Cosmopolitan. “Because it's illegal to fake a court. It's this whole weird thing. So we're like, ‘OK, don't get us in trouble or anything!’ But we never had any intention of making it legal there because the whole storyline was to have the real wedding and go through the steps and blah blah blah.”
Heidi confirms that her apology phone call with Lauren before her wedding to Pratt was faked.
“At this stage, whatever I got on my BBMs is what I did to get my check, so I had so many fake calls with so many people,” Montag tells Cosmopolitan. “It was nothing to me. But yeah, I wasn't talking to her, I was talking to some producer and I was reading a script of exactly what they wanted me to say, that she probably typed.”
Despite their current zen approach to the show, Montag says she has some regrets.
“But looking back I wish I would have been a little bit more involved with certain aspects of it, because it was my one big wedding of my life and I don't think I really realized it,” Montag tells Cosmopolitan.
Read the rest of their interview for a fascinating look into how The Hills producers engineered reality to create a better version for television. Montag’s final statement is a reminder that while the line between reality and entertainment may have been thin for us, it was dotted for the cast.
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