page_title: The Hills (TV series)
section_title: Scripting allegations
hierarchical_section_title: The Hills (TV series) / Reception / Scripting allegations
caption_attribution_description: English: Kristin Cavallari attending "To John - With Peace &amp; Love" Global Launch Of The Montblanc John Lennon Edition on September 12, 2010 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
context_page_description: The Hills is an American reality television series that aired for six seasons on MTV from May 31, 2006, until July 13, 2010. Developed as a spin-off of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, the series aired six seasons and focused on the personal and professional lives of several young women residing in Los Angeles, California. Its premise was conceived by Adam DiVello, while Liz Gateley and Sean Travis served as executive producers.
  The series originally focused on Lauren Conrad, who appeared in its predecessor, as she pursued a career in the fashion industry. It additionally placed emphasis on her housemate Heidi Montag and their friends Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port. Conrad's friend Lo Bosworth and Montag's boyfriend Spencer Pratt developed major positions as part of the supporting cast in the second season, while his sister Stephanie Pratt was added in the third. Port left the series at the conclusion of the fourth season, moving to New York City and starring in her own spin-off, The City, which aired for two seasons.
context_section_description: The Hills was often criticized for appearing to fabricate much of its storyline. In one instance, the president of entertainment for MTV, Brian Graden, commented that the series benefits from the media coverage it receives in between seasons, which he described as a "six-month commercial for the show that doesn't give away the narrative in full." He elaborated that MTV wants "viewers to watch Lauren and the girls as the characters we know instead of in a show about being the stars of The Hills"; the sex tape rumors were consequently presented like a personal conflict between the women, and was intentionally not addressed as a highly publicized controversy.
  In 2008, Patridge noted that a producer offered her a position on the series to become friends with Conrad and Montag. She later appeared on an episode of Chelsea Lately, where Chelsea Handler suggested the program was improvised. When pressed further, Patridge replied, "We're put in situations where however we'd react and that's what comes up [on TV]", and additionally stated that the series was unscripted. In 2008, Montag and Pratt acknowledged that their Mexican elopement was "entirely symbolic", while their civil ceremony was filmed after office hours without a county court judge present. Additionally, the Associated Press noted that neither person had filed for a marriage record at the time. An additional source of suspicion arose during the fifth season, where Conrad was shown to be moving out of her house the day prior to Montag and Pratt's nuptials. However, Conrad and Bosworth had actually left the property several months prior in January, leading to speculation that addressing the wedding as "the next day" was pre-planned.
  After leaving The Hills, Conrad appeared on The View in June 2009, where she was asked how she felt about her apology from Pratt involving the sex tape rumors. She replied, "To be perfectly honest, I wasn't on the other line of that call [...] I didn't even know about it until [afterwards], so no, I didn't get an apology, he's lying". At Montag and Pratt's wedding, it was depicted on the series as if Conrad and Cavallari were displeased with each other's presence, though the latter commented that they gave each other "a big hug, and that's it". She also stated that when she joined The Hills, "It's work! And drama sells. I think that's why they're bringing me in, because I know what works".
  In February 2011, Cavallari told Access Hollywood that the cast followed a "schedule" of events to be filmed on a given day, adding, "We only filmed The Hills three days a week, and we did three different scenes each day and a change of clothes to film a specific scene [...] They were pushing it as far as they could go without an actual script... They give you a schedule like, 'You have lunch with Heidi [Montag] at 3 to talk about the party coming up' or whatever the situation may be". She had earlier commented that she felt viewers "need to understand it's all entertainment" and she "would never put [her] close friends or a real relationship on a show".
  Cavallari later told Ryan Seacrest that her relationships with Jenner and Brescia were fabricated, and make a point of saying that it was very difficult for her to pretend to be romantically interested in the "unattractive" and "unlikable" Brescia. In October 2012, in an interview with Allure, Conrad stated that while "the story told wasn't a dishonest one, the way [the producers] did it sometimes was". She elaborated that scenes would be reenacted if cameras were not present for a significant occurrence between cast members, and commented that her relationship with Jenner was "pretty brief" and "definitely [edited] to drag it out". In July 2013, when discussing the filming of several alternate finale endings, MTV acknowledged that "maybe the term 'reality TV' didn't perfectly apply to The Hills".
caption: Kristin Cavallari acknowledged that much of her involvement in The Hills was scripted
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