18 things you probably don’t know about ‘The Hills’

Some reports from 2010 said some cast members were paid upward of $100,000 an episode. 

Heidi Pratt (née Montag) told BuzzFeed in 2016 that the cast members were all paid different salaries.

“We wanted to do like ‘Jersey Shore’ and unite together and all get a bigger paycheck, but everyone was a little bit too divided,” she told the publication.

Heidi added, “I mean, obviously Lauren got paid the most — it was her show.”

Before meeting her now-husband, Heidi dated Jordan, who seemed nice enough and even gifted her an adorable puppy for Christmas.

Jordan and his roommate, Brian, were reoccurring stars on season one, but then they kind of disappeared. 

“I don’t know what happened to Brian and Jordan, honestly,” Heidi told BuzzFeed in 2016. “The dog that I was given on ‘The Hills’ for Christmas is with my best friend’s family, and Bella lives the most posh, luxurious life in this mansion by the pool.”

She went on, “I think Bella has a better life than even I do now.”

Many plotlines from “The Hills” were manufactured for on-screen drama, and Pratt’s season-one promotion at Bolthouse Productions was one of them.

“I definitely did not get the promotion over Elodie,” she told BuzzFeed. “She really worked there and I pretend worked there, so it was obviously a pretend promotion for her to be upset about. That whole plot was scripted.”

Even if cast members weren’t of legal drinking age during filming, Pratt told BuzzFeed, “When we were all at Les Deux we were drinking whatever we could get our hands on.”

She continued, “We got in because I did work for Bolthouse and who doesn’t want some hot, young, fun girls in their club?”

Even though it appeared that Audrina Patridge organically became fast friends with the stars, she was scouted by producers. 

They spotted her hanging at the apartment pool and asked her to join the cast.

“[Executive producer] Adam DiVello told me I wasn’t allowed to go to the pool for two weeks because they wanted us to meet on camera,” she told US Weekly in 2016. “I had to keep dodging the pool and lobby.”

Similarly, Whitney Port was applying to be an intern at Teen Vogue alongside Conrad when she was asked to join the show.

Enzo, the neighbor, was the super-cute bane of Spencer’s existence. But he wasn’t really Heidi and Spencer’s neighbor. 

“In season six [Spencer and I] allegedly moved into a house, which was Enzo’s house, so he wasn’t a neighbor. We were, you know, in the other part of his house,” Heidi told BuzzFeed. “And I think we threw him a party to add a storyline or something — I’m not really sure.”

The Pratts actually lived in a different part of Los Angeles.

In 2012, Conrad told Allure magazine, “I think the story they told wasn’t a dishonest one. The way they did it sometimes was.”

She continued, “They aren’t going to be there for everything. Sometimes two of their main characters will get into a fight, and that’s important to the storyline. The [producers] need that reenacted.”

Similarly, Heidi told InStyle in 2016 that Spencer didn’t really propose to her on the beach, even though that’s what they recreated on the series. 

After their falling out, Conrad seemingly wanted little to do with her former best friend.

Heidi told BuzzFeed, “So originally once Lauren and I split she didn’t really want to film together, and I would have to, like, find her at the bar and be like, ‘Hey, Lauren!’ and she’d, like, run away.”

She added, “If I had to do ‘The Hills’ all over again, I would definitely have stood my ground more with Lauren and just have her be more honest with me.”

In one of the most iconic storylines of the show, Conrad turns down a summer internship with Teen Vogue in Paris to spend time with her on-and-off boyfriend, Jason Wahler, from her “Laguna Beach” days.

But not everyone was happy with that decision. 

“Even production didn’t want me to date him,” Conrad told Us Weekly in 2016. “They were like, ‘You’re in a new city. Go meet a new guy.'”

She continued, “Then they were very upset with me for not going to Paris — they were ready to fly a whole crew … Honestly, yes, [my decision] did have to do with the relationship, but I was also just at that point where I needed a break from filming.”

Wahler also told the publication, “She should have gone. We broke up, like, two weeks after that scene was shot.”

After the cameras stopped rolling in 2010, Us Weekly reported that Justin “Bobby” Brescia was actually dating Holly Montag.

But the romance seemingly fizzled out as quickly as it began.

Brescia told InStyle in 2016, “My middle name is Robert. My dad’s name was Bob, so he was Bobby Brescia. When I was a kid, people would call me Bobby because I look like my dad.”

He explained that he didn’t want his birth name to be featured on the show, so he went by Bobby as an “alias of sorts.”

However, Patridge kept reflexively referring to him as Justin, and before long, he ended up confusingly being known as both.

Though Heidi insists she and Conrad were really friends, other friendships likely weren’t as close as the reality show made them seem.

Per People, Patridge told Sweden With Love in 2015, “We went our own separate ways. We weren’t all friends before ‘The Hills,’ and we were kind of friends for the show.”

Lauren “Lo” Bosworth also told Us Weekly in 2016, “Audrina wasn’t friends with us in real life, ever. She just never had much interest in forming a genuine relationship … But I would not say that there was ever a real-life feud or animosity.”

“Brody and I were always more friends than anything,” Conrad told Us Weekly in 2016. “It was one of those things where producers really wanted us to be together, and we both knew we didn’t have that kind of chemistry.”

She continued, “The magic of editing always created a little more than there was.”

Jenner agreed that they were always just friends. 

“Literally, we would film a scene of us kissing and being in this lovey-dovey scene, and then right after it’d be like, ‘Cut!’ and we’d be like, ‘OK, good to see you,’ and go our separate ways,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2011.

And though Kristin Cavallari did date Jenner, it wasn’t while she was on “The Hills.”

During a fight over Patridge’s relationship with Brescia, Conrad famously cried a single, mascara-soaked tear. 

“I was sad because I felt like she didn’t want to be my friend anymore,” Conrad told Us Weekly in 2016. “I just put on too much mascara, and it became a thing. They slowed it down for dramatic effect.”

Patridge also told the publication, “I just wanted my own house, my own freedom. I didn’t even notice the mascara until the episode aired.”

Heidi told BuzzFeed in 2016, “During ‘The Hills,’ we were not allowed to wear outfits twice, so I asked [MTV] to supply me with a wardrobe, but apparently I had to buy it all myself.”

She also told InStyle in 2016, “During season one, all of my stuff was from thrift stores or hand-me-downs. When I started getting a little more money, I got into the heels and the Birkins.”

She continued, “I had a million-dollar closet. It was insane.”

From Lady Gaga to Kim Kardashian, the show had no shortage of “blink-and-you’ll-miss-them” cameo moments.

Gaga briefly appeared on season four before she was a big name.

Kardashian’s season-three cameo never aired on the episode, but it did show up on MTV’s “The Hills: That Was Then, This Is Now” special in 2016. 

The “Very Cavallari” star told Us Weekly in 2016 she was hired to play the role of the “bitch.”

“The money was the reason I did it. Producers gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she said. “I’m glad I went back to [reality TV] because this time I looked at it strictly as a job, and I knew the character they wanted me to play.”

“Producers had a bunch of different storylines for her. She was supposed to be the crazy, wild drama-starter,” Patridge added. “When she and Justin started fake-dating, the producers kept wanting me to fight with her over him, and I was like, ‘I’m not even with him!'”

Unlike some of the drama and relationships, Spencer’s love of healing crystals on the show wasn’t fabricated. 

Some reports say he even spent $75,000 on one.

This story was originally published in August 2018 and most recently updated on October 30, 2024. 

Read More:

• Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have been together for more than 10 years — here’s a timeline of their dramatic relationship
• How ‘The Hills’ cast has grown up since the reality show first aired 12 years ago
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