The girls of 'The Hills' sat down with TV Guide to talk about how real...or fake their hit TV show is. Here's the Q&A...
Once and for all, is the show staged?
Yes and no. "Who I am on the show is who I am in real life," Audrina Patridge says. "What you see is what you get." But it wasn't just a coincidence that friends-turned-enemies Lauren and Heidi Montag went to the trendy restaurant Ketchup on the same night. "Lauren and Jason [Wahler] were going there, and Heidi and Spencer [Pratt] wanted to celebrate their anniversary," says exec producer Adam DiVello. "Ketchup was one of the spots Spencer wanted to go to, so it just sort of worked out. It wasn't planned on our behalf, but it is a little fake."
How long do the girls have cameras with them each day?
Sometimes hours, sometimes not at all. (Monday and Tuesday are their days off.) "We don't have a set schedule," Audrina says. "It depends on what's going on." At the beginning of each week, the girls speak with producers about their plans. "I hate to say we schedule their lives, but we definitely schedule out what we want to cover," DiVello says. So if they are going on a date or to the Hollywood hot spot Les Deux, then the MTV crews tag along. But if they're bumming around the house solo, the cameras will probably skip it.
The girls are always dressed to the nines and look as though they just stepped out of the salon. Does the show provide wardrobe, hair and makeup?
Nope, the girls are responsible for how they look. "That's partly why it's reality," Audrina says. But she does admit she always wears makeup and tries to dress "halfway decent" when the cameras are rolling.
Is Heidi and Spencer's relationship a sham?
Not according to DiVello. "They're very much in love when I see them," he says. "They're a real couple and definitely engaged. It's not staged for the sake of our show. If they've got something else going on, we've yet to see it."
How do Lauren and Audrina afford that apartment?
We have no idea. MTV won't name the complex (it's not really called Hillside Villas) because when people find out, they camp in front waiting to see the stars. But a swanky two-bedroom apartment in that area costs about $3,000 a month. Audrina works part-time as a receptionist at Epic Records and Lauren is an intern at Teen Vogue. You do the math.
Do Lauren and Audrina have a standing reservation at Les Deux?
No, but they're friends with the promoters and owners, so they know they'll always be whisked past the velvet rope. Plus, the other clubgoers seem to have gotten used to seeing the cast there all the time, so the camera crews can go about their business pretty much unbothered. "It's like a home away from home," Audrina says. If your home always has a fully stocked bar, that is.
