Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag and More of The Hills Cast and Crew Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Secrets 10 Years Later

The formers stars of the Hollywood-based series are speaking about about their experiences with the MTV hit

By Samantha Schnurr May 26, 2016 7:53 PMTags
The Hills CastMTV

A decade after Lauren Conrad packed up her convertible and headed off to Hollywood with the makings of reality television gold nestled in her back pocket, the cast and crew of The Hills are now sharing their sides to those "unwritten" glory days. 

In July 2010, MTV infamously lifted the veil on the manufactured reality show in the finale scene of their sixth season, zooming out on Brody Jenner standing on a backlot after he bid Kristin Cavallari adieu. It was a gasp-worthy moment for loyal fans everywhere as the entire landscape surrounding Conrad and her bevy of gal pals collapsed in one fell swoop. While many of the stars of the hit show have admitted to purposely fueling their storylines for the promise of bonuses and other perks, the show's executive producer says it wasn't all just for show. 

"You cannot manufacture that kind of reaction of Audrina crying about Justin Bobby or Lauren getting in a fight with Heidi, because something had really gone down," Liz Gateley told Us Weekly. "All of the dynamics were real."

The cameras happened to be at the right place at the right time, you could say. As Montag described to Us Weekly, "real reactions within scripted moments." While there was no telling what kind of fireworks might erupt within the cast in any given situation, the crew did everything in their logistical power to offer opportunities for the drama to unfold. 

"It was a combination of making sure the organic craziness and content is getting put on tape. But at the same time, trying to keep the aesthetics of what the show was for all of us was an important part and stressful," field producer Spike Van Briesan told MTV News. Part of those aesthetics included finding the right playful backdrop for a group of famous twentysomethings. 

"When we were in Paris, we were literally scouting the best restaurants, the best stores, the most picturesque views—and we shot in all of those locations," Jason Sands told MTV News, describing the Season 3 moment when Conrad finally took her trip to the French capital.   

read
Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag Revisit Their Tumultuous Reality Careers: "[The Hills Getting Cancelled] Was Our 9/11"

As fans of the show fully know, the fashion-oriented protagonist iconically turned down her first opportunity to travel to the city of lights for Teen Vogue in exchange for a summer with her then-beau, Jason Wahler

"She should have gone," Wahler told Us Weekly. "We broke up, like, two weeks after that scene was shot."

Another controversial moment of the series arrived when Conrad cut ties with her on-screen right-hand woman, Heidi Montag, after Conrad thought she and boyfriend Spencer Pratt were spreading rumors of a sex tape between Conrad and Wahler. Cue the "You know what you did!" moment. 

"To me, those were the best scenes—the really real ones," Conrad told the magazine. "We're not, you know, sitting in a cute café discussing who said what the night before. They were always the hardest to shoot, but I felt like that was when people could really relate to us."

photos
The Hills & Laguna Beach: Where Are They Now?
Donato Sardella/WireImage.com

Still the lines between reality, fiction and masterful editing began to blur. 

"[The sex tape story] really came out of left field. Lauren and I talked, even though we were separated. I was like, "Did you put a camera in the bedroom that I didn't know about?" Wahler told Us Weekly. 

For Pratt—who claimed to have earned upwards of $1 million a year at the height of the show's fame—it was a game of the higher the ratings, the larger the bonuses. In order to keep eyes on the show, Montag's husband amped up the controversy with his then-girlfriend. 

"From season 3 on, everything with Spencer was completely scripted," Montag told the magazine. He wasn't the only one on the show who saw dollar signs. 

"The money was the reason I did it," Cavallari, the series' protagonist for seasons five and six, told the magazine. "Producers gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. 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."

However, the show's budget wasn't immediately flowing in the initial season, according to Audrina Patridge

"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," Partridge recalled to the magazine. "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.'"

read
Audrina Patridge Reveals Her Biggest The Hills Regret
Chris Weeks/WireImage.com

For "Justin Bobby" Brescia, Patridge's tumultuous off-and-on again man, the money was good enough to make sparks fly.  

"At the time I was a hairdresser for Maroon 5. It came down to them going, 'Whatever you make, we'll triple it,'" he told the magazine. "Audrina and I were friends. [The relationship] was more for the show."

Regardless of how each party defines their then romance, it powered many prime reality TV moments. 

"When Audrina took her top off, Justin had no idea she was gonna do it. And he was like, 'Oh my God.' Sometimes, you would get these really organic expressions from them," Van Briesen said to MTV News. "This was a young woman who was becoming very famous and everybody thinks she's so hot, and now this is the guy who gets to be with her. We were all like, 'Jesus Christ, I can't believe this is happening.'"

As much of the mystery surrounding this 10-year-old show still remains in tact, it seems, as Partridge pointed out to the magazine, "no one will ever really, truly know." 

Watch: Lauren Conrad Reflects on 10 Years Since "The Hills"
photos
Lauren Conrad: Her Road to Romance