Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Hills...Real or Fake?

MTV's increasingly popular reality series, The Hills, has engorssed viewers with the colorful drama between Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, and the rest of the ensemble. But with the controversy surrounding its fake plot, many fans are now restless and confused about how much of the show is real or fake. To the many restless fans, Hills executive producer Adam DiVello has something to say that will hopefully shed some light into the issue.

The “fake controversy” popped out when DiVello described a scene from earlier this season to TV Guide, when enemies Conrad and Montag ended up at the same club on the same night which evidently was no accident.

“Lauren and Jason [Wahler] were going there, and Heidi and Spencer [Pratt] wanted to celebrate their anniversary. 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,” he said. “I hate to say we schedule their lives, but we definitely schedule out what we want to cover.”

Speculations further fueled when photos taken by Pacific Coast News at LAX, which showed Pratt dropping Montag off at the airport, and then picking her up again, when they embrace as if she's been away, call into question the time element and whether the airport scene was staged for convenience sake. According to sources, “the couple changed their shirts but they're wearing the same pants and shoes in each scene.”

While these photos may suggest that The Hills stretches reality a little more than the show should, a spokesperson from MTV says that the photos are not evidence that the series is fiction.

“It was a pickup shot that in no way affected the storyline,” an MTV spokesperson told the New York Post. “This is no different from any other reality show.”

The spokes person also explains that that Montag's “last-minute trip” actually occurred last month, the weekend of September 28 and the producers “put the trip into context” by having Montag and Pratt recreate the airport scenes last Friday.

Amidst the sham issue, DiVello confirms something that's very authentic for him: the Montag and Pratt's relationship.

“They're very much in love when I see them. 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,” he said

Personally I don't care because I have always speculated that the show had some false elements just like any reality show. Reality TV is not real at all! Not helping the speculations are reports from Gavin Beasley, the model who took Lauren on a date, claimed that the show was fake but later retracted his statement claiming he was taken out of context. In the end it is good television whether it is fake or real!

2 comments:

Christine said...

I agree, real or fake it's still a good show!

Chic Chick said...

Lauren looks beyond pissed in that pic. Could it be that she is annoyed that is fatter than her two co-stars?, lol. Of course the Hills is fake!