For young adults growing up in the mid-00s, the appointment reality TV series of choice was MTV’s The Hills. The series, technically, was a spinoff of Laguna Beach, following Lauren Conrad and other attractive twentysomethings through the professional and personal lives in Los Angeles. The series was a huge hit for MTV and, recently, a sequel series, The Hills: New Beginnings was released.
The Hills was mainly considered to be “guilty pleasure” television with the “reality” of the series largely scripted. In the end, The Hills originally lasted six seasons on MTV. Over the seasons, there had been many fights and betrayals that have lived on in the memories of the fans since.
Whitney Snatches The Paris Internship
In season 1 of The Hills, Lauren gets offered an internship at the Paris office for Teen Vogue. For someone who wants to break into the fashion industry like Lauren Conrad? It’s a big deal and a huge step forward in her career. She would be crazy not to take it, right? Well, Lauren didn’t take it because she got back together with Jason.
Whitney Port, Lauren’s friend, went in and got the Paris internship for herself. The worst part? Lauren and Jason broke up in season 2 of The Hills. So nothing but heartbreak for poor Lauren with this betrayal.
Justin Bobby
Why did Audrina Patridge stay with Justin Bobby for so long? The couple was very much the definition of an on-again, off-again relationship with the drama being a never-ending cycle. In the end, Justin Bobby betrayed Audrina in one of the worst ways possible. He cheated on her, being caught making out with another one.
Audrina, somehow, went home with this guy. Seriously, their relationship was an endless roller coaster of drama that everyone, including Lauren, wanted to stay out of it.
Stephanie and Spencer’s Family Feud
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag were very much the “villains” of The Hills. Though, looking back on the series, everyone was pretty toxic to each other. One instance where a “betrayal” was blown totally out of proportion was with Spencer and his sister, Stephanie. In season 4, Stephanie arrived in LA and ended up becoming friends with Lauren. Heidi and Spencer, however, we very much on the outs with Lauren at the time.
In some very uncomfortable scenes, Spencer tells his sister that he doesn’t want to be friends with her. He also makes fun of her to his friends and mocks her when Stephanie cried at a party. All because she “betrayed” him by making a friend he didn’t like.
Audrina’s Accusation
It’s hard to be someone’s new friend when they meet up with one of their old friends. Audrina ended up moving in with Lauren and Lauren’s bestie (and former Laguna Beach co-star) Lo Bosworth. What proceeded was a competition between Audrina and Lo to get Lauren’s attention. Unfortunately for Audrina, however, she couldn’t hold a candle to the shared history between the pair.
Eventually, Adrina and Lauren grew further and further apart from each other. It got to the point where Audrina accused Lauren of being the other woman to Justin Bobby. Lauren was pretty disgusted by the thought and their friendship never really recovered.
Heidi’s Mom Gets Too Honest
Family drama on reality television is truly some of the most awkward things in the world to watch. Nothing is more awkward when a family clearly doesn’t agree with another family member’s decision. In the season 6 premiere of The Hills, Heidi heads back home in order to show her family her new look post plastic surgery.
The downside to this trip is that Heidi’s mother famously hated how her daughter look. It was definitely a betrayal for Heidi, who was hurt by the lack of support from her mother.
It Was Always Scripted?
This betrayal was less about the cast of the show and more about the fans of The Hills. The series, leading up to its finale in 2010, had some persistent rumors about how everything on the show was fake and scripted. In the end finale for the show, it was (kind of) revealed that, yes, The Hills was definitely scripted.
As Kristin Cavallari shares a tearful goodbye with Brody Jenner, the backdrop falls and reveals that it’s a set. The pair high five like costars and show the show ends. Fans, some who defended the show against the accusations, freaked out, and not in a good way. To this day, a fight still rages on if the series finale was a cheeky nod to the rumors or a reveal that show was definitely scripted.
Kristin Breaks Girl Code
Lauren Conrad left halfway through season 5 of The Hills, which lead to Laguna Beach‘s Kristin Cavallari joining the cast to replace Lauren. Kristin, however, was not here to make friends and influence people. While Audrina was in the “off” phase with Justin Bobby, Kristin decided that means he was fair game even though she was sort of friends with Audrina.
Needless to say, both Audrina and Stephanie saw this as a betrayal of the girl code. As Audrina said, “It’s girl code. You just don’t go there.”
Lauren Fires Stephanie
It’s awkward when people have to work with friends because work drama can easily spill over to the friendship. In this case, Lauren Conrad was put in the awkward position of having to fire her friend, Stephanie Pratt. Even though their friendship did survive this betrayal, it was still incredibly awkward to watch.
The moment Lauren said that she would help Stephanie find another job, Stephanie just started to sob. While this isn’t the biggest betrayal in the series, it feels real enough to genuinely hit viewers hard.
“You Know What You Did”
Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag were friends at the start of The Hills. Unfortunately, however, their real-life friendship (and on-screen one) took a tumble between seasons two and three. This led to the staff of the show wanting to milk the drama with two people who couldn’t stand being in the same room as each other.
According to rumors, this feud started because Heidi’s boyfriend Spencer had spread a rumor about Lauren having a sex tape. Nothing about the off-camera drama has ever been confirmed. On the show, however, this tension led to getting Lauren and Heidi trapped on a boat, which led to a huge and final blow-up between the two. During it, Lauren shouted the iconic line, “You KNOW what you did!”
The Betrayal of Jen Bunney
Jen Bunney used to be Lauren’s oldest and best friend. The keyword here is used. In season 2, Jen Bunney came to LA in order to visit her friend and celebrate her 21st birthday. Naturally, of course, this was a great way for Jen to meet some of Lauren’s new crew, including Spencer and Heidi, whose relationship with Lauren was devolving.
After Lauren gave Jen a diamond bracelet, she made a move on Brody Jenner, who Lauren was seeing at the time. On top of that? Jen was encouraged to make a move by Spencer and Heidi. Needless to say, it was a veritable smorgasbord of betrayals heaped on Lauren. The friendship was definitely over.
