Thus their celebrity has gone far beyond "The Hills," which somewhat inexplicably shows almost none of these important parts of their lives, such as Heidi's musical ambitions. (Adam DiVello, the creator of "The Hills," missed an interview appointment to answer questions for this story, then did not make himself available again.) Either Heidi alone or the two of them have been on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Live With Regis and Kelly," "The Tyra Banks Show" and "Late Show With David Letterman." They frequently call in to Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show, and they attended the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner. They have a reciprocal relationship with the mainstream tabloid press and the blogosphere. For an entertainment journalist, to listen to Spencer talk knowingly about how it all works is more than a little chilling.
The 'Speidi' Chronicles
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag struck celebrity gold on 'The Hills.' Now comes the master plan: making a career out of being famous.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, May 11, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 31 words Type of Material: Correction
Heidi Montag: An article in today's Calendar section about Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt of MTV's "The Hills" says that Montag came to Los Angeles in August 1985. It was 2005.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, May 18, 2008 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
Heidi Montag: An article last Sunday about Montag and Spencer Pratt of MTV's "The Hills" said she came to Los Angeles in August 1985. It was 2005.
"Every hour," he said. "Every different magazine, every blog texts, like, 'We heard this, we heard this.' Most of the time, people are just making things up, trying to get you to give a source quote. Or give one line just so they can build something. On every site, in every magazine, they need content. It's the most competitive industry in the world, I would say, the pop culture media game."
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'Bad guy' ups the jeopardy
Janice MIN, the editor of Us Weekly and one of the game's chieftains, said she became aware of the allure of Heidi and Spencer while in a staff meeting during the second season of "The Hills" when several editors couldn't stop talking about Heidi's new boyfriend on the show. " 'Oh, he's loathsome, he's so awful, I want to make him go away,' " Min recalled recently. "And then they talked about hating him for quite awhile."
Indeed, Season 2 was when "The Hills" changed -- because Spencer changed it. He and Heidi, who was Lauren's television roommate and sidekick, had met off-camera after the first season and started dating. Sort of. First, they had to overcome that age-old obstacle of whether he was using her because she was on an MTV reality show. Spencer, after all, had a history that included his own unscripted ambitions as an executive producer and costar of Fox's failed "Princes of Malibu" in 2005.
"The Hills" needed some evil, Spencer figured. "I saw a clip of the show, and everyone was so nice," he said mockingly. "Friendly," he added with disgust. So yes, he wanted to "cause drama" and "get my own show."
