Behind the scenes at NY's MTV studio

MTV studios in Times Square had a high-school reunion vibe Tuesday night for the season finales of The Hills and The City. I spent the night backstage watching these kings and queens of self-promotion in all their realness. What you see on TV is not really what you get.
First observation: The girls are really skinny. Much more than what you see on television. “I’m so excited to see them in real life, but I’m shocked to see how tiny they are,” said Canadian fan Victoria Masson, 24. “I mean they are skin and bones — especially (The City’s) Olivia (Palermo),” added the probation officer from Mississauga, Ont., who won a contest with the prize of tickets to the New York taping of the big finales. While Dan Levy and Jessi Cruickshank from MTV Canada’s The After Show were hosting the TV event, the glittery stars waited backstage, texted, exchanged many hugs and high fives. I tried to keep up with all of their complicated and dramatic relationships, but really you have to be a die-hard fan to keep up with it all.
I can say that Audrina Patridge is the sweet one, Olivia Palermo is the socialite and Whitney Port the serious one. It was quite interesting to observe the publicists doing their best maneuvres to avoid having these reality TV divas in the same room together.
Heidi Montag’s sister, Holly, was dancing all around. Stacie the bartender screamed — “You’re a bitch” — to Kristin Cavallari while she was doing an interview. Brody Jenner gave a fan a private sneak peek at one of his tattoos and shouted, “Look at those legs!”, to Whitney Port when she came in the green room. I ended up in Audrina’s (the only brunette on The Hills) dressing room. Sitting on a stool, she was ready to brave the media with the ultimate question — What are you wearing? She had all the designers names in her cellphone.
“It’s chilly here,” said the California girl about New York’s weather.
“It really feels like a reunion tonight. We stopped filming a month ago and most of us haven’t seen each other since.” Audrina said she changed a lot this season.
“I feel like I matured. I saw an episode from the first season with my mom recently and I was like oh my god — I feel like I have really grown up, I went through things that made me stronger. When there is a red flag in a relationship — get out!” she warned me.
Audrina will soon have her own reality show. She already has started filming.
“It’s me outside of The Hills bubble, the real me, my family, my best friends that I grew up with, I’m bringing the cameras with me. There will be no pretty lighting — it’s gonna be really raw and real.” Not even makeup?
“I mean me, I don’t always wear makeup anyways, it’s not gonna be a perfect picture.” Are you really different than the Audrina we see on The Hills?
“Well, I feel like I’m more assertive, more witty and funny, so my fans will get to see that other side of me other than just being sad and hurt all the time,” said the reality star who also plans on doing more movies. “That’s why I moved to L.A.” I also caught up with the star of The City, Whitney Port, sporting some tiny shorty shorts. After a year an a half in New York, she now calls the city home.
“I think I adapted. I’m happy here, I made it a home, I have my local spots. I knew when I was growing up and being a teenager that New York was always a place I wanted to be. I don’t know if I’ll be here forever. I take everything day by day.”
Whitney enjoys not having paparazzi following her around.
“It’s not like in L.A. I see them all day long, but they are not as much in your face in New York.” She is also more comfortable with her public status.
“I’ve been doing reality TV for four years now, I don’t hold back as much. At first, I had a very thick filter on everything I said.”
Whitney says that what you see on television is different from her real persona.
“It is a little more tainted version of myself. I think that I come off a little bit quiet and blank and just living my life through other people’s eyes.”
And last but not least, Olivia Palermo — the “snob socialite” from The City. “It’s my job you know, I have a camera in my face when I show up to work. In the beginning it was a little bit tricky but now I’m used to it,” she said, standing in the doorway of her dressing room, about her new life in the public eye. Are you really like your TV character?
“It’s hard because you only see a few minutes from a week — it’s not a real perception of who I am. I don’t think I’m that tough — but that’s just being a New Yorker, you have a toughness about you. Having said that, I’m there to do a good television show.”
credit - Marie-Joelle Parent @ torontosun.com

Wrap Party in NYC 12/1

Tony Disanto, Kristin Cavallari & SL owner Mark Birnbaum

Although they shoot in the City of Angels, that cast of MTV's "The Hills" chose Gotham for the site of their wrap party last night--celebrating the end of their fifth season at hot spot SL (Simyone Lounge).
Stars Kirstin Cavalleri, Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner and Lo Bosworth enjoyed Svedka cocktails and schmoozed with MTV exec Tony Disanto and club owners Mark Birnbaum and Eugene Remm.
Their East Coast counterparts were present as well, with Whitney Port and other gals from "The City" in attendance, including Roxy Olin and Samantha Swetra.
Absent from the festivities was the Family Pratt--patriarch Spencer, his bride Heidi and sister Stephanie.
We hope they poured out a bit of bubbly for the missing Pratts, and of course Cavallari's predecessor Lauren Conrad.
Credit - LA Times, Photo credit - Clark Samuels / Startraks

Kristin Cavallari: "It Wasn't Romantic" With Justin Bobby

'The Hills': Kristin and Justin Bobby set the record straight on their 'romantic' relationship
Well, who'da thunk it? After only one season as the star of "The Hills," Kristin Cavallari has retired her wild antics and reined in resident bad boy Justin Bobby. The show's fifth season ended Tuesday night as the unlikely pair decided to give being boyfriend and girlfriend a shot.
During the waning hours of summer in Kristin's Malibu beach rental, they kissed on the deck repeatedly. Justin even threw his version of a letterman jacket -- his leather biker jacket -- over Kristin's shoulders as the sun set.
"I can't -- for some reason -- let this go," Justin admitted. "What's funny is that my last conversation with Audrina, she told me I was gonna end up a lonely old man if I don't go after basically what I believe in, and I believe in this. I wanna have fun with you. I wanna do things with you. I wanna laugh with you."
I was actually almost kind of moved. Had the two who were the most jaded about love reluctantly fallen into it?
Of course not. Things are never as they seem on "The Hills."
Only moments after the end credits rolled, MTV aired a live after-show special from New York City. The program's hosts declared that Justin Bobby and Kristin would appear for the first time ever as an official couple.
First Kristin emerged, looking tan and fit with her blond hair slicked back into a ponytail. Then came Justin, sporting a James Dean-esque look complete with a black pea coat, cowl-neck sweater and permanent pout. Despite the network's proclamation about pair's newfound relationship, Justin and Kristin didn't look anything like a couple on stage. Instead, they seemed nervous and awkward -- like they were caught in an uncomfortable lie. I'm not sure the two made eye contact the entire time they were being interviewed, and they certainly didn't touch one another or give any physical or verbal signs of affection.
Backstage from the aftershow, a MTV publicist said she'd squeeze in a few minutes for me to chat via telephone with the lovebirds. First up was Justin Bobby, and I wanted to try to find out if his relationship with Kristin was even remotely legitimate:
Are you and Kristin in a romantic relationship?
Not necessarily. When we met, it was just kind of nice, and personally for me to be on the show and conversate with somebody I haven't yet on the show. We work and do our scenes and see each other and that's that.
One week this season, you told Audrina you'd never find someone like her. The next, you told Audrina that Kristin sparked something in you you'd never felt with her. Which was it?
That was a cut-and-copy. There was a lot more to that sentence. I was basically like, "Audrina, it's not like I'm never gonna find anyone like you again." They felt like maybe it was a good place to cut that scene.
Set the record straight. Were you and Audrina ever together?
Realistically, no. I've only had two loves of my life and then there's been a whole dating montage.
In earlier seasons, you seemed to have an aversion to the whole reality-TV thing -- this season, you were at the center of most of the episodes. How did that happen?
It wasn't planned out at all. I got to know Kristin and we clicked in that way and it ended up working out on the show. It's who you surround yourself with, and when you surround yourself with people who are energetic and all talk about work and business, it got me a little bit more comfortable. A lot of the scenes with Audrina were drawn out, and Kristin was new blood.
Do you watch the episodes?
You know what, not really. I'll hear about it and if I hear about it, I don't want to be near it.
You're such a mysterious dude. Who are you? Are you still a hairdresser?
Not particularly anymore. I did hair for, like, 12 years. I kind of ran my course with it and I'm in the midst of opening up a little salon with a good friend of mine in Orange County.
How did you start doing hair?
I was doing Victoria's Secret shows and working with some musicians.
So your day job now is working on "The Hills" and opening the new salon?

Not completely. I do a lot of band stuff. I'm working with a band I've been with for seven or eight years. It's called EdstanleY.
After about five minutes, he said he had to cut things short because he had to go on stage. I didn't get the chance to grill him more about his impromptu Vegas trip and what exactly has transpired with Audrina over the past four years.
But Kristin was up next, and I was confident she'd be candid. Before the season began, we sat down for an interview during which she described just how fake "The Hills" really is:
"It's just so ... fake. There's no truth to it. At all," she said in September, adding that she will "pretty much do anything" the producers tell her to do. "They tell us what to talk about."
Surprisingly, Kristin has changed her tune since. In the approximately two minutes I got to chat with her before the phone was yanked away by a publicist, she got defensive about the show's supposed reality. And, she said, she didn't necessarily get down with either Brody or Justin this season.
How do you feel about how you were portrayed this year?
Overall, I'm very happy with the season. The first couple of episodes I felt like they were only showing one side of me, but throughout the episodes you got to see a few sides of my personality.
So were things romantic between you and Justin?
With music and editing they can make it seem that way, but it wasn't romantic with Justin and I at all because I didn't trust him.
But you guys were kissing -- you were intimate.
Just because we kissed doesn't mean we were intimate.
Were things ever intimate with Brody -- like that morning when he woke up at your place?
I don't know what scene you're talking about.
Brody and Jayde were on a break, and you had been hanging out with him. You and Jayde got into a fight at a nightclub and Brody left with you. The next morning it seemed like he had slept at your place.
He didn't wake up there. He came over. But I don't know what scene you're talking about.
You've said you often will do what the producers ask of you. Is that how you and Justin Bobby started hanging out?
Umm... I, um... First of all, I never said they made me hang out with Justin. And second of all, when you're surrounded with a group of people, you're bound to develop relationships. What you see on the show and what's going on are two different things. You're not going to see everything.
So in tonight's episode, you decided to give it a go with Justin Bobby. What's up with you guys now?
In the episode we decided we're gonna give it a try, and we're hanging out and talking. You're going to have to wait and see what happens on the next season.
That we will.
So -- will you all be tuning in for a sixth season of "The Hills"? With the ratings falling, will Lo and Audrina's rumored departure be the final nail in the coffin for the MTV series? And do you buy the Kristin and Justin Bobby relationship -- or is the jig up?
credit - Amy Kaufman @ LA Times

Lo Bosworth Wants to Be the Next Oprah

We may not know if last night’s season finale of The Hills will be Lo Bosworth’s last, but what we do know is that she’s already busy pursuing other dreams. In fact, Lo reveals to OK! that, if she has her way, we can expect to see her hosting her own talk show soon!
“I have some things lined up that I’m really excited about,” Lo said to OK!. “Eventually down the line I would love to have my own talk show… Like on the show I’m not in the drama and I don’t cause problems, but it’s kind of all in the plan.”
Added the ambitious reality star, “I want to be able to not always be ‘Lo from The Hills‘. I think it’s going to be an easier transition for me if I don’t have all of this baggage.”
With Oprah Winfrey on her way out, Lo jokingly admitted there is some, “room in daytime TV!” But, Oprah’s talk show style isn’t the kind that Lo wants for her own.
“I think sort of a mix between Tyra Banks and kind of almost like a show that is based in fashion,” Lo told OK! of how her dream talk show would be. “I would want it to be a demographic that’s like The Hills that’s for young girls.
“Every few episodes have an important topic about something that they would care about like ‘Breaking Up with Your Boyfriend,’” she explained. “Also have a great segment about fashion that week and beauty, so kind of something that’s like an everything show for girls that are that age.”
Lo won’t be pursing her talk show hosting dreams alone. Lo said that the former Hills star and her good friend Lauren Conrad will have her back!
“Oh yeah, definitely!” Lo exclaimed. “We used to live together and so we know all the projects and stuff that are sort of like in the wings. So, its really fun.”
credit - OK!

"used to live together?" hmmm...I wonder if Lauren & Kyle are living together now.

Audrina Patridge - Photo Shoot

Audrina blogged: "I had so much fun on this shoot! I love when you can blur the line between rock n roll and feminine! I have been really into gloves this winter and this shoot may have started it....

Lauren Conrad - twit pic

Lauren tweeted: "Me and my FAV photographer at my cover shoot for my style book!"

Love it. She looks Stunning!

Audrina Patridge on Her New Show: “Less Pretty, More Raw”

Now that the fifth season of The Hills is over, Audrina Patridge is getting excited to debut her own new show with Mark Burnett productions. At the Live MTV Finale After Show of The Hills on Tuesday night, Miss Patridge revealed to OK! that with this new venture, “the entire tone is going to be different.”
“I’m very excited. Basically it’s going to be me outside of The Hills bubble,” Audrina, who expects her new show to start airing next summer, told OK!. “All the photos that my fans see and what they always wonder, like that’s what the cameras are going to come with me and see.”
We can expect to see a side of Audrina’s life that we never got to see while she was on The Hills.
“My family is going to be in it and just going to Hollywood events, behind the scenes and just all the chaos that comes with it that everyone doesn’t know,” Audrina explained of what we can expect. “My fans are going to go along with me on that journey.”
“I feel like The Hills is more of a soap documentary and I feel like my show is going to be more like real,” she told OK!. “Less pretty, more raw… They are going to follow me with cameras. It’s not going to be set-up. There isn’t going to be any lighting.”
Also, the new show aims to be more spontaneous than her previous on-camera gigs. “From time to time it’s going to be like, ‘OMG! Something just came up! Let’s hop on a plane and go here!’ She explained. “Stuff like that. It’s going to be different.”
But don’t count other Hills stars out of Audrina’s show because there could be some crossover.
“There might be,” Audrina told OK!. “Possibly.”
Problem is, Audrina said she really is only talking to Lo Bosworth and Stephanie Pratt still.
“Ya know, I talk to Lo every now and then,” Audrina shared. “She’s really the only one I keep in touch with. Lo and Stephanie from time to time and that’s it. I’ve actually seen everyone here tonight that I haven’t seen in a long time.”
So are the stars of The Hills supportive of Audrina’s new show?
“No,” she laughed. “I mean, they really don’t say anything about it so it’s fine.”
credit - OK!

“The Hills” and “The City” Stars Party It Up in NYC

Out celebrating the end of their show’s seasons, the casts of “The Hills” and “The City” partied the night away last night (Dec 1) in New York City.
Among the attendees, Kristin Cavallari, Audrina Patridge, Lauren “Lo” Bosworth, and Brody Jenner from “The Hills” were spotted heading to the wrap party at SL Nightclub.
Also spotted on their way in were “The City” gals, with Whitney Port, Samantha Swetra, and Roxy Olin all looking their New York best.
And just last night, it was announced that both shows will be back for another season.
credit - gossip center

Kristin Cavallari and Whitney Port talk the next seasons of 'The Hills' and 'The City'

EW was lucky enough to be on the scene at MTV studios last night for the live finale of The Hills and The City. The big news of the night was that the network has greenlit new seasons of both series, set to air on MTV in 2010 (The Hills goes back into production in early January while The City begins filming this week). The series’ respective stars, Kristin Cavallari and Whitney Port, chatted with EW about their decisions to continue letting cameras follow their lives. “I’ve had the best time—I really have,” says Cavallari. “I feel like I have the best job! Why not?!” The budding actress also says she’s no longer worried about being pegged as a reality TV star. “It’s like I’m in it now,” she admits. “I might as well keep going [laughs]!”
Meanwhile, the next season of The City will focus much more on Port’s attempt to succeed with her own fashion line. “That’s my reality,” says Port. “It’s where this collection is going to be sold, who we’re going to put it on, what magazines it’s going to be on.” We’ll also, of course, get a peak into Port’s social life and friendships. “Just Rox [Roxy Olin, Port's best friend and roommate] and I exploring the city together a little bit more and learning who we are.” And don’t forget dating cute boys. Says Port, “Hopefully! I would love that—yes!”
credit - EW

The City Season 1 part 2 Finale - Live From NY

credit - mtv.com

The Hills Season 5 Part 2 Finale - Live from NY

credit - mtv.com