Lauren Conrad has built her empire: She’s a renowned fashion designer, author and pastel social media legend. But she’s also — and always will be — the girl who didn’t go to Paris. While Conrad may have left the Hollywood Hills to return to her humble waterfront mansion beginnings in Laguna Beach, she left behind a millennial legacy: The Hills. An LA-based MTV spin-off to the reality series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, the show became a true pop culture phenomenon from 2006 to 2010. It followed a 19-year-old Conrad in her black BMW convertible to the City of Angels where she landed a coveted internship at Teen Vogue. Along with her bestie (later turned-frenemy) Heidi Montag, who would marry Spencer Pratt, The Hills found its best storylines in friendships and work opportunities — along with the dramatic, mascara-running dissolution of Lauren and Heidi’s relationship. 

When Conrad left the series in Season 5 and was replaced by former Laguna castmate Kristin Cavallari, the lines between “reality” and scripted blurred even further. The drama, however, never wavered — not even for a second. These 15 episodes laid the groundwork for the cult favorite show to live on in layered tank top infamy.

The Hills

Season 1, Episode 1: “New City, New Drama”

Goodbye, Laguna. Hello, Los Angeles. Lauren packs up and heads to the City of Angels to move in with pal Heidi. Lauren arrives just in time for her first internship meeting at Teen Vogue under the direction of West Coast editor Lisa Love (“Can you write?” Lisa asks Lauren without blinking). In their alleged first week at the magazine, Lauren and future bestie Whitney Port are assigned to work the Young Hollywood party — the first of many times the pair will be communicating via headset. But, in a sign of things to come, Heidi creates chaos when she forces Lauren to let her into the party with a gaggle of pals. Buckle up, Conrad.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 1, Episode 10: “Timing is Everything”

Lauren has reunited with her Laguna ex Jason Whaler, who has rented them a beach house for the summer. However, the pressure is on for L.C. when she’s tasked by Lisa to get extra tickets to an at-capacity fashion show. Viewers then get their first peek at fashion PR maven Kelly Cutrone, whose crankiness is a gift to the series. Lauren’s success means she’s offered a summer internship in Paris, but must decide if she wants to stay in LA with Jason. What’s the French word for “mistake?”

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 2, Episode 1: “Out with the Old”

Well, that didn’t work out so well. After a summer at the beach, Lauren and Jason break up and Lisa can hardly contain her glee. Cue her iconic line: “She’s going to always be known as the girl who didn’t go to Paris.” Speaking of iconic, this episode is the debut of Spencer Pratt, the enfant terrible of The Hills. In his introduction to the Hills world, Spencer pits Heidi and erstwhile friend Audrina Patridge against each other with his shameless flirting at nightclub Area — despite pursuing Heidi very seriously, as far as she knows. Heidi, though, may have the ultimate trump card: a pregnancy test. Drama, drama, drama.  

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 2, Episode 7: “With Friends Like These”

Lauren and Heidi’s friendship continues to deteriorate due to Heidi’s relationship with Spencer. Things get even worse when Heidi and Spencer set Lauren’s supposed best friend Jen Bunney up with Lauren’s crush, Brody Jenner. The betrayal occurs fittingly at the epicenter of all of the show’s drama: Les Deux. Heidi attempts to fix things with Lauren back at the apartment, but it leads to one of the series most memorable fights. The basic gist is that Spencer is the problem. Or, as Lauren says, “He’s a sucky person!”

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 2, Episode 11: “Everybody Falls”

This episode could be subtitled “Return of Super Intern Emily.” Whitney and Lauren are tasked with helping with a Good Morning America segment featuring vintage Oscar de la Renta gowns and iconic Vogue editor André Leon Talley. He takes a liking to Whitney and hires her to model one of the gowns on Good Morning America (Super Intern-turned-Glossier-founder Emily Weiss is also one of the models). Unfortunately, Whitney wipes out while walking down the stairs on national television. But it earns her praise and a meeting with Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley, who calls the incident “graceful.” Apparently, falling is very fashionable.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 2, Episode 12: “Goodbye for Now”

Whitney heads to New York for a job interview with Amy — but she’s not the only one plotting a future. Spencer is putting the full-court press on Heidi to move in with him and, basically, everyone and their mother (and probably, also, Heidi’s mother?) is telling Heidi it’s a bad idea. To seal the deal, Spencer shows Heidi a potential love nest for the pair. Don’t worry, it’s not too far from Les Deux. Heidi telling Lauren she’s moving out has all the emotion of a trip to the DMV. “What could go wrong,” Lauren says sarcastically. By the end of the episode, Lauren has already moved on and Audrina has moved in.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 1: “You Know What You Did”

By the start of Season 3, the tension between Lauren and Heidi and Spencer (now Speidi) hits boiling point when Lauren hears that the dastardly duo have been allegedly spreading rumors about a Lauren/Jason sex tape. Instead of going to Heidi and Spencer’s housewarming, Lauren (and seemingly the entire gang) go to Les Deux, where Lauren has a hilariously tipsy encounter with a British dude (“Am I American?” she asks, imitating his accent). But Speidi decide to enjoy their housewarming with public enemy number one, Jen Bunney, who is still on the outs with Lauren after Brodygate. Later in the episode, at yet another Les Deux evening, Lauren runs into Spencer and Heidi and goes nuclear. “You know what you did,” she screams at Heidi, a line forever etched in the annals of The Hills.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 3: “Truth and Time Tells All”

Audrina tests the waters with her bad boy paramour, aptly nicknamed by pal Lo Bosworth: Justin Bobby (sometimes he goes by Justin, sometimes he goes by Bobby, it makes no sense, don’t worry about it). In an attempt to get the Lauren stamp of approval, the trio go out for drinks, and it does not go great — to say the least. Justin seems to have zero interest in Lauren’s opinion (he also burps loudly). He and Audrina still decide to date and put other people’s opinions out of their minds. That’s when Justin Bobby says the titular line, one of the many World Market sign quotes he will spout off in the run of the series: “Truth and time tells all,” he declares, in earnest. We’re not even kidding.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 13: “Young Hollywood”

While Heidi celebrates a low-key 21st birthday with just Spencer and a sad glass of wine, Lauren and Whitney must deal with Teen Vogue’s Young Hollywood party once again. This time, Lauren and Whitney’s responsibilities have been ramped up. Whit will be seating the talent while Lauren will be backstage organizing the models for the Marc Jacobs fashion show. Mid 2000s young stars begin to show up, like Emma Roberts, Emmy Rossum, Hayden Panettiere and Selena Gomez. There’s a near disaster when Hilary Duff shows up late(!) but Whitney manages to get her a seat. Phew. A Duff debacle avoided!

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 14: “Forgive and Forget”

Lisa tasks Lauren and Whitney with attending a voting event, but there’s some concern, since Heidi’s boss is on the sponsor committee. The concern was warranted as Heidi and Lauren reunite at the event and aren’t exactly cordial. At one point, Lauren calls Heidi “a bad person.” While Audrina is out working with Sean Kingston, Heidi comes to visit Lauren for closure. It leads to what is possibly Lauren’s most quoted line: “The only thing really that there is to do is to forgive and forget. So, I really do: I wanna forgive you. And I wanna forget you.”

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 16: “A Night at the Opera”

The debut of the “She-Pratt,” aka Spencer’s sister, Stephanie. She storms into LA (where she was born and raised, but never appeared on camera, so didn’t exist before The Hills, obviously) and immediately makes her presence known at the local clubs. Audrina, Justin, Lauren, Brody all roll to Opera (read: not Les Deux!) for a fun night and encounter Lady Pratt. “When you hate my brother, it makes me hate you,” she tells the table full of people who are just trying to enjoy their demure night of bottle service and dancing. Opera gets even more tragic as Justin Bobby makes out with a different girl in front of everyone (read: Audrina). It’s the final straw in her vodka soda as Audrina breaks up with the longhaired dude for good (read: for now).

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 3, Episode 19: “Paris Changes Everything”

Lauren gets a second chance to go to Paris for Teen Vogue and, thankfully, she doesn’t turn it down. She and Whitney are tasked with covering the Crillon Ball, basically a French debutante ball, featuring a young Lily Collins, for the magazine. Putting a damper on Paris, Lauren learns that Brody has a girlfriend but manages to find and flirt with a cute French rock star. But in a true act of delusion (maybe it’s the jet lag), she wears her Crillon gown to a club and then burns it with her curling iron. Watching her get out of the mess has all of the suspense of Uncut Gems. Lauren and France might just be a bad combo? 

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

Season 4, Episode 20: “I Heidi Take Thee Spencer”

Spencer and Heidi return from vacation and reveal that they eloped, which does not go over well with Heidi’s mom, Darlene. The tension with her mother actually leads Heidi to seek comfort in Lauren when they reunite at a hotel opening. “You know if you ever really needed anything that I’m here,” Lauren tells Heidi. Despite disappointment from Darlene, Heidi and Spencer head to City Hall to have their marriage certified. But thankfully Stephanie talks sense into her brother, quite possibly the first time she’s done something positive on this series, and for the sake of reality TV glory, he waits until the final moment in front of the judge to tell Heidi that they should wait and throw her the dream wedding she’s always wanted. Phew.

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

COURTESY OF MTV

Season 5, Episode 10: “Something Old, Something New”

A big episode for life changes: Lauren leaves reality television and Heidi gets married. Before she ditches the on-camera life, Lauren must decide whether she’ll attend the Montag/Pratt nuptials. She does not attend the rehearsal dinner, which features Heidi’s sister Holly giving a rambling speech, throwing food and melting down in the hotel lobby. To no one’s surprise, Lauren does make a surprise appearance at the wedding and has a nice one-on-one moment of closure with a bedazzled Heidi before the vows. Also in attendance? Lauren’s former frenemy and the new star of the series, Kristin Cavallari — who happens to be wearing a dress in the exact same shade of blue. Kristin greets the gang after the ceremony while Lauren makes a sneaky exit out the back. How’s that for a transition?

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

The Hills

COURTESY OF MTV

Season 5, Episode 10: “Something Old, Something New”

A big episode for life changes: Lauren leaves reality television and Heidi gets married. Before she ditches the on-camera life, Lauren must decide whether she’ll attend the Montag/Pratt nuptials. She does not attend the rehearsal dinner, which features Heidi’s sister Holly giving a rambling speech, throwing food and melting down in the hotel lobby. To no one’s surprise, Lauren does make a surprise appearance at the wedding and has a nice one-on-one moment of closure with a bedazzled Heidi before the vows. Also in attendance? Lauren’s former frenemy and the new star of the series, Kristin Cavallari — who happens to be wearing a dress in the exact same shade of blue. Kristin greets the gang after the ceremony while Lauren makes a sneaky exit out the back. How’s that for a transition?

The Hills

TV-14   2006

Remind Me

Your Reality Obsessions Are Here on TudumWhether you’re into dating drama, food competitions, or selling… wherever, Tudum has the stories and stars you can’t get enough of.