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4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

How The ‘Hills’ Finale Pulled Back the Curtain on Reality TV’s Fakest Era

The Hills was one of MTV’s most-watched reality programs. But when fans began questioning what was real and fake, they went meta.

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MTV’s The Hills is one of the most unforgettable reality shows of the early aughts. A bunch of people in their mid-20s trying to figure it all out (and eventually having that mid-20s crash out), the cinematic soap opera-style editing; it’s peak millennial culture.

Initially centering around Laguna Beach standout Lauren Conrad and her Hollywood friends and frenemies, it followed the group around the city of angels. The Hills exploded in popularity, averaging over 2 million viewers per episode. During the height of Conrad’s ongoing feud with Heidi........

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