Kristin Cavallari Reveals Her Most Memorable Reality TV Moments

She’s back! Despite vowing she’d never return to reality television, Kristin Cavallari is stepping back in front of the cameras or her new E! reality show, Honestly Cavallari: The Headline Tour. Unlike her previous reality TV stints, this show follows Cavallari as she takes her podcast on a four-city tour: the Let’s Be Honest Headline Tour. 

Perhaps, the age-old adage is true—never say never. The new docuseries won’t be focusing on Cavallari’s personal life but instead her journey leading up to and during the tour. 

In anticipation of the show, Cavallari is revisiting her most memorable TV moments, according to Google. 

“This is from Google. I’m not just picking these out of my ass. Although, I could have probably picked most of these,” she says. So if you’ve ever wondered what was real, what was manufactured, and how those moments shaped her life now, you’re about to find out from the queen of reality TV herself.

The Trip to Cabo
“Keep dancing on the bar, slut!” – Laguna Beach, Season 1

In Season 1 of Laguna Beach, the cast and friends take a trip to Cabo. On a night out, Cavallari is dancing on top of the bar. Suddenly, Stephen Colletti—Cavallari’s on-again, off-again high school boyfriend and, later, former co-host of the Back to the Beach podcast—starts to shout at her: “Keep dancing on the bar, slut!” The two already hashed this out on their old podcast, which was really therapeutic for Cavallari. 

Today, she stands by what she did, and Colletti has apologized too: “I rewatched it a few years ago, and I actually walked away from it thinking it wasn’t as bad as I thought.’ I was 17 years old on spring break in Cabo having a good time.”

2. Getting Ready for Cabo
“What happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo.” – Laguna Beach, Season 1

Cavallari says this was definitely an MTV-fed line: “No one actually ever said this. We didn’t walk around Laguna Beach before spring break saying [that].” She says watching it back now is so awkward and unnatural. The line is very ironic, according to Cavallari, who says, “We have cameras in our face, but we’re saying what happens in Cabo stays in Cabo. Well, clearly, nothing is staying in Cabo. That’s for damn sure.”

3. Pool Party at The London Hotel
“You guys came at me like f***ing piranhas.” – The Hills, Season 6

There were tabloid headlines that Cavallari and Audrina Partridge were feuding over Justin Bobby. “Audrina and I were talking, you know, we were in cahoots. We were like, there’s no way we’re falling for MTV’s bullshit. We’re not gonna do this stupid reality TV storyline, us fighting over Justin Bobby. This is ridiculous,” Cavallari explains. .”

Cavallari recalls talking to Justin Bobby by the pool and a few cast members rushing her. “The girls bamboozled me. They are giving me shit about talking to Justin Bobby… Audrina was coming at me, and I was like, ‘Did we not just talk about this?’”

Cavallari says filming that scene at the hotel pool was alarming. “I vowed that day to keep my life separate… My experience, at the time, was that shows ruin relationships and friendships.”

4. Heidi and Spencer’s Wedding, The Hills, Season 5

Fun fact: The Hills producers asked Cavallari to attend the big Montag-Spencer wedding. Although she got there early, Cavallari remembers being locked away in a room downstairs so none of the other cast knew she was there. The producers wanted her to be fashionably late, walk in, and sit next to Justin Bobby. “I knew walking through those doors would create a scene,” Cavallari explains. “None of the other cast knew I’d be there. Everyone thought the show was ending, so seeing me coming meant The Hills wasn’t over.” 

5. The Car Breakdown
“My car is dunzo.” – Laguna Beach, Season 1

This is perhaps Cavallari’s most enduring contribution to early 2000s slang , and she wishes she would have trademarked it. She even used it in a Kind commercial recently. The famous line happened when she was car shopping and her car stalls on the Pacific Coast Highway. “On the way home from looking at these cars, my 10-year-old Isuzu Trooper really did break down. This was probably the realest scene that I filmed on Laguna Beach. I hated my car, and I thought it was breaking down because it was old.”

6. A Tipsy Car Ride to Dave & Busters
“Jessica, Jason is cheating on you.” – Laguna Beach, Season 2

Cavallari recalls the producers planning a hang for herself and two friends. On the way to Dave & Busters, Cavallari tells her friend, Jessica Smith Evans, the truth about her cheating boyfriend while they are taking shots from a water bottle in the back seat as they are filming. “These are the most natural real scenes because there’s just these small cameras in your car, but there’s no producers,” Cavallari explains. “That’s like the one time I would say you can kind of forget you’re filming a show.” Looking back, it’s fascinating how public perception has shifted: “At the time me telling my friend that her boyfriend is cheating on her came off as bitchy where now people are like, ‘Kristin was being such a good friend.’… I was just trying to help out my friend and I was right. He was cheating on her by the way.”

7. Catalina Camping Trip
“Steph-en!” – Laguna Hills, Season 1

Cavallari says this quote is the one that fans will ask her to say to this day. “I knew I said it… but it was actually Lauren and Lo who coined it, like brought it to life  essentially. Thanks to them because it was things like this that made me realize I always talked like I had marbles in my mouth. I never enunciated a damn word.”

8. The Famous Black Choker

Cavallari remembers not having much of a fashion sense in high school. She wore a black choker for Seasons 1 and 2 of The Hills and swears she didn’t take it off for a year. “For a time, I never thought about fashion, trends, or designers. I wore surfer brand stuff, and girls my age gave me crap about it.” In 2017, when Cavallari launched her brand, chokers were trending again. “When I launched Uncommon James, it just felt like a full circle moment… A choker was kind of what put me on the map.

9. The Hills Ending: A Controversial Reality TV Ending

The series finale of The Hills—where the camera pulled back to reveal Brody Jenner and Kristin’s emotional goodbye was filmed on a studio lot—remains one of the most talked-about endings in reality TV history. “I personally loved it. I couldn’t have picked a better ending,” Cavallari says.  “There were real moments in the show, but it was not real. It was like sort of tipping our hats to the audience and saying, ‘We are in on the joke.’ I liked it because it made people think.”