Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti’s ‘Back to the Beach’ Podcast: Biggest ‘Laguna Beach’ Revelations

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Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti's 'Back to the Beach' Podcast: Biggest 'Laguna Beach' Revelations

The truth behind the TV. More than a decade after their split, Laguna Beach exes Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti teamed up for their "Back to the Beach" podcast, which details their time on the MTV reality show. The series, which aired from September 2004 to November 2006, followed the lives of several high school students at California's Laguna Beach High School, including Cavallari and Colletti as well as Lauren Conrad, Jason Wahler and Lo Bosworth. For their podcast, Cavallari and Colletti rewatch old episodes of the show and reveal what was really happening behind the scenes — and what didn't make it to air. For starters, the duo clarified that they weren't actually close friends with everyone who was on the show. "We knew who everybody was," the Very Cavallari alum explained during the "Back to the Beach" welcome episode on July 19. "But we’re not hanging out." Colletti echoed that sentiment, explaining that many of the scenarios the teens found themselves in would not have happened without the intervention — and budget — of MTV. "For example, in the first episode, this hotel party," the former One Tree Hill actor explained. "We did not have hotel suite parties where somebody was just, like, throwing out a credit card, booking a suite." [jwplayer 5Py7hJJi-zhNYySv2] The Hit the Floor alum also noted that his romance with Cavallari didn't play out in real life the way that it did on the show. The pair, who dated off and on in high school, seemingly split because of Colletti's involvement with Conrad, but Colletti said he was "uncomfortable" with the way the series portrayed the alleged love triangle. "We dated for real my sophomore year, your junior year," Cavallari explained on the podcast. "And we were together for, I think, a little over a year. And I would say that was actually probably the best that we ever were. ... Before MTV showed up." When the Balancing in Heels author started her junior year, she broke up with Colletti and moved on with Talan Torriero. "All of this happened before MTV came," the former E! personality recalled. "And then when MTV did show up, they caught wind of what happened. ... You and I were actually really trying to work on the relationship." The duo's romance never got back on track, but they've remained friends since the show wrapped more than a decade ago. "We've always been in each other's corners, always been rooting for each other," Cavallari explained. "We've always really cared about each other, which I think is important." Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from Cavallari and Colletti's "Back to the Beach" podcast.

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Why the School Pulled Out

Laguna Beach was originally supposed to film the students at school, but according to Colletti and Cavallari, the administration changed their minds after MTV produced the infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. "Initially, they had the school on board," the True Roots author claimed during the July 19 welcome episode. "They were supposed to shoot at school in the middle of class. And then I think ... the parents said, 'What are we doing? Why are we letting these cameras in there? It's going to be a huge distraction.'"

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Their Possible Post-Show Kiss

In the podcast's inaugural episode, Cavallari hinted that she and Colletti kissed during an August 2020 reunion. She also implied that her ex Jay Cutler didn't want her keeping in touch with Colletti while they were married. The Uncommon Beauty founder and the former NFL player split in April 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage.

“I’m able to maintain friendships with my exes. But yeah, that’s all I’m gonna say," she explained. "I think that’s a large reason why, when I got a divorce, you and I were able to reconnect — because I was a free woman.”

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The Pilot's Wonky Timing

During their review of Laguna Beach's pilot episode, Colletti and Cavallari claimed that many scenes were filmed out of order. "This episode is — I mean, the whole show is like this — it's a mashup of completely different time periods where they needed to come back and piece some things together, certain things that happened months before and then months later," Colletti claimed during the July 19 "Back to the Beach" episode.

Cavallari, for her part, noted that the cast would often film "pick-up scenes" to fill in story line gaps. "When we filmed the pilot, which was months prior to us shooting the series, we were in a very different place in our relationship," she recalled. "Two months in a high schooler's life can make a world of difference. ... They were filmed so out of order and then mashed together as though they were within a few days of each other, which just wasn't the case."

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Kristin's Least Favorite Scene

Cavallari revealed that one of the first scenes she ever shot for the show is also one of her least favorites. The True Comfort author was discussing whether she and Colletti would have cute babies — and said that they would because her then-boyfriend was so tan. "Like, what the actual f–k?" she quipped during the July 19 episode of the podcast. "You can file that under the dumbest thing I've ever said."

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The Love Triangle

In the July 19 installment of the podcast, Cavallari admitted that she wishes that she and Conrad had fought with Colletti about his behavior rather than each other. "I will say the fact that Lauren and I really went after each other is so messed up when — I love you — but the person we should have been going after was you," Cavallari told her ex-boyfriend. "And this is so classic, right? If someone gets cheated on you, go after the other woman, the other woman. It's like, 'Why are we not blaming the guy?'"

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Kristin and Stephen Behind the Scenes

While revisiting episode 2 of Laguna Beach, the former couple said they don't think their romance was as "toxic" as it seemed to viewers. "I remember being really upset about how they always made it seem like we were fighting, or just, like, we were so toxic for each other," Cavallari said during the July 26 episode. "Because yeah, we went through our stuff, but we actually had some really great moments too. And I do know there are some scenes later on in the season where they actually do show us when we were good. And that always made me happy. And I would be like, 'Finally, people get to see how we really are.' Like, if we were that toxic, we wouldn't still be together."

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Slamming the Love Triangle Allegations

During the August 16 episode of the podcast, in which the duo revisit episode 4 of the reality series, Colletti shared his frustrations about how he was perceived in the alleged “love triangle” between himself, Cavallari and Conrad. 

"I had a huge problem with this because look, obviously they created this show around this love triangle and there's moments where you and I were broken up," the OTH alum explained. "And they had learned about Lauren and I hooking up and being very good friends and, you know, obviously stuff happened at certain times, but at no point ever whenever we were together would I step out on you in that way. That made my blood boil a little bit.”

The Uncommon James founder, for her part, said that she felt MTV “put us in a box” for the “entire first season.

"They decided 'OK, this is how we're gonna make Stephen look and I don't care what's really going on in his life,'" she said. "'We are gonna continue to hammer that home and keep going back to that same storyline.'"

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Cabo Confessions

"That is me literally at my worst right there," Colletti said during the Tuesday, August 30, podcast episode “What Happens in Cabo: Part 2," which covered the pair's infamous spring break blowout. "My mom raised me in a good way to treat women, and I believe in that, to be well-mannered, treat you with respect and to obviously never in a million years lay a finger on somebody or anything like that."

The California native opened up about calling Cavallari a “slut” at the bar, referring to the slur as "the most shocking and brutal moment for myself and my experience in this show.” He then told the Uncommon James founder, “I owe you an apology,” before revealing that the moment was a “real” scenario and not something orchestrated by MTV.

"You're seeing a very immature little boy having his emotions boil over and not processing them in the right way, mixed in with a ton of tequila. And it is a very unhealthy combination," he explained. "And frankly, you know, I was embarrassed."

Cavallari, for her part, was satisfied by how her teenage self handled the situation.

"I’m actually proud of how I reacted to you. I stand by it all of these years later because you were in my face yelling at me, calling me a slut, and I was just trying to walk away and I wasn't trying to react to you," the Hills star told Colletti. "I was really just trying to remove myself from the situation and just do my thing."

Later in the podcast, Cavallari confronted the OTH alum on whether he “hooked up” with Conrad during their trip, to which Colletti replied, "Based off of Lauren's reaction there, I think we can confirm that, you know, something happened down in Cabo.”

The Colorado native then noted that calling Colletti a "hypocrite" during the episode was accurate. “I stand by everything in this whole episode,” she quipped.

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Did Kristin and Stephen Really Go Shopping for Rings?

During the season 1 finale episode of the podcast, which aired in November 2022, Cavallari addressed the now-infamous conversation about the former couple shopping for a specific piece of jewelry. “I started telling a story about how you and I went to Tiffany’s looking for rings and then I never finished the story,” the Very Cavallari alum recalled of a bonfire scene in the episode. “I was like, ‘Wait, I actually want to [hear myself] finish this story!’ … I don’t remember going to Tiffany’s.” Cavallari admitted she was “very curious” as to what the “point of the story” was and "how it was going to end." Colletti, meanwhile, wondered whether the twosome were considering buying "promise rings" for each other. “I would guess that they would be some sort of a promise ring. Obviously,** we weren’t like, ‘Let’s get engaged.’ But I don’t remember going to Tiffany’s,” the Hills alum quipped, before adding that she wouldn’t have just pulled the anecdote “out of thin air.” While neither host could recall the experience, the One Tree Hill alum said he wouldn’t have been surprised if the pair did consider buying the sentimental token before he left for college in San Fransisco. “I can see us doing that. It’ll be a promise that even though we’re broken up, we’ll still come back to each other,” he explained. “You can tell there was so much love between us,” Cavallari replied. “We both wanted to make it work but we didn’t want to be naive.”

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Did Kristin Cheat on Stephen in High School?

During a January 2023 episode, which corelated with season 2 of Laguna Beach, Cavallari apologized for cheating on Colletti in high school — especially after he reminded her switch few past flings he knew about.

“I don't remember me actually cheating on you. I know that we had talked about maybe I did with Talan [Torriero], I don’t remember me actually cheating on you, but I will give that to you, because clearly, I'm making it seem like I did,” Cavallari told her cohost. “Other than Talan, I don't think I actually cheated on you with anybody else."

The producer recalled a few other “instances” where the designer hooked up with people behind his back. "I kissed [redacted] from Salt Creek Grille, I'll give you that,” Cavallari later confessed.

Colletti, meanwhile, remembered walking in on his then-girlfriend “hooking up” with another unnamed man at a party following their group date to a Lakers game. 

"Stephen, I'm a horrible person. I am so sorry. I'm appalled of the stuff that I did, honestly,” Cavallari said. “I am not proud of any of that. It actually is painful for me to hear. It's painful for me to watch and I really do apologize. You were always such a really good guy. You still are. But the fact that I took advantage of that is heartbreaking. So I am sorry."

The cookbook author eventually added that if she did hookup with Torriero in high school it would have been in September of her junior year when she was dating Colletti. She also remembered that the Salt Creek Grille kiss was during her sophomore year while they were still a couple.