An exec at the network told the New York Daily News:

If her album went to No. 1, that would be a newsworthy thing. If they were to become parents, we'd see that as worth noting. If something did happen to them, physically, we'd probably cover that. But ultimately, we were looking at it more like avoiding stories about them walking down Robertson or going to dinner. It will affect the various news shows on E! and it will affect online. ... It was just a question of overexposure and wondering how much of the news about them was truly news or contrived. It just started to feel as if they had maybe jumped a shark in the past couple of weeks and it might be time to just take a rest. It wasn't really one particular instance, it just seemed like they'd reached a point where they crossed a line in the interest level of our audience. [Emphasis ours.]

We rarely ever say this (except to you, Joel McHale, our delicious chestnut love), but good work E! (This is how it's done, Iran.)

Although! It does make us wonder... If E! followed this new revolutionary philosophy to the letter, wouldn't that kind of lead to the shuttering of the entire operation? Other than having her on their own damn network, what reason would they have to keep Kim Kardashian in the rotation? And what about that hideous stable of Dancing with the Stars washups? We're all for E! taking a principled stand and all, but one minor concession is still... one minor concession.

Though, no one ever said progress was quick.

More than anything, we're surprised by the level of literacy in these. But there was probably some intern at LKL changing all the Rs to "are," 2s to "to," and there's to "they're."


Aresmom: Let Speidi know that they're NOT nice people!


AbiClaus: Ask rational questions that Speidi can't answer


CdnBrat: Heidi and Spencer are dumb as stumps!


adlove2: What does Speidi think about the situation in Iran


Brad_Evoy: Mr. King, Heidi & Spencer are just insipid


Tsunflower11: Speidi are a waste of everyone's time!


netters2680: Tired of Speidi


Jo_Crew: Just ignore Speidi and they'll go away!!! Sheesh!


renee162: I'm ready for Speidi's 15 minutes of fame to end!


duckie_lips: Call Speidi on being super rude to Al Roker!


cand2jays: Heidi and Spencer—what a waste of space


Wakamama: Just say NO to Heidi and Spencer!!!


jareeuman: Is she going to cry 'cause she was in the jungle

If they don't get their minds right! Because, you know, they can't ever give a straight answer to questions about what producers told them to do and what was faked and what was real, etc & etc forever. Joy then sass-mouthed Heidi for aspiring to be like Mother Teresa but then going and posing nude for Playboy.

Perhaps every lite-news outlet has just had their Peter Finch moment this morning and just aren't gonna take it anymore. Too bad Ryan Seacrest doesn't do an afternoon show so the the Pratts could whine and moan about how unfair everyone's being all over again.

Tonight, Wolf Blitzer is going to unhinge his jaw and devour them whole. Then they'll pass through Larry King's lower intestine and end up in Pat O'Brien's backyard. From there, no one will ever hear from them again.

He asked the wretched pair over and over again if they were "proud" of their behavior on the show—which involved slapping bottles out of Frangela's hands, claiming that they were tortured by NBC, and being baptized by Stephen Baldwin. Spencer just smirked and acted the cocky fool he always does while Roker barraged him with thinly-veiled insults and the flesh-bearded reality star eventually got lost in a thicket of his own doublespeak. Meanwhile Heidi just seemed meek and silly and as lost as she always does. Trenchant, hard-hitting stuff, Roker. Really good (maybe sexist?) stuff.

Next up is Willard Scott, who will totally nail a duck in the park with a question about Iran-Contra before hurling a jar of Smuckers at it and running away.

She went on to say, "I used to live in New York City, Heidi. If somebody started singing like that, somebody would go, 'Yeah, shut up!'" Janice justified her remarks by saying it was "constructive criticism. That's what I do."

Heidi and Spencer have been all about Jesus since they returned to the show, which prompted them to begin a fast. (That might explain why they complained that they hadn't eaten in several days, at first blaming it on producers of the show.) Anyway, the religious experience affected Heidi, even in her sleep.

It wouldn't be surprising if "Jesus" was a pet name for Spencer's boner. John Salley would know, since he was watching.

It should be noted that later that morning Heidi vomited repeatedly.

After several bouts of nausea, Heidi was rushed to a hospital, and Spencer put the entire ordeal into perspective.

As the story goes: Heidi and Spencer got down there, and hated it, and quit the show. Twice.

So much of the story that ensues - the premise of the show, the extent of the Pratts' involvement, whether or not Heidi sustained any kind of injuries or sickness, the entire dimension in which it takes place! - could be or probably is utter and complete bullshit. Take, for example, a statement obtained by E! via one Mr. Paul Telegdy:

Last week, NBC exec Paul Telegdy said the "insincere, lazy, entitled" Pratts had to endure a stint in "isolation" before producers would decide the twosome's fate on Monday's show, vowing that the Pratts "really are going to bare their souls."

About this Telegdy fellow: he works under Ben Silverman at NBC, heading up reality programming. Our source explains that Telegdy was the one who recruited the Pratts for the show, capitalizing on their desire to transition from cable stars to network television properties. Telegdy - a British, former BBC exec, to paint the picture - had to fly down to Costa Rica himself to convince the Pratts to stay on the show after they realized that (1) the other celebrities sucked, (2) they'd actually have to do the stunts (eating bugs, etc) and (3) they wanted more money to do it. They walked off the set, and Telegdy came in and negotiated a higher salary for the Pratts to hang in there. They still weren't happy.

Meanwhile in LA, Ben Silverman has to cancel the season's first strategy meeting on Thursday with all the new showrunners, creative executives, and producers citing Telegdy's absence, creating a bit of a mess back at a somewhat troubled, fourth-place NBC.

You know what happens next: they're back on the show, and all of the sudden, Heidi gets "rushed" to the hospital last night. Spencer Pratt Twitters: "locked in a dark room for 3 days w no food or water."

TMZ notes that it was no more than ten hours, with food, and water. Furthermore, there were medics on the scene, the entire thing was filmed, they're full of shit.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.And just this evening: "Spencer and Heidi Pratt quit the show last Monday, and stayed in hotels for three days." Nice. This is presumably while Telegdy was negotiating their new salary. Also: "They were indoors at all times protected from the elements, even though other cast members have been sleeping outside in daily thunderstorms." Their kicker, however, is brilliant: "Spencer says it's all BS ... they were effectively tortured and he's planning on suing NBC."

So, what's the upshot of all this?

The publicity's a win-win: Speidi will take whatever attention they can get, if that hasn't been made obvious enough. NBC got their show publicized for free by a huge news cycle.

Telegdy will probably be seen as an absolute genius for making this work if the ratings for the show prove his worth. If they don't, he'll be to blame for the entire thing away, Pratt mess or no mess. His employers are only interested in numbers. Silverman's going to be judged on the same criteria as Telegdy. But the Pratts?

Who would want to work with them in Hollywood ever again? If this is all true: they took a set hostage, they fucked up meetings, timetables, production schedules, and tried to pin what sounds like absolute bullshit on their producers. In a just world, nobody. But they're probably going to get a feature in the next month or two, because that's the way this all works.

Really, the only losers in this thing are us. It's so hard to discern what's bullshit and what isn't in regards to reality show "stars" and their happenings, their product, and their image, that - rather than go through the complicated process of sifting out what's real and what isn't - it's easier to just accept all of this as an ultimate blurring of truth and fiction and get over our hangups in discerning the difference.

Maybe Heidi Pratt is sick, maybe she isn't. But the next time you read something about Heidi falling into a volcano on the set of Celebrity Bounty Hunter: Xtreme Edition, you'd probably just do best to ignore it, lest your head hurt any more than it does now.

• This is so not a bury-the-lede thing. You gotta run this one first, you know? Some foreign WireImage photog at the opening of The W in Ft. Lauderdale (which we covered in yesterday's roundup) screamed at Blake Lively, on the photo line: "You look beautiful, like a llama!" He meant to call her a gazelle, but the moment had already passed, and honestly, the Llama is a beautiful animal in its own right. Lively was later heard asking Penn Badgley what the import of that expression was, and did an impression of a llama for him shortly thereafter. Now, when Lively gets lined up for the feature adaptation of The Llama Song, you're going to remember this moment, and smile wistfully. [Page Six]
  
  
• Heidi Pratt was supposedly rushed to a hospital in Costa Rica after suffering some kind of undisclosed medical emergency while shooting I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. Husband Spencer's sister is Twittering about it, somewhere. To be on the safe side: if this isn't bullshit, we hope for a safe and speedy recovery. But to be on the safe side: it's probably, like everything else they do, complete, utter, Grade-A bullshit. Which is why I can't bring myself to report this as news. Let's see who else gets hosed. [US Weekly]
  
  
• Rappers, they're just like us! Some contractor was trying to screw Fitty (50 Cent, for those who aren't "in the know") out of money for house repairs and stuff. Fitty had 21 questions for him, and the contractor could only answer eight, so he did what all hard ass gangsters do and filed a lawsuit, which has now been settled. [NME]
  
  
• Our second Marilyn Manson gossip item of the weekend! Apparently, he's so hooked on drugs, he cries to his tour manager about it, which makes me sad. Also, he once went to an AA meeting and got asked for an autograph. [Daily Star]
  
  
• Amy Winehouse! Right? She's hanging out with some local kids from St. Lucia on a vacation there. The D-Listed writer does this better than I ever could: "When Amy Wino isn't swallowing tequila bottles whole, she's holding court with the locals of St. Lucia and teaching them the ways of the crackie. Seriously, what in Crackie of the Flies Hell is going on here? All I see is Wino sucking her thumb and the locals looking at her with "bitch you crazy" eyes." Seriously, I love D-Listed. Absolute trash, but hysterical. [D-Listed]
  
  
• Megan Fox became so image-obsessed while filming the new Diablo Cody movie (Jennifer's Body) that her hair started to fall out. [Daily Star]
  
  
• Woah! T.I. got married to his longtime girlfriend this weekend before heading off to jail to serve a year for that pesky gun charge. They've been engaged for two years, they've had two kids together (and have three from a relationship previous to this), and they're really cute. Do you know who T.I.'s wife is? It's 'Tiny' from 90s R & B group Xscape! How can you not love this? [NME]
  
  
• A-Rod's new chick, Kate Hudson, showed up at Yankee Stadium yesterday during the team's 9-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. I don't like this, at all. Yes, you're Goldie Hawn's daughter, but why A-Rod? Not...Jeter? Or Matsui? You had to go with A-Rod? Anyway: we're sucking enough this year so please don't pile the whole Jessica Simpson-Tony Romo curse on us with this shit and just, I don't know, go to the NL Central games or something. [NY Daily News] Oh, and, related, I guess: A-Rod left the game and coached some kids in a little league game after the loss; the team he coached beat the team Richard Gere coached, which, oh, whatever. Just read it if you really want to. [NY Daily News]
  
  
• Ron Jeremy is opening up a swingers club in too-granola-for-its-own-good Portland, Oregon, which is the least likely place to open up a swingers club. What about Lincoln, Nebraska or something? [Page Six]
• And just because you made it down here:

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