Heidi Montag expressed concern for husband Spencer Pratt’s new cowboy hat in the trailer for the new “Hills” episodes. He’s been seen all over Los Angeles rocking the hat, and he seems pretty comfortable in the Western gear — but his friends don’t quite get it.

Kristin Cavallari just sort of laughed the fashion statement off in her devil-may-care style. And former bro Brody Jenner can’t quite figure out what Spencer is up to now that he’s in his wild, wild West phase of life.

“Every time I go to film or I’m filming with somebody else, I hear stories that Spencer’s wearing cowboy hats all the time now and wearing charms, some kind of necklaces,” he told MTV News. “I’ve heard a lot of things, but I haven’t been able to see it myself.”

Little sister Stephanie Pratt thinks the whole cowboy look is just odd. “It’s really fun to make fun of him lately. … I go over to their house, and I’m like, ‘Spencer, stop going through Heidi’s clothes.’ It’s really fun,” she said. “He says the cowboy hat is, like, a gift from Dad and blah blah blah, but he’s, like, getting really scary.”

It seems Spencer is the only one who doesn’t see what the big deal is. “Well, it was because my new father-in-law gave it to me, and he gave it to me with such a serious speech connected to it [about] how much it truly meant to him and his life and everything,” Pratt explained. “For me, it wasn’t really more a fashion statement — it was more something for my father-in-law.”

Cavallari, meanwhile, was sitting with her new businessman boyfriend and friends – and the new Hills star bounced back and forth, chatting with everyone except her castmates. And while Cavallari wasn’t too affectionate with Smith, at one point she did put her arms around him.

But she doesn’t expect to run up the aisle to collect an Oscar, either.

The former “The Hills” star, best-selling author, fashion designer and spokesperson spent her week launching a second clothing line and finalizing a deal to convert her semi-autobiographical novel “L.A. Candy” into a feature film.

“I think my acting is offensive!” Conrad, 23, told PEOPLE in response to a question of whether she’d consider playing the movie version of Jane Roberts, the heroine of her novel.

“I’m an awful actor, I’m not super comfortable with it. In fact I was just trying to do lines … and they’ll tell you, I cannot memorize lines.”

The Hills are alive with the sound of Kristin Cavallari, the 23 year old newcomer to the Los Angeles based reality show with a special knack for stirring drama and holding a grudge. And while the buxom blonde certainly delivers on her reputation as ‘the mega bitch’ in the new season of The Hills, a great debate was born last night; Is K-Cav more entertaining than LC?

Totally!

The Hills rose to fame with star and narrator Lauren Conrad documenting her life outside of the Laguna Beach bubble she inhabited during high school, leaving behind a life of Steven Colletti, beach parties, love triangles, bad grades, inevitably bitchy trips to Cabo San Lucas and what she then believed, her rival Kristin Cavallari.

But cut to late 2008 in Los Angeles, the new season of The Hills coming to fruition in the minds of Adam DiVello and associates, and you have Lauren Conrad going public with her plans to leave the hit series to pursue a normal, paparazzi free life and clothing line; news hot on the heels of the arrival of Kristin Cavallari, uber bitch and boyfriend stealer, who then goes on to replace LC and spearhead the show as lead cast member and narrator! Wait, Audrina the failed actress/ stage five clinger and Lo weren’t bumped up to narrator? ‘Fraid not!

Despite their lengthy runs on the show, neither Audrina Patridge nor Lo Bosworth was given narrator duties for The Hills. The honor, however, was bestowed upon Kristin, as well as first billing in the opening title sequence. Ouch.

And people love the uber bitch, a fresh new bite on the almost over-done series.

In an interview with night show host, Chelsea Handler of Chelsea Lately, Handler praised Kristin’s raw honesty, confidence and her ability to admit that, ‘yeah, The Hills is fake,’ while maintaining elsewhere that the directors do reply on casting people who “bring the drama”, something this Laguna Beach alum does quite well.

Making a ‘total bee line’ for Audrina’s ex, Justin Bobby, in the first episode of season 6, (who, P.S. Didn’t even say hi to Audrina, god, can you, like, believe that?) Kristin rubbed every single female cast member the wrong way, with the only Hills starlet not to take a post-party stab at the newcomer being Heidi, member of the American marital mess known as Speidi with husband and pratt, Spencer Pratt.

The remainder of the episode centred around Stephanie, Lo, Jayde and Audrina consistently talking about Kristin, what Kristin does, what Kristin is like, should Jayde be worried about Brody now that Kristin is here, does Brody still like Kristin, how Kristin likes Justin Bobby, how Justin Bobby seems to like Kristin, what Kristin and Justin Bobby might be doing, how Justin Bobby and Kristin probably went home together after Frankie’s birthday lunch, how big Kristin’s ego is, how Kristin is a boyfriend stealer… Kristin, Kristin, Kristin!

But for Cavallari, it’s all a job.

The reality star and actress happily admits she was brought on board to purposely shake things up, to do the one thing she knows the directors will love; bring the drama. And at exactly 6 minutes 55 seconds deep into the first episode, Kristin Cavallari is a job well done.

Well, we’re only one episode of Kristin Cavallari-centric “Hills” deep, and I already miss Lauren Conrad.

Which is odd, I know, because let’s face it — Lauren wasn’t adding a whole bunch to the show toward the end of last season, complacently sifting through clothes racks at People’s Revolution and constantly being forced into awkward situations with frenemy Heidi.

But there was something about Lauren’s calm demeanor and subtle eye rolls that endeared her to me. Perhaps the part of her life she revealed on the show wasn’t all that dramatic, but it never seemed like she was spewing outright lies.

Enter Kristin, wearing daisy dukes and very high heels while hopping out of her summer Malibu rental and into her shiny black BMW convertible.

Last week, Kristin admitted she will “pretty much do anything” the producers want her to do on the show. The first of which seems to be feigning romantic interest in resident bad boy Justin Bobby.

There is just no way I can believe that Kristin actually finds JB attractive. Reality check — she has dated the chiseled Brody Jenner and clean-cut “Final Destination” star Nick Zano. They don’t exactly have the snarly beard, suspenders and combat boot look going on.

“He’s so not your type!” I pressed when we met last week at Magnolia restaurant in Hollywood.

“He is a good-looking guy,” she insisted. “No, he’s not someone I typically would go after, but I do have to say after getting to know him a little bit on the show, he’s a good guy.”

Okay. But even if Kristin hypothetically were into JB, her constant Audrina name-dropping made the entire setup feel all too fake.

“How do you think Audrina’s going to feel about us going on a date?” she asked coyly when Justin offered to take her on the back of his motorcycle.

“I think Audrina is still in love with you,” she later said nonchalantly over dinner with Justin at STK. (Honestly, producers? Are we meant to believe a trendy Hollywood steakhouse is JB’s number one choice for a dinner date?)

Justin proceeds to tell Kristin that Audrina was never his girlfriend and that the pair were never exclusive. Is that really supposed to be a huge revelation? Audrina spent an entire season pleading with Justin to make things official. When he refused to put a label on things, she kept seeing him and tried to convince herself and her friends she was OK dating without labels — which she clearly never was.

And in the season opener, at least, it really appears that she’s still in love with Justin.

When Stephanie abruptly dropped the bomb that Kristin and Justin may have gone home together, Audrina’s face instantly dropped and her eyes welled up. Yikes.

Plus, “the stage five clinger,” as bartender Stacie deemed her, prematurely flipped out on Kristin within a couple of minutes of her arrival at the pool party at the London West Hollywood Hotel. I mean, Justin was the one who approached Kristin, and the two had barely exchanged a couple of faux-flirty words before Audrina and sidekick-to-everyone Stephanie got up in Kristin’s face.

“I’m sorry I walked up here and you guys came at me like piranhas,” Kristin said.

“You need to respect Audrina, bottom line,” Stephanie shouted back at her. No wonder she’s ready to exit the show at the end of this season — all of her story lines involve being obsessed with her friends lives instead of her own!

Meanwhile, Spencer and Heidi’s house-hunting pursuits somehow ended up seeming like the most realistic events of the evening. First the pair headed to a suburban house in Brentwood. Spencer wore an interesting get-up, composed of a cowboy hat and boots and a flannel shirt — Poppa Montag’s style influence on his new son-in-law must have been far-reaching.

Despite Heidi’s insistence upon a cozy home with a room for a nursery, Spencer settles upon a modern, glass-filled house perched below the Hollywood sign. I’ll take it that means the children discussion is on hold until that visit to Kitson Baby later in the season.

So, weigh in: Did Kristin’s much-hyped debut live up to your expectations, or did her entrance fall flat? Do you think she and Justin Bobby will make a real love connection? And will Heidi succeed in persuading Spencer to start a family by the end of the season? Chime in below in the comment section.

Photo: Kristin tries to reel in her potential new love interest, Justin Bobby, on “The Hills. Credit: MTV.

Stephanie Pratt, Spencer’s sister, says she won’t return to the reality show after this season’s 10 episodes. She also told Hollyscoop that Lo Bosworth, Lauren Conrad’s best friend, may also be exiting.

News comes on the heels of Audrina Patridge’s announcemement last month that she’s “almost done” filming the series and will move on to develop her own reality show with “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett.

“I don’t know how much more I can take of ‘The Hills,’ Pratt said. “It is very brutal. … It’s not because of Kristin. I was going to stay and see what happens after these 10 episodes, but I just don’t think I can stand ‘The Hills’ anymore.”

[Update 5:24 p.m.: In an e-mail to ShowTracker, a rep for Pratt wrote: “At this point Stephanie isn’t certain whether or not she’ll be returning next season. Her focus is on this season’s show.”

Yikes! Is anyone left? It certainly looks like the drama in “The Hills” could be coming to a close.

Through her publicist, Pratt could not be reached for comment. Earlier this summer, she posed in a bikini on the cover of US Weekly next to a headline reading “‘The Hills’ Made Me Bulimic.’ ”

What do you think? Could “The Hills” survive without the girls we’ve all come to know and love? Would you watch the “Spencer and Heidi” show?

“Um, it’s more of a relief,” Conrad told MTV News about life after “The Hills.” “It’s kind of nice.”

When asked if she would tune in to see any of the drama she said, “Probably not!” But she does plan to support pal and former co-star Whitney Port: “I’ll watch ‘The City.’ ”

Back in June, Conrad told MTV News that she has no plans to pop up on “The Hills” anytime soon. “I’m not planning on it,” she said. “I’m happy with the time I walked away, and I think that from now on, they’re going to pick it up and do a great show. But I think that my time on it is done.”

As for her future in TV, Conrad said it will probable be more like her recent guest spot on “America’s Next Top Model.” “I wouldn’t do a show like ‘The Hills,’ ” she said. “Nothing with my personal life, but possibly something hosting. I think I have a little bit of time to figure out what I’m going to do next.”

To see if Kristin Cavallari can fill Lauren Conrad’s shoes, tune in to MTV on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET for new episodes of “The Hills.”

With LC using Lo as a human shield, the former “Hills” co-stars laughed and hugged one another as they made their way out of the popular local eatery.

Over the weekend, Miss Conrad kept busy by splitting time between boyfriend Kyle Howard and her Kohl’s launch duties.

As part of her line’s launch, Lauren took part in California Coastal Cleanup Day, plugging her new offerings by telling press: “I am very excited to be launching LC Lauren Conrad at Kohl’s later this month because it’s going to 300 stores and it’s going to be on Kohls.com.”

Earlier this week, we pitted Lauren Conrad against Whitney Port in a VMA fashion face-off after the glamorous twosome hit the annual MTV insane-o-fest.

Now the BFFs and former co-stars have come together again at the 2009 VH1 Divas special event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.

Neither is known for disappointing fans with her style choices, so it comes as little surprise that both gals sparkled as usual. But who looked better?