Paris Hilton

The film did well in sales. Beyondhollywood.com felt that "Hilton’s presence in the cast is the film’s main marketing point, which is plainly obvious by the fact that she’s front and center on the box art and is the only recognizable name in the cast" and also noted that her character was basically herself: "Hilton plays — what else? — a spoiled American socialite who shops on three continents in one day. The script is even clever enough to take a few jabs at Hilton’s real-life social standing, even mentioning that she’s been on the cover of a few sleaze rags in her day". Read Less

The show started airing to surprisingly well received ratings; the premiere episode drew 13,000,000 viewers, increasing Fox's Adults 18–49 rating a phenomenal 79%. "everyone likes it because it's for all ages. People from the city will be like, 'Oh my God, I cannot believe you did that,' and people from the country think it's funny because they do it every day", Hilton said about the reason why the show was successful. Some entertainment writers felt the overnight success of Hilton was spawned by the whole tape controversy. Entertainment Weekly commented: "I dare say the Paris Hilton-Rick Salomon tape received more print and television coverage in a week than the run-up to The Simple Life received in the months since its premiere was announced. We in the media have become Paris-ites". People magazine wrote that the show "no doubt was helped by the very public saga of a pirated three-year-old video tape, which recently made the rounds on the Internet showing Hilton engaged in various sex acts with ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon". At that time, she started to be recognizable for her onscreen dumb blonde persona in reality television. According to UK's Now magazine, in a 2009 interview she said that "For five seasons I was stuck doing this character. It was kind of hard always having to play that character when it's not who I am". In a January 2011 interview with Movieline, she remarked: "In The Simple Life, producers told me to play a dumb blonde and that's what I did. Read Less