Stephen Colletti Says Kristin/Lauren Love Triangle On ‘Laguna Beach’ Made His ‘Blood Boil’

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Stephen Colletti, 36, didn’t mince words when he spoke out about the supposed “love triangle” that constituted a prominent storyline on his popular MTV reality series Laguna Beach. On the most recent episode of the Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen podcast, the former duo reflected on how the network portrayed the dynamic between his then girlfriend Kristin Cavallari, 35, and co-star Lauren Conrad, 36.

“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 and they had learned about Lauren and I hooking up and being very good friends,” he recalled during the podcast, via PEOPLE.

“And, you know, obviously, stuff happened at certain times. But at no point ever whenever we were together, you know, would I step out on you in that way. And they really paint [it like] that’s what I’m doing throughout the show — which I have a huge problem with.”

Stephen did admit that he had to hand it to producers for what he called “the genius of [the show’s] editing. You have to hand it to them, they really crafted this storyline in a way that I think that’s what made audiences really engaged.” He also said that the way the show’s dynamics played out, often orchestrated by producers to elicit a certain response, made his “blood boil a little bit.”

Kristin agreed with his assessment. “It’s like they decided to just put us in a box and they would not stray from that for the entire season,” the recently divorced reality icon explained. “Like, they decided, ‘Okay, this is how we’re gonna make Stephen look. And I don’t care what’s really going on in his life, we are gonna continue to hammer that home and keep going back to that same storyline.’”

Lauren ultimately moved on from the 2004-2006 drama and married William Tell back in 2014, while Kristin has since married and divorced Jay Cutler.