Socialite Paris Hilton has said she is "not a dumb blonde" and has insisted she is "just very good at pretending to be one" ahead of a reboot of the show which brought her international stardom.
The Simple Life, which sees Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie ditch their phones and live with normal families and try out different careers, is to return set in Los Angeles where they grew up as the two visit locations from their lives before the show.
Hilton said she was giving the audience what they wanted with her performances on the show, which saw her ask whether US supermarket Walmart sold only wall-related equipment, in an interview with Glamour magazine.
The 43-year-old said: "For me, it's definitely a character. When Nicole and I got approached to do this they described it as Green Acres meets Clueless, so I knew what the audience wanted, that blonde-airhead type of character.
"So I really played into that with questions like, 'what’s Walmart?’. I always knew what I was doing because I’m not a dumb blonde, I’m just very good at pretending to be one."
She and Richie also told the publication that their parents initially told them not to do the show, but ended up becoming fans.
Hilton added: "It was the first of its kind, they hear that we’re going to be sent somewhere and we don’t know where we’re going.
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"But after the first episode aired, my mom called me and she’s like, ‘this is the most hilarious show I’ve ever seen in my life, you and Nicole are incredible’, she’s like, ‘I was wrong for once’."
The new three-part reunion will see the Hilton Hotels heiress and Richie, who is the adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie, turn Sanasa, a song they created on the show, into an opera.
"We just wanted to do something different than all the other reunions, The Simple Life was so innovative and so new to the world.
"It’s such a special show to celebrate, and we just wanted to do it in the most extra and extravagant way.
"And it’s funny because we’re going to be fish out of water in this as well (referring to their move into opera)."
Richie, also 43, added: "The people that watched The Simple Life when it originally came out might know that we’ve been friends since we were two, but I don’t necessarily think everyone is as familiar with that now.
"And so we take you around parts of LA where we used to hang out, what we used to do in our childhood.
"So really just painting a picture of what our friendship and our life was before we even did the show so that you really understand why when the opportunity came up for us to do it, it was just an automatic yes."
Paris And Nicole: The Encore will air on the Hayu streaming service on 13 December.
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