A Simple Life Premieres with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie

I checked out of A Simple Life a good two seasons ago, but there must still be people watching it, because on Monday night, it was back for its fifth season on E!. This time it is set in the Malibu Mountains at Camp Shawnee. Paris and Nicole become camp counselors and try to wrangle campers of all ages.

TV Guide: Have either of you ever been to camp before?
Paris Hilton: I went to camp for one day and I hated it.

TV Guide: How did you prepare for this edition of Simple Life?
Paris: We didn't. We just went in as how we are — two best friends. All the adventures we go on on the show are things we've never done before. It was neat to get to experience that.

TV Guide: With the five different theme camps, did either of you excel in any activity, over the other one?
Paris: We didn't really think about it, we just did it.

TV Guide: But in pageant camp, did you, like, teach the campers runway secrets?
Nicole Richie: They actually taught us. This one 5-year-old knew way more about makeup and hair and everything than I did. But I taught them how to give the finger.

TV Guide: How did that go over?
Nicole: Not that well.

TV Guide: What were the age ranges of the campers?
Nicole: From 5 to 50.
Paris: Oh, older than that. There was a 70-year-old couple.

TV Guide: Did you learn anything from the assorted experts?
Nicole: Yeah. The experts really knew what they were doing. In Survival Camp, [former Green Beret Myke Hawke] sliced his finger open, he'd had stitches and they'd come undone. I'm a huge Grey's Anatomy fan so I was like, "Oh, can I redo your stitches?" He let me do them.

TV Guide: Did you learn that during your plastic-surgery rotation on the season where you were interns?
Nicole: Oh, I didn't even think about that.

TV Guide: Did you learn anything new about each other during the camp situations?
Nicole: I don't think there's anything else to learn, we've known each other for so long. We've taken trips together since we were babies.
Paris: We know everything about each other.
Nicole: It was great just to catch up on lost time and be together and have that time away from Los Angeles and everything, and be alone.

TV Guide: Did they have any restrictions on what you could bring with you?
Nicole: No. There weren't really any rules.
Paris: They wanted us to wear uniforms, but we said, "There's no way.... "

TV Guide: What unexpected things happened at camp?
Nicole: I didn't expect anything, actually. I was so surprised just because I'd never been to camp before.
Paris: Plus, every camp was so different.

TV Guide: Did you get care packages from home?
Nicole: No, but I totally should have thought of requesting that!

TV Guide: Did you send postcards to anyone?
Paris and Nicole: No.

TV Guide: Was there arts and crafts? Swimming?
Nicole: Yeah.

TV Guide: Did you play any pranks?
Nicole: Yes! We can't tell you [details], you have to see, but they're really great. I really took it to the next level.

TV Guide: Can you at least say what props you used in your prank?
Nicole: Yeah — a chainsaw.

TV Guide: Did you have to sing camp songs?
Paris: Sometimes. They had one camp song that we didn't really like.

TV Guide: What kind of camp food did you have? S'mores?
Paris: We had s'mores.
Nicole: And we had worms. Live ones!

TV Guide: Is there anything you did for the first time at camp that you'd like to do again?
Nicole: We got lost in the woods. We were just looking around and we got lost. We finally got cell reception and called a helicopter to come and get us. They couldn't land, so they sent down two little strings and attached them onto us and we were hanging onto the helicopter, dangling in the air. It was a lot of fun actually. I want to do that again.

TV Guide: I've interviewed you both in the past and know you're not keen on working out. Did that put you at a disadvantage, camp-wise?
Nicole: No, there weren't a lot of physical things to do.

TV Guide: Of all the campers you worked with, who touched you the most?
Paris: There was this one couple who'd been together since they were in their teens and they were so in love. It was so sweet to see them together. And the little girls were really sweet.

TV Guide: What were the highlights of the experience?
Paris: One of the highlights came during drama camp. They had people come in from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Jackie Chan movies who do stunts. I got to be attached to a harness 200 feet up and jump down and kick all these karate moves. People were, like, flying in the air. It was really fun to do that.

TV Guide: Any lowlights?
Nicole: Our living situation wasn't that great. We stayed in cabins and it was freezing. It was always uncomfortable. We had to walk outside to go to the bathroom. Little things like that. It's funny, because you don't appreciate them, but they're really important.

TV Guide: What scenario would you like to put yourselves in next season?
Paris: I'd like to go skydiving.
Nicole: We literally just wrapped [filming] two days ago. We're so, like, "Uh!" from this season right now that we really need to, like, take a minute to see.

Photo from TV Guide.