Stephen Colletti Remembers Thinking MTV Was 'Wasting Money' Casting Him and His Friends on “Laguna Beach”
Stephen Colletti Remembers Thinking MTV Was 'Wasting Money' Casting Him and His Friends on “Laguna Beach”
Virginia ChamleeTue, April 14, 2026 at 4:17 PM UTC
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Stephen CollettiCredit: Emma McIntyre/Getty -
Stephen Colletti said he and his friends initially thought MTV was “wasting a ton of money” filming their everyday lives for Laguna Beach
Fellow cast member Trey Phillips recalled the group believed “there was nothing in our lives that was worth capturing”
In a new interview, the two said they didn’t even expect the show to air
Stephen Colletti says he initially did not think Laguna Beach would be a hit.
Appearing on the Wednesday, April 8 episode of Teen Beat with Danielle Fishel, Colletti, 40, joined former castmate Trey Phillips, 39, to reflect on their initial reactions to being cast in the MTV reality series.
At the time, both said they were baffled by the network’s interest in documenting their everyday lives in Laguna Beach.
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Trey Phillips and Stephen Colletti on Laguna BeachCredit: MTV
"Absolutely not. We have a funny story where, we were in our car and we were — I looked at him and I thought that we were getting away like bandits. Like, there was nothing in our lives that was worth capturing," Phillips recounted.
Colletti echoed that sentiment, saying the group questioned why cameras were following them at all.
"Yeah. Like, 'What are they doing here? Did they realize that they're wasting a ton of money on us?' And I go, like, 'The location's nice, but, like, I mean, we're we're bored here anyways. We're looking to get out of this town.' So, yeah. We we knew, obviously, you know, MTV was what it was at the time. And so we were really just, like, taken aback that they were there, but we were interested in at least engaging with them, but not expecting the show to actually air," Colletti said.
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Despite their skepticism, the casting process itself hinted that the project was more serious than they initially believed.
Phillips remembered the extensive questionnaires they were asked to complete before filming began, which required detailed personal information.
"Well, I mean, when they had you sign up for it, you had to fill out this 19-page profile thing, and you were like, you know, they needed the name of your dog. You know, it was like everything. So all of a sudden, when they said, 'Do you want to be on the show?' It felt like, oh my gosh, it felt so real," he said.
Laguna Beach, which premiered in 2004 on MTV, went on to become one of the network’s most well-known reality series, capturing the lives, relationships and drama of high school students and launching several cast members into the spotlight.
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The reality series, which launched, in 2004, ran for three seasons, with the cast coming together recently for The Reunion: Laguna Beach, which began streaming on The Roku Channel on April 10,
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
