Since appearing on "", Conrad has been recognized as being among the first individuals to benefit from the popularity of reality television in the early to mid-2000s. In 2009, Thomas Rogers from Salon described her as "one of the dullest major characters in reality television history", but opined that her normalcy compared to her co-stars on "The Hills" made her "vaguely likable". An editor from "People" stated that Conrad "became a full-blown TV phenom" during its third season, which notably introduced the conflict with Montag and Pratt, in addition to controversy regarding scripting allegations.