The decision to replace the departing Conrad with Cavallari halfway through the fifth season was met with a mixed response. Tim Stack of "Entertainment Weekly" expressed interest in the route the series would take, writing that the latter would "be fully prepared to stir things up". After the premiere of the first episode under her lead, a writer from PopSugar criticized Cavallari's "sassy, bad-girl attitude" for lacking originality and preferred Conrad for " it real". In contrast, Amy Kaufman from "Los Angeles Times" opined that Cavallari was more intriguing than Conrad, whose storylines she felt had been overshadowed as the series progressed.