Heidi and Spencer: Faking It or For Real?

June 9, 2009— -- Are they or are they not quitting? Were they or were they not tortured? Did Heidi really end up in the hospital on Saturday?

The questions keep swirling around Heidi and Spencer Pratt and their involvement in the NBC reality show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" And, most likely, the publicity-hungry pair and the producers of the show want it that way to get more viewers to tune in for tonight's show.

Internet reports surfaced over the weekend that Heidi became deathly ill and had to be rushed to the hospital after she and her husband were banished to an isolation chamber, where they were denied food and water. Spencer's sister Stephanie Pratt was quoted saying the couple were being "tortured" and the family was gravely concerned. NBC, the network that produces the reality show, denied the reports.

On Monday, NBC released a statement.

"ITV Studios, producers of the series, state that press reports at this time are untrue," the statement said. "ITV has been producing this format around the world for many years and the health of the celebrity participants are of the utmost importance. A medic and a doctor are present at the location at all times for all participants. All allegations of the celebrities being deprived of food and water are completely untrue."

Who's telling the truth? You'll have to tune in tonight, of course, to find out. Tonight's episode is supposed to show the pair's banishment to the so-called "Lost Chamber" -- punishment for last week, when they first quit, then came back to the show.

"Is there publicity involved? Of course," E! Online's Marc Malkin told ABCNews.com Monday. "Heidi and Spencer, no matter what you think of them, are absolute pros at the publicity game."

The couple, who became famous after starring in the MTV hit reality show "The Hills," have a reputation for publicity-driven stunts that are more "show" than "reality." They scored an Us Weekly cover story for their supposed Mexican elopment and then basked in even more headline speculation over whether they were really married or not. It turned out they were not, and they generated another round of coverage when they made it legal in California months later.