Reality check: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie return

THE NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE Hotel heiress Paris Hilton and fashion designer and actor Nicole Richie starred in the early reality-TV show “The Simple Life” (Fox/E!, 2003-07). They were friends going into it — then out of it, not so much.

Speaking last week on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Hilton, 43, said tabloid media of the time “loved starting feuds between people … and creating drama.” Richie, also 43, agreed but added the two were in their 20s and “so young that we didn't even know how to communicate with each other, so … if we were hearing something, we just would assume, ‘Is that true? Is that not true?’ And we didn't have the communication skills that we have now to have check-ins, which is so important.”

How did they reconcile? Still unclear from the podcast.

“We’ve been friends our entire lives … but when you’re talking about some fight, I watch it with other 20-year-olds that I know and they’re going through a little thing and then they’re back,” Richie said. “But because ours was a part of a TV show, it just blew up to be something that was so big that it became impossible to connect to or have any sort of real feeling around it…. We’re sitting here talking about it now and I’m, like, yeah. There’s nothing that lives on the surface in me.”

The two currently star on the Peacock streaming miniseries “Paris & Nicole: The Encore.”

‘FARMER’ OF THE BRIDE Actor Kimberly Williams-Paisley, who starred in the two 1990s “Father of the Bride” films, will host season 3 of the Fox rural dating competition “Farmer Wants a Wife,” succeeding singer-songwriter Jennifer Nettles.

"I enjoyed being myself in this show, which was a new experience for me with my first unscripted series,” Williams-Paisley, 53, wife of country-music star Brad Paisley, said in a statement. “Because I'm a city girl who embraced the country life when I married my husband 21 years ago, I related to the allure of a farmer for these ladies. I really appreciate how dedicated this show and its producers are in helping these hopeful farmers and women find love.”

The new season premieres March 20.

RU-MOR HAS IT Or, actually, it’s a fact: Season 17 of the franchise flagship “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will have as celebrity judges Katy Perry (on the premiere, Jan. 3) and actors/comedians Sandra Bernhard, Quinta Brunson, Jerrod Carmichael, Whitney Cummings, June Diane Raphael and Tracee Ellis Ross; singers/rappers Doechii née Jaylah Hickmon, Adam Lambert and Sam Smith; and legendary designer Betsey Johnson, among others.

Returning as regular judges are Carson Kressley, Ts Madison, North Shore resident Ross Mathews and Michelle Visage.

FINALE With Andy Rueda, of Brooklyn, and Genevieve Mushaluk having been voted off the island, in that order, that leaves Teeny Chirichillo, Rachel LaMont, Sam Phalen and Sue Smey as the finalists on the two-hour season-47 closer, Wednesday night at 8 on CBS.

PREMIERE Early Thursday, 1,000 contestants compete in physical, mental and social challenges for a chance at a $5 million prize on “Beast Games,” hosted by Jimmy Donaldson, new on the streaming service Prime Video.

RECAPS Sofronio Vasquez won season 26 of the NBC singing competition “The Voice,” with second place going to his fellow Team Michael Bublé member, the monomial Shye, who was raised in Glen Cove.