Organizers at last weekend’s 2009 MTV Movie Awards were so worried that a hair-grabbing slap fight would break out on the red carpet, they separated loose-lipped heiress Paris Hilton from Stephanie Pratt and the other pissed stars of the network’s popular reality series The Hills.

The feud began when Paris fired off at the show, which previously featured her boyfriend Doug Reinhardt as Lauren Conrad’s ex.

“The show is, like, so lame and fake. He doesn’t even want to be a part of it,” Paris — an MTV reality star herself — said dryly at an event in New York last week. Several Hills castmembers were taken aback by the socialite’s biting comments.

Among them Stephanie, who demanded Paris apologize for her comments.

“Organizers went out of their way to make sure World War Three didn’t break out on the night,” says one chatty mole for Britain’s Daily Mirror. “Both camps made it clear the girls did not want to be anywhere near each other.”

“Staff got around it by staggering their appearances on the red carpet by half an hour.”