Heidi Montag and her new husband, Spencer Pratt, dropped out of the NBC reality competition show “I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here” on Monday night due to Heidi’s condition. Heidi had to be rushed to hospital on Saturday with a rumored gastric ulcer after spending the night with Spencer in a room called “the lost chamber,” their punishment for leaving the show earlier in the week and then opting to return. Spencer’s sister, Stephanie Pratt, told the press that producers were dropping large spiders on the couple and that they spent three days in the dark without food and water, and were “treated… like they were criminals or terrorists.” Producers claimed that Heidi and Spencer were only in the room for 14 hours, that they were given food and water, and that they seemed fine afterwards.

Heidi’s sister, Holly Montag, will take her place in the Costa Rican jungle among the other contestants. Holly will be joining the cast on the episode to air Wednesday:

The drama surrounding Spencer and Heidi Pratt’s fate on NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” came to a conclusion Monday night (June 8) when the duo announced that they were saying goodbye to the jungle because the conditions had led to Heidi being hospitalized. “We gave it our all that we can, but now it’s about health,” Spencer said near the end of the two-hour episode. “Doctors are going to be with her the next three days and it’s just, you know, we went back in and we proved to ourselves that it wasn’t about us. It was a life-changing experience.” It was also announced that Heidi’s sister and fellow “Hills” star Holly Montag would be taking their place on the show.

Reports over the weekend claimed Heidi’s hospitalization was the result of “torture” practices in the “Lost Chamber” — a dark room filled with spiders and other creepy crawlies that she and her husband were forced to spend the night in as punishment for leaving the show — but NBC (as well as the couple’s rep) said earlier today that those allegations were “false and inaccurate.” It was revealed on the episode that the reality star left the set via ambulance after throwing up “at least 15 times” almost 24 hours after her stay in the chamber.

While at a local medical center, Heidi told the doctor that the intensity of her pain on a scale of one to 10 was “a four or five.” Spencer, who stood by his wife’s side as she got an IV, immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I love you so much, baby. … Jesus loves you more than anyone, baby.”

The show’s emergency medical specialist, Dr. Jose Martinez, then told the cameras, “With the clinical symptoms that Heidi has right now, I need to take her to a hospital so I can run more labs and tests to determine exactly what it is that’s causing this pain.”

Meanwhile, back at camp, castmember Lou Diamond Phillips alerted everyone that Heidi had been sent to San Jose for a stomach scan. Janice Dickinson, however, didn’t believe the hype. “It’s another act … everything they do is calculated. It’s another act.” Sanjaya, mocking Speidi’s previous religious outpours, chimed in with, “Maybe it’s the devil coming out in her.”

Eventually, Heidi’s test results came back showing that her ultrasound was negative, which meant her pancreas and gallbladder were fine. (She also was told she’s not pregnant, which made Spencer do a silent cheer.) “It does seem to be more like we were thinking — the gastric ulcer or gastritis,” the doctor said. Lou once again delivered a “Speidi update” to the cast: “They will not be coming back to camp. They are no longer a part of this competition. They are gone.”

Host Myleene Klass left on this note, “Tune in Wednesday … and find out how the camp reacted to their new arrival [Holly]. So that’s it, Heidi and Spencer have gone for good — or have they? You never know with those two.” And looking at their track record prior to the hospital stay — leaving the show, then reversing their decision because the devil told them to “get out of the jungle” — we definitely don’t.

[From MTV]

Other outlets, including People and Access Hollywood, are reporting that footage verifies that Spencer and Heidi were only in the chamber for 14 hours overnight, not three days as Stephanie claimed, and that they seemed ok afterwards. Perhaps out of contractual obligations, or maybe because they know they’ll look like tools once the footage airs, Heidi’s rep has denied that she was tortured at all:

Heidi Pratt’s rep confirms to Usmagazine.com exclusively that she wasn’t tortured on the set of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.

“There have been many reports that surfaced over the weekend regarding Spencer and Heidi Pratt. Many of these reports are false and inaccurate, including any reports of ‘torture’ on the show,” the rep tells Us.

“What we can say at this time is that Heidi went to a hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica Saturday evening because she was not feeling well.

“She has been released from the hospital and is doing well,” the rep goes on. “The couple remains in Costa Rica. In addition, it was reported the Pratts have fired their legal counsel. This is inaccurate.”

[From US Weekly]

So what’s next for this fame-hungry couple? Are they eventually going to get their own reality show centered around their privileged comfortable life, or will they be forced to work hard for their riches by milking The Hills for all it’s worth and charging four figures for event appearances? As much as people abhor them, I can’t see them going away any time soon. They’re sure to pull some other stunt soon to keep their names in the gossip press.

Photos are from 5/23/09. Credit: Louise Barnsley/PacificCoastNews.com