It was announced on August 9, 2006 that Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie had rekindled their friendship and had agreed to shoot the fifth season of The Simple Life together.

In an interview with Australian Cosmopolitan magazine in January, 2007, Paris confirmed The Simple Life will resume shooting in March, 2007, in Malibu, California. The tentative title for the season was Malibu: Camp Simple Life, but later adjusted to The Simple Life Goes to Camp. Paris explained how she and Nicole will be counselors for multiple camps, including, but not restricted to, a beauty pageant camp, a fat camp and a couples camp.

The Simple Life Goes to Camp, set to debut in May, has Hilton and Richie working as counselors at Camp Shawnee, a fake camp made for the show, in the mountains near Los Angeles, on the location of a the real camp. The camp will be host to five different specialty groups: Wellness Camp, Pageant Camp, Couples Camp, Survival Camp and Drama Camp.