E! Network has officially pulled the plug on The Simple Life after five seasons. The current season, which finishes airing on August 5th, looks like it will be the final season for the reality show starring Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton.

The cancellation doesn’t come as much of a surprise since E! Networks President and CEO Ted Harbert recently expressed his doubts about the series continuing. Harbert pointed to Hilton’s recent legal troubles as the cause of the series’ decline in viewership saying, “We all thought the publicity would help the show. We were wrong. It’s not doing well.”

An unnamed source at E! agreed and told US Magazine. “We felt like the real life drama of their lives overshadowed anything happening on the show. Viewers would see Paris all day long on the news about her going to jail, so they didn’t care about seeing her camping with kids. It just was too played out.” Episodes of Simple Life currently attract an average of 840,000 viewers, down 20% from last season’s viewership.

The current season of Simple Life has reunited Hilton and Richie as drama camp counselors after a feud that caused the two to film their parts separately last year. The final episode sounds like it will be a fitting one as Hilton and Richie write their own play in tribute to their decades-long friendship.

E! released a statement, saying, “Simple Life has been a wonderful addition to the E! schedule for two years, and we will always be grateful to Paris and Nicole for their hard work and graciousness.”

Could The Simple Life be picked up by another channel? It’s possible but Hilton doesn’t sound interested, saying, “It’s been a great five years and we had so much fun. I’m happy to end it at that.” Stay tuned!