Commentary: Spencer Pratt, like Donald Trump, is a product of the reality TV industrial complex
Key takeaways
- Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt was on the downslide in 2011.
- He was jobless, broke and living at his parent’s vacation home in Santa Barbara.
- Pratt is following in the footsteps of those before him who’ve leveraged their reality TV fame into political careers.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, who’s now running for L.A. mayor, arrive at Perez Hilton’s 31st birthday party in 2009. (Matt Sayles / Associated Press) By Lorraine Ali News and Culture Critic Follow May 18, 2026 10:08 AM PT 1 8 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt was on the downslide in 2011. He’d been a tabloid sensation in the decade prior thanks to his villainous four-season run on MTV’s reality series “The Hills,” and his ratings-boon relationship with co-star Heidi Montag. By the 2010s, the spotlight was fading and it seemed as if Pratt might slip into obscurity.
He was jobless, broke and living at his parent’s vacation home in Santa Barbara. He told the Daily Beast that he was considering going back to USC to finish his political science degree, but asked, “What real job — what political world — would want Spencer Pratt, with the stigma I’ve attached to my name?”