Spencer Pratt was one of the first reality TV villains, but now he’s stolen the internet’s hearts.
Pratt made his name on MTV show The Hills. And after years out of the spotlight (bar reprising his role in a The Hills reboot in 2019), he has made an unlikely comeback. It started when the home he shares with wife Heidi Montag burned down in the Pacific Palisades fire, which ripped through Los Angeles earlier this month.
Pratt’s unfiltered TikToks documenting his life in the aftermath of the fire have earned him legions of new fans, who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and even sent Heidi’s 2010 album to number one in the US charts. Their return to the limelight is one of the great reality TV redemption arcs following a decade of relative obscurity.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt at the height of their fame in 2008, when The Hills was at its peak
AP
Earning reality villain status in The Hills
The Hills ran from 2006 to 2011 and followed the lives of four women in their twenties while they were living in one of Los Angeles’ most affluent neighbourhoods. Pratt entered the show as the boyfriend of Heidi Montag, and the pair quickly became a troublemaking duo. They fell out with their castmates for spreading salacious rumours and were accused of leaking false stories to the press. The couple were willing to go the extra mile to make good TV, with Montag famously getting ten plastic surgery procedures in a day in one episode.
