![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MMB2G6LP6RFDVKOOT7ISJKRVM4.jpg\")
Palisades resident Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, stands with supporters after announcing his run for Los Angeles mayor on the one year anniversary of the Palisades fire in the Palisades Village on Jan. 7, 2026, in California. (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times\/TNS) <\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES \u2014Los Angeles voters watched as wildfire destroyed thousands of homes. They mourned the loss of entertainment industry jobs and despaired over homeless people living in squalor.<\/p>\n
Now, a former reality television villain who lost his home in the Palisades fire is using his Hollywood savvy, social media skills and his innate rage to harness those emotions, emerging as an unexpected and polarizing contender in the mayor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
Spencer Pratt of MTV\u2019s reality soap \u201cThe Hills\u201d has turned a sleepy citywide contest into a national story, outpacing his rivals in fundraising, putting in an assured debate performance<\/a> and ranking near the top of voter surveys<\/a>.<\/p>\n L.A. has never seen a mayoral candidate quite like Pratt, a scathing critic of City Hall who has depicted its streets as a dystopian hellscape menaced by drug-addicted zombies. He has vowed a scorched-earth policy for those who might block his vision for clearing away the unhoused.<\/p>\n Pratt has picked up campaign donations from Democratic Party megadonor Haim Saban and Universal Music Group Chairman and Chief Executive Lucian Grainge, one of the most powerful men in the music business. A registered Republican, he has won praise from media figures aligned with President Trump, including podcaster Joe Rogan and Fox News host Greg Gutfeld.<\/p>\n Trump himself offered words of support on Wednesday, saying: \u201cI heard he\u2019s a big MAGA person.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt has downplayed his party affiliation, pointing out that the mayor\u2019s race is nonpartisan. He repeatedly declined to comment for this story, including when approached at a campaign event Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an outsider candidate. He\u2019s a celebrity candidate. He\u2019s very clever, very strategic, and very skilled at social media,\u201d said Republican strategist Kevin Spillane. \u201cThere aren\u2019t many candidates that I\u2019ve seen that are that skilled in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt regularly refers to Mayor Karen Bass, now seeking a second term, as trash, swapping her last name out for basura, Spanish for garbage. He has described supporters of Bass as \u201cBassholes\u201d and backers of another mayoral contender, Councilmember Nithya Raman, as \u201cRamaniacs.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are Pratt\u2019s appearances on the far-right outlet Infowars in 2009 and 2017 where he chatted up conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has claimed that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job and that the massacre of 20 schoolchildren<\/a> at Sandy Hook was a hoax.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s being brash, confrontational, sensational and operating beyond political norms \u2014 all things that Trump has done and continues to do,\u201d said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I think there\u2019s potential for him to unlock a constituency that wasn\u2019t going to vote for a Rick Caruso,\u201d he said, referring to the developer who lost to Bass in 2022.<\/p>\n Pratt, 42, launched himself into politics in the wake of the January 2025 Palisades fire, voicing his fury over an empty reservoir, broken-down fire trucks and the destruction of his own home. Like Trump, he comes into politics with wide name recognition, thanks to his time on reality TV.<\/p>\n But while Pratt\u2019s in-your-face bluster might seem lifted from the president\u2019s playbook, it is in fact part of a persona he began honing two decades ago. Now he\u2019s attempting to transform himself again, into a credible candidate for public office.<\/p>\n Polls show that Pratt has a strong chance of finishing in the top-two in the June 2 primary. If no candidate wins a majority, those two compete in the Nov. 3 runoff.<\/p>\n Whether Pratt can win that is another question.<\/p>\n Although the mayor\u2019s race is nonpartisan, L.A. remains a deep blue city, where 55% of registered voters are Democrats and less than 15% are Republicans. Voters haven\u2019t elected a GOP mayor since 1997, when they gave a second term<\/a> to Richard Riordan, who first won in the wake of the 1992 riots with the slogan \u201cTough Enough to Turn L.A. Around.\u201d<\/p>\n Political consultants have taken note of the similarities between Pratt\u2019s campaign and Trump\u2019s take-no-prisoners approach. But some have doubts about Pratt\u2019s prospects in a runoff, when midterm congressional elections will serve as a referendum on the president.<\/p>\n \u201cCalling people names, saying outrageous things [where] everything\u2019s a conspiracy \u2014 he\u2019s modeling himself after Trump, and I don\u2019t think that works in the city of L.A.,\u201d said Democratic political strategist Garry South.<\/p>\n Pratt has focused much of his mayoral platform on improving public safety, addressing homelessness and stopping animal abuse on Skid Row.<\/p>\n He has called for a massive increase in the number of police officers, taking the force up to 12,500. He has vowed to ensure the city enforces its laws. He\u2019s promising a \u201ctreatment first\u201d approach to drug users living on the street.<\/p>\n Although critics have blasted his plans as impractical<\/a>, his messages were welcomed by the scores of people who showed up Saturday for a campaign meet and greet in Sherman Oaks.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here for 20 years and this place has just deteriorated,\u201d said Sherman Oaks resident Janet Sams, standing near a stack of Pratt lawn signs. \u201cThe crime, the homelessness, the inept political people that are in office, and just the feeling of being lied to.\u201d<\/p>\n Son of the Palisades<\/p>\n Pratt was raised in affluent Pacific Palisades, attending Crossroads School, a pricey private academy in Santa Monica teeming with children of entertainment industry figures.<\/p>\n Former classmates described him as a charismatic and popular kid with a sense of humor. But that high-energy personality sometimes turned dark, classmates said, with Pratt making fun of his peers and talking down to staff members.<\/p>\n Nora Kletter, a freelance screenwriter who attended Crossroads, said she knew him as a bully.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was enormously disrespectful to a lot of the teachers and staff. It was kind of hard to watch,\u201d said Kletter, who is voting for Raman. \u201cI just remember this attitude of almost like, the teachers worked for us.\u201d<\/p>\n At one after-school soccer game during Pratt\u2019s senior year, Crossroads\u2019 soccer coach benched him. Pratt began screaming at the coach. When a parent intervened, Pratt also screamed at the parent, according to three people who witnessed the incident, who asked to remain unnamed for fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n Pratt, in his new book \u201cThe Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain,\u201d wrote that the coach was punishing him for \u201cghosting a meeting the night before playoffs.\u201d Pratt said he was kicked off the team and narrowly avoided expulsion from the school.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people are born to keep the peace,\u201d he said in his book. \u201cI was here to disturb it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sue Kohl, a longtime Palisades resident whose kids grew up with Pratt, said the teenage years should be viewed with some perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all knew who our kids were with, and the good and the bad of what was going on,\u201d said Kohl, who is president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, speaking in her personal capacity. \u201cThey were 15. Right now, they\u2019re adults, and I wouldn\u2019t even think about those years.\u201d<\/p>\n Trojan years<\/p>\n Pratt enrolled at USC in 2003, hoping to \u201cconquer Wall Street,\u201d according to his memoir. But it was his interest in political science that left an impression on his teachers.<\/p>\n Politics and communications professor Dan Schnur, who had Pratt in class, described him as smart but also a \u201cvery unconventional\u201d student.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was incredibly enthusiastic, and he ended up writing an excellent campaign strategy paper for his final,\u201d said Schnur, a former strategist for GOP candidates.<\/p>\n In his memoir, Pratt said he grew less interested in classwork as he became intrigued by the moneymaking potential of reality television. After seeing the success of \u201cThe Osbournes,\u201d the show about Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s family, Pratt looked to produce his own version.<\/p>\n That led to \u201cThe Princes of Malibu,\u201d a show he co-created with friends Brody and Brandon Jenner.<\/p>\n Fox canceled the series in 2005 after two episodes. But Pratt got a second shot at reality fame on the MTV show \u201cThe Hills,\u201d rising to prominence as the boyfriend \u2014 now husband\u2014 of Heidi Montag.<\/p>\n The show ran for six seasons. It followed Lauren Conrad, star of \u201cLaguna Beach: The Real Orange County,\u201d as she moved to Los Angeles and took an internship with Teen Vogue.<\/p>\n In a 2019 interview with The Times<\/a>, Pratt said he muscled his way onto \u201cThe Hills\u201d after learning that Sean Travis, a producer on \u201cPrinces of Malibu,\u201d was working on the new series. Pratt said he called Travis and told him he intended to appear in it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like, \u2018No, no, this is a set cast,\u2019\u201d Pratt said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, no, no, I\u2019ll see you in the club. They can\u2019t keep me out of the club.\u2019 I had just been on a show that I thought was going to be the rest of my life. This was a second opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Villain on \u2018The Hills\u2019<\/p>\n As Montag\u2019s troublemaker boyfriend, Pratt quickly became a master at stirring up drama, frequently at the expense of Conrad, Montag\u2019s friend and roommate.<\/p>\n His machinations upset Conrad to the point where she declared him to be a \u201csucky person,\u201d a moment that lives on in GIFs. According to his memoir, he spread what Conrad said were false rumors about her having a sex tape, telling a gossip blogger about its possible existence.<\/p>\n The incident delivered a dramatic onscreen ending<\/a> to Conrad\u2019s friendship with Montag. In his memoir, Pratt said he filmed an apology for the show, but only because MTV offered him payment for it.<\/p>\n Viewers loved to hate Pratt. As the show became more popular, the spotlight on its young stars grew more intense, fueling coverage in tabloids and entertainment magazines. Pratt married Montag, who was looking to become a pop singer.<\/p>\n With \u201cThe Hills\u201d nearing an end, Pratt wrote in his memoir, he burned through money and grew paranoid about the couple\u2019s personal safety, stockpiling guns and ammunition.<\/p>\n He became fascinated with crystals and their healing properties, he wrote. And he took an interest in Jones, the conspiracy theorist and radio and internet host.<\/p>\n Pratt went on air with Jones<\/a> in 2009, telling him that Infowars is \u201cthe only thing anybody should be paying attention to\u201d on Twitter. He talked about Jones\u2019 theory that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack was \u201can inside job<\/a>\u201d and expressed alarm over a federal climate change bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s mind-boggling that they\u2019re trying to say there\u2019s global warming right now and, you know, that the ice caps are melting and the polar bears are going to drown,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cWhen we all know, we\u2019ve all seen footage of the polar bears swimming to new pieces of ice.\u201d<\/p>\n Within a year, the Pratts decided to pursue a divorce \u2014 or, at least, a divorce filing. Pratt had been shopping the idea of a lifeguard movie and was determined to stay relevant, according to his memoir.<\/p>\n Heidi Pratt filed the paperwork in 2010, generating headlines for months, according to the memoir.<\/p>\n \u201cThe public saw chaos, betrayal, and divorce papers,\u201d Pratt wrote in his book. \u201cBut behind the scenes? Heidi and I were still thick as thieves, scheming side by side, laughing at how easy it was to keep the world guessing and the checks coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n Heidi Pratt eventually asked for the case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n The couple soon found other opportunities, appearing in \u201cCelebrity Big Brother\u201d in the U.K. Pratt finished his degree at USC. He voiced growing unhappiness with his reputation as one of the \u201cmost hated people in the known universe.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Baskin, executive producer of \u201cThe Hills: New Beginnings,\u201d which aired from 2019 to 2021, said he believes Pratt didn\u2019t realize the implications of his role as the show\u2019s bad guy.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you create a persona, it\u2019s an extension of yourself,\u201d Baskin said. \u201cAnd if you really say things that are related to that persona \u2014 whether or not it\u2019s encouraged [by producers], and I\u2019m sure it was, especially when it was working and it was entertaining \u2014 it\u2019s going to stick.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt returned to \u201cThe Alex Jones Show\u201d in 2017, when the host was under fire<\/a> for falsely portraying the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook<\/a> Elementary School in Connecticut as a hoax. Standing with Heidi on a beach in Hawaii, Pratt quizzed Jones about whether his remarks had been unfairly edited.<\/p>\n \u201cI know from watching you for years that you\u2019re not like \u2014 I know people are gonna eat me alive for this, but \u2014 a bad guy,\u201d Pratt said in a video interview<\/a>. \u201cBut then people see this whole Sandy Hook spin that they have, and they\u2019re like, \u2018He doesn\u2019t believe parents.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Forged by fire<\/p>\n Around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, Pratt\u2019s nanny burst through the door of his house in the Palisades, Pratt wrote in his memoir. A fire had started on a nearby hill.<\/p>\n Heidi took their two sons to the home of Pratt\u2019s parents, also in the Palisades but closer to the ocean. \u201cFor their place to burn, the entire town would have to go up in flames,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Pratt stayed behind, waiting anxiously for two hours, saying he saw no air support overhead. When the fire approached his parents\u2019 home nearby, Pratt realized it was time to go.<\/p>\n Pratt packed his BMW and called 911 one last time, begging dispatchers to send firefighters. They told him none were available, he wrote.<\/p>\n In the end, Pratt\u2019s three-bedroom house and his parents\u2019 home were two of the 6,845 structures destroyed by the Palisades fire, which killed 12 people.<\/p>\n Since then, Pratt has assailed Bass for being on a diplomatic trip to Ghana when the fire ignited, despite a forecast of dangerously high winds and \u201ccritical fire conditions.\u201d<\/a> Bass has said that she wasn\u2019t told of those warnings.<\/p>\n Businessman Jeremy Padawer, who also lost his home, said the disaster opened Pratt\u2019s eyes to the \u201cextreme lack of accountability\u201d by the city.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Spencer\u2019s perspective was, \u2018I\u2019m going to turn this into not just an avocation but also a vocation,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt was, \u2018How can I dedicate my life to making this better?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt sued the city,<\/a> saying he held Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom responsible for the loss of his and his parents\u2019 homes. He railed against the charity known as FireAid, saying it failed to provide proper relief to fire survivors. He joined Republican U.S. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in publicizing a federal inquiry<\/a> into the fire.<\/p>\n \u201cSpencer took that message to Washington and brought these two senators out here. They would have never been here without his advocacy,\u201d said Kohl of the Pacific Palisades Community Council.<\/p>\n Campaign for mayor<\/p>\n On Jan. 7, the first anniversary of the fire, Pratt launched his campaign, ratcheting up the pressure on Bass. Using social media, he put the spotlight on darkened streetlights, stripped of copper wire; homeless encampments lining city sidewalks; drug use in MacArthur Park.<\/p>\n In the wake of the fire, Pratt moved to his parents\u2019 beach home in Carpinteria, in Santa Barbara County. After The Times asked about where he was living,<\/a> Pratt posted a video saying he had placed an Airstream trailer onto his burned-out lot in the Palisades.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I live,\u201d he said, standing in front of the trailer in a campaign video that Pratt titled \u201cThey Not Like Us.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In the video, Pratt stood outside Raman\u2019s Silver Lake home and the city-owned Getty House in Hancock Park, where Bass lives, contending both are far removed from the urban ills that beset other Angelenos.<\/p>\n TMZ later reported that Pratt had been staying at the pricey Hotel Bel-Air.<\/a> Responding to that initial report, Pratt told TMZ that his security team wouldn\u2019t allow him to live in the trailer because of threats he had received.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m at a hotel because these psychopaths are messaging me every day they\u2019re going to kill me,\u201d Pratt said.<\/p>\n He has been using eye-catching images<\/a> to spread his message, reposting an artificial intelligence- generated video<\/a> that portrayed Bass as the Joker, the Batman villain. The spot depicted angry citizens throwing tomatoes that hit AI-generated images of Bass, Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n Raman blasted Pratt as a MAGA Republican and a \u201cmini-Trump.\u201d Pratt has disputed that idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not represent a party. I don\u2019t have a campaign manager. I don\u2019t have a campaign consultant. There\u2019s no political party backing me,\u201d he told NBC4.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/NMY4EJ45BE3OWXT7QVHFCLAAIE.jpg\")
Spencer Pratt speaks during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” at Fox News headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa\/Invision\/AP) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3YXLE2IGOHEJ7M3LWASTFFGGDU.jpg\")
Heidi Montag, left, and Spencer Pratt arrive at the premiere of “The Accountant 2” on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/S3V6I54MQRGUZGKNVHFB7WOLPE.jpg\")
Pacific Palisades’ Josh Lederer, center, helps set up a sign where Palisades fire survivors gathered in the Palisades Village to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Palisades fire on Jan. 7, 2026, in California. (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times\/TNS) <\/p>\n