‘The Hills’ Star Spencer Pratt Shares the Sad Reason Why There Are No Pictures in His New Book: ‘Burned to the Ground’
Spencer Pratt lost it all in the 2025 California wildfires.
The Hills alum is opening up about his time on the hit MTV show in his new book, The Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain, which was released on January 27. But even though Pratt, along with his wife Heidi Montag, was part of one of the most-photographed celeb couples in the mid-2000s (thanks in large part to their habit of calling the paparazzi on themselves), there’s a surprising lack of pictures in his debut memoir. There’s a reason for that, he says.
Spencer Pratt lost precious mementos in 2025 fire
“Every photo I’ve ever had burned to the ground thanks to Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom and all my parents’ photos burned to the ground,” Pratt said during a January 28 interview on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends.
“So, the only photos I have started in like iPhone 10 or iPhone 7 when the Cloud came in,” he continued. “And so, it would have been weird to put just like photos from like 2012. So, I was like, OK, no photos.”
While the book might be short on photos, it’s long on Pratt’s reflections on his years as the guy you loved to hate on The Hills. It’s also a redemption story, he says, following him from his time on MTV to his new era as a survivor of the Palisades Fires and a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles.
“I wrote this book because right after my house burned down, the publishers reached out and felt like what was happening in my life was a closure to my journey of fame and you know, because I was always chasing fame and riches, and now I’m at zero,” he explained. “You burn my house down. I have nothing.”
‘The Hills’ alum announces run for Los Angeles mayor
Once Pratt, who grew up in Pacific Palisades, got over the shock of losing his and Montag’s home, he got mad. He was particularly upset over what he saw as the negligence of LA’s political leaders before, during, and after the disaster, including Mayor Karen Bass. On the one-year anniversary of the Palisades Fire, Pratt announced he was running to replace Bass as the city’s top elected official.
“I never wanted to be mayor. I don’t want to be in politics. I want to be back in my house with my family, going down to the local public schools and having just a normal life,” Pratt said. “But once you uncover everything I have in the last year, these people in charge should have resigned on January 7th, January 8th, and I was waiting for somebody to step up and, you know, go after these people, and nobody did.”
“So, I was like, okay, well, I’m — it’s my job to do that,” he continued. “So, yeah, it’s — again, it’s criminal negligence. Once people are burning alive, it’s a whole another tier in my mind. It’s not just negligence.”
For more news and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.
