The Guy You Loved to Hate - by Spencer Pratt (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In this explosive, wildly entertaining memoir, Spencer Pratt charts his rise and fall as America's most notorious reality TV villain on The Hills--and how, from the ashes of the Pacific Palisades fires, he's finally ready for his redemption arc.

Spencer Pratt wasn't born into Hollywood royalty--he charmed his way in, driven by an unshakeable need to become somebody. By twenty-one, he had created his own reality show, making him the youngest executive producer in network television history. When that venture imploded, he didn't give up; instead, he infiltrated MTV's The Hills, weaponizing Simon Cowell-style villainy to become Y2K's most hated reality TV antagonist. From on-screen fights to off-camera manipulation, Spencer transformed toxicity into ratings gold--and, with future wife Heidi Montag, built "Speidi," a two-headed tabloid machine worth $2 million a year.

But behind the scenes, Spencer was spiraling. He begged for a redemption arc, only to learn villains don't get to yell "cut." As his mental health unraveled, calculated chaos gave way to full-blown instability--hoarding weapons, blowing a fortune on crystals, and pushing everyone away. Broke, blacklisted, and exiled from Hollywood, he lost his grip on reality, trapped in the fake world he'd built until he had almost nothing left. All that remained was Heidi, the one person who never stopped believing in him.

Together, Heidi and Spencer embarked on an unlikely comeback: rebuilding their lives through hummingbird mysticism, family, and lovable eccentricity across social media platforms. When the 2025 Palisades wildfires destroyed their home and everything inside, something miraculous happened--the TikTok community rallied around them with breathtaking speed, transforming them from antiheroes into beloved survivors almost overnight. Spencer Pratt was reborn not as a manufactured persona, but as exactly who he was: unedited, unfiltered, and real.

Now, for the first time, Spencer reveals the untold truth behind the spectacle--a darkly comedic, unflinching, and often surreal confessional from a TV villain who's finally broken character for good.

About the Author

Spencer Pratt is reality TV's original villain and an icon of millennial fame culture. Best known for The Hills, he continues to evolve as a media personality--appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, The Hills: New Beginnings, and going viral on TikTok for his crystal hauls, hummingbird obsession, absurd burrito stunts, and raw documentation of his family's harrowing experience during the Pacific Palisades wildfire. Despite the chaos, he's outlasted most of his reality TV peers--and somehow, he's still not done. He lives in Southern California with Heidi and their two children with an unrelenting focus on rebuilding their lives in the Palisades.