Spencer Pratt is back in the headlines, but not for the reason many people remember him.
Once cast as reality TV’s ultimate villain on MTV’s cult ’00s show, The Hills, Pratt, now 42—alongside his wife, now 39-year-old Heidi Montag—spent years as one half of “Speidi,” a couple widely mocked as fame-hungry, overly performative and unlikely to last.
They first met in 2006, while Montag was filming The Hills, and began dating shortly after, with their relationship becoming public on the show in 2007.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag attend the 2025 American Music Awards at Fontainebleau Las Vegas on May 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Their relationship fueled some of the show’s biggest storylines, defined by public feuds, tabloid drama and a reputation for blurring the line between what was real and what was staged.
But nearly two decades later, as Pratt resurfaces in the news cycle with an unexpected run for Los Angeles mayor, their relationship tells a different story.
In contrast to many reality TV couples—from The Bachelor to Love Island—which often unravel once removed from the pressures of filming and public scrutiny, Pratt and Montag’s relationship has endured.
The pair are married, raising two boys—Gunnar, 8, and 3-year-old Ryker—and continuing to operate as a joint media brand.
The apparent contradiction is prompting a reassessment of one of the most controversial pop culture couples of the 2000s.
At the time, audiences dismissed “Speidi” as fake—a relationship shaped more by production and publicity than genuine connection.
Yet in hindsight, the couple’s willingness to treat their romance as both a partnership and a performance may have given them a stability that eluded many of their contemporaries.
When ‘Performative’ Doesn’t Mean Fake
For media and cultural analyst Kaivan Shroff, the public’s perception of the couple reflects a broader misunderstanding of reality TV itself.
“One of reality TV’s biggest paradoxes is that audiences demand authenticity while simultaneously rewarding performances that entertain,” Shroff told Newsweek. “Spencer and Heidi understood earlier than most that reality television is still television [especially when] viewers want larger than life interactions and drama.”
Rather than resist that dynamic, the couple leaned into it.
“They leaned into being caricatures or extreme versions of themselves and viewers often interpreted that self-awareness as dishonesty,” Shroff said. “In hindsight, what looked ‘fake’ may have simply been a couple who understood the medium before most.”
Actress Heidi Montag and actor Spencer Pratt arrive at the “Us Weekly’s Hot Hollywood 2007- Arrivals” at Opera on September 26, 2007 in Hollywood, California.
That perception gap, he suggested, mirrors how modern audiences interpret influencer culture today—where performance is often expected, but still criticized.
A Relationship Built As a Partnership
While Speidi’s on-screen dynamic often appeared chaotic, Shroff argued their off-screen survival may come down to something more pragmatic: collaboration.
“Couples can often survive public scrutiny when they treat external controversies as something they manage together,” he said. “If they can cooperate and become an even bigger brand together… then that can lead to real partnership.”
In the early years, that dynamic was not always stable. The couple publicly flirted with separation and conflict, but ultimately remained together—something Shroff suggested was crucial not just personally, but professionally.
“If they had separated, would we even be talking about either of them still today?” he said. “When your business model relies on a partnership like that a real and deeper relationship can emerge.”
The Role of Editing—And What Can’t Be Edited
Reality TV’s influence on public perception is undeniable, but it only tells part of the story.
“The edit plays a major role,” Shroff said. “Reality stars who have a bad season blame the edit and those who are happy with their portrayal insist everything is perfectly authentic.”
In the case of Pratt, however, he argued the persona extended beyond the screen.
“The list of scandals that has followed Pratt in particular following the show have nothing to do with editing,” Shroff said, pointing to controversies ranging from his role in spreading rumors during The Hills era to headline-making behavior in the years since.
“That’s part of what makes someone a good fit for reality TV in the first place,” he added.
Lori Bindig Yousman, professor of communication and media at Sacred Heart University, agreed that The Hills was deliberately constructed to shape audience perception.
“Although framed as ‘real life,’ reality TV has always been very deliberate in casting and editing,” she told Newsweek, noting that Montag was initially positioned as a likable sidekick to the show’s main star, Lauren Conrad (The Hills is a spin-off of earlier MTV show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County) before becoming a villain once her relationship with Pratt began.
Ahead of the Influencer Era?
The way audiences now view relationships like Speidi’s has also changed—largely because the media landscape has shifted.
“Viewers now see many of these relationships as less authentic because they understand there is money to be made for the couple if they stay together,” Shroff said. “It undermines the central premise… [that] it is supposed to be authentic.”
But that awareness has also reframed Speidi’s approach. What once seemed manipulative now looks familiar in an era where couples routinely monetize their personal lives.
From left to right: Spencer Pratt, Gunner, Heidi Pratt and Ryker attend Monster Jam at SoFi Stadium on April 11, 2026 in Inglewood, California.
“Reality TV was seemingly the easiest entry point for stardom,” Yousman said. “In the current social media landscape, anyone can create content and try to become an influencer—the absence of traditional media gatekeepers allows for more people to enter that space.”
As a result, she argued, today’s couples must strike a delicate balance between authenticity and performance—something Speidi arguably struggled with at the time.
“Trying too hard and being perceived as performative actually creates distance rather than bridges it,” Yousman said.
When Love Becomes a Brand
Turning a relationship into a shared business may help sustain it, but it also introduces new pressures.
“Once your relationship itself becomes a business project that adds another layer of pressure and stars can feel trapped in the dynamic,” Shroff said. “Now if the relationship ends they lose more than a partner, they lose their stream of revenue or their brand.”
At the same time, public scrutiny can intensify existing flaws.
“You get a thousand opinions on if your partner is treating you well,” he said. “That impacts people and opens their eyes to things they may not have seen themselves.”
Despite those risks, Pratt and Montag have remained committed—not just to each other, but to the shared project of their public life, which has taken an unexpected turn since Pratt joined the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral race.
Indeed, Pratt now appears to be a serious contender, polling at around 30 percent in some surveys and emerging as a likely runoff candidate, while also drawing support from a mix of high-profile backers—from tech billionaire Sergey Brin to celebrities including David Foster, Katharine McPhee and Kristin Cavallari.
For Yousman, that persistence complicates the narrative.
“The longevity of Montag and Pratt’s relationship complicates our understanding of a ‘brand’ couple,” she said. “Other high-profile couples… may be less calculated… but without that shared drive, experiences and commitment quickly fizzle out.”
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