"It’s tempting to look at Duffy’s political ascent—and Trump’s, of course—and reflect on the surprising cultural sticking power of turn-of-the-millennium-style reality TV...."

"The Trump Presidency likely wouldn’t have been possible without 'The Apprentice.’ Duffy’s rise has been less meteoric, but his launchpad, if anything, was an even purer distillation of the genre; as my colleague Emily Nussbaum has written, 'The Real World' pioneered many of reality TV’s modern tropes—the cast of strangers, the apartment as set, the confessional interviews—and cultivated a viewership.... When I revisited the show earlier this summer, it seemed a particularly propitious moment to assert the ongoing influence of reality TV, not least in politics. Spencer Pratt, the villain from 'The Hills,' was running for mayor of Los Angeles, depicting the city as a hellhole and attracting reams of media coverage. Luke Gulbranson ('Summer House') was running for a (year-round) U.S. House seat in Minnesota. Mark Moran ('FBoy Island') was running for Senate in Virginia. The moment no longer seems so propitious. Moran dropped out; Gulbranson lost, as, more significantly, did Pratt, occasioning some hand-wringing about whether his supposed surge had ever been real to begin with. (In fairness, almost nothing is more reality-TV than that.)..."

Writes Jon Allsop, in "Sean Duffy in the Real World/Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary got his big break on reality TV, and is now out with a six-part YouTube show about a family road trip. How bad could it be?"

Comedian strategies.

Link.

I want to know more. Was this a prank of a sort that some people will admire and think of as what the supposedly legitimate polling business deserves?

ADDED: What else did Median Strategies do? My first thought was Spencer Pratt.

How can Spencer Pratt put a happy face on his loss in California?

That might not be your question, but it was mine. It's the first thing I typed when I opened up Grok to explore how I felt about what happened.

Tell me what you think. Grok talked about spinning — "turn a loss into content, troll the establishment, and keep the spotlight... he's wired for this exact kind of spotlight-reality spin."

Okay. That's justified by the way I framed my question. But I had 2 other things in mind.

First, if he'd won he'd actually need to make good on his promises. He'd have to confront reality on the ground and facing lots of opposition. He wanted to round people up and institutionalize them. How would that have worked? This way, he can just keep pointing to the dream of a beautiful LA that might have been.

Second, his own mother said she wanted him to lose... for the sake of his wife and children:

Spencer Pratt's mom...

... has some reservations.

@nbcla Spencer Pratt’s mother, Janet, speaks with NBC4’s Robert Kovacik on why she did not want her son to take on a job that would take him away from his family. #nbcla ♬ original sound - NBC Los Angeles

"Obviously, God wanted 5 more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor, so it's going to be a fun ride. I hope she's ready!"

"Now, I have 5 months to get deep into every community that hasn't heard my message to make them safe. So I'm actually very excited because I felt very rushed. It's a big city and I was not able to talk to as many people as I look forward to talking to. This is the first time since 2005 an incumbent is going to a runoff."

Spencer Pratt is claiming victory for advancing to the Los Angeles Mayor General Election ‼️

“Obviously God wanted 5 more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor, so it's going to be a fun ride. I hope she's ready!”

“Now I have 5 months to get deep into every… pic.twitter.com/gZtmYBHSBk

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) June 3, 2026

Bill Maher lay in wait for Spencer Pratt, then suddenly sprang the trap: "Your wife... look I hate to put it this way, but what I remember about this story was huge tits...."

"What is the state of the tits? They're not what you would call huge but they were at one point. At one time they were okay. So what happened there?"

Yes, that's what Maher said to the man's face, 37 minutes into the interview, after some drinking.

I think Maher wanted to destroy Pratt and had that planned. Either Pratt loses his temper and struggles to respond or he displays a Dukakis-like coldness or Franken-like jocularity that would turn women against him.

But no:

Maher: "But so then she had breast reduction?"

Pratt: "Yes, she did.... So I don't think you respectfully would notice anything."

Maher: "I respectfully wouldn't comment...."

Pratt: "Well, you brought it up."

Touché. Maher blabbers — "Well, I just... I'm telling you..." — then jumps to his backup attack: "My history of you is like 2007 douchebag and then years of nothing?"

Anyway, I think Maher came in wanting to reduce Pratt to the nothing he believed he was — a washed up reality show star who's pissed that his own house burned down — but Pratt prevailed and I think by the end Maher either felt supportive or wanted to manufacture some last-minute evidence that he had backed the winner. 

"What genuinely valuable artwork was lost in the Palisades fire? What efforts were made to save it?"

"Were guys running down the street trying to hold onto Picassos and Monets?"

That was my question upon watching this video at X about Spencer Pratt's loss of his collection of crystals:

Spencer Pratt says his crystals collection was so extensive and impressive it could have been put in a museum

Unfortunately mayor Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom let it all burn in the Pacific Palisades fire

He explains the significance behind these crystals

“I believe anything… pic.twitter.com/NdqToemi53

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 30, 2026

Of course, I used the Grok tool that's right there at X. From the answer:

Ron Rivlin (art collector and Warhol gallery owner): He lost around 30 Andy Warhol works (including Campbell’s Soup Can prints, a hot-pink Queen Elizabeth II print, and “Myths” portfolio pieces featuring icons like Mickey Mouse and Superman) plus dozens of other pieces by artists such as Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, John Baldessari, and Kenny Scharf.

"But when you said the mental is the problem in drugs — 'cause the people don't want to be down there."

"My daughter is schizophrenic and she's on crystal meth — so that hit home — so if you're going to do that, you got my vote.... 'cause Karen Bass is not doing shhhh. Absolutely nothing."

The women-empowering-women genre of political ad.

This new Spencer Pratt ad may be somewhat innovative in its forthright use of AI:

“You are not alone.” Yoga moms, silent majority, and a preference cascade all in one. Whether or not Angelenos elect @spencerpratt as LA mayor, he and his team are revolutionizing politics. pic.twitter.com/l4pwOSmNUH

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 17, 2026

But it reminded me of something else that got plenty of attention not too long ago. I'll bet you remember this Kamala Harris ad:

Both ads depict women as inhibited in expressing their personal political preference but speaking woman-to-woman and conquering that inhibition. 

"Honestly, before this, I had never heard of Spencer Pratt. The thing I am concerned [about] and feel about him is that I feel like..."

"... he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I just think that’s just reprehensible."

Said L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, fighting for reelection and surprised by this upstart, quoted in "Karen Bass is terrible at this" (Washington Examiner).

The feeling I get:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by lulu (@retrofilmglow)

I could plainly read that this anti-Pratt ad seems like a pro-Pratt ad, and I still thought, surely this must be a clever pro-Pratt ad.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an attack ad that comes off as an endorsement like this one https://t.co/MU0rAHM0Gc

— Dr. Ben Braddock (@GraduatedBen) May 10, 2026

A Spencer Pratt joke about free buses.

Zohran Mamdani: The NY subway will be free.

Spencer Pratt: The LA busses will be free... from urine, feces, stabbing, and attacks.@spencerpratt "So that's kind of similar. We both have free things for public transportation." pic.twitter.com/eWmPOsynrM

— jay plemons (@jayplemons) May 9, 2026

What do we think of this vivid A.I.-generated Spencer Pratt ad?

Oh my God. This is GREAT.

SPENCER PRATT Campaign Ad for Mayor. pic.twitter.com/G81H6c0QJx

— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) May 6, 2026

Watch the video first, then pick the opinion that's closest to yours:

Brilliant use of A.I. to convey a rock-solid message.

Gets your attention and makes a great point.

Excellent but devolves into physical violence that distracted me from the message.

Garish. Sick. I hate A.I., violence against specific people, whiteface on a black woman. Terrible.

 

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