“Be the Simon Cowell of reality TV” - Spencer Pratt claims David Foster urged him to become villain on The Hills

Spencer Pratt, the American reality television personality, recently revealed that Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster played a role in Pratt becoming the famous villain on The Hills.

“David Foster, once I was kind of in it, he was like, ‘You need to be the Simon Cowell of reality TV, and I didn’t even watch ‘American Idol.’ I didn’t even know who Simon Cowell was. I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ … He’s like, ‘Be the bad guy. Be the villain.'” explained Pratt.

Pratt was a special guest on Radio Andy’s The Julia Cunningham Show, where he revealed that he initially had no plans to be in front of the camera for The Princes of Malibu. But it was David Foster who encouraged Spencer Pratt to completely embrace the “bad guy” archetype, which he later continued to play in The Hills. Spencer Pratt was the co-creator and executive producer of the show in 2005, which followed Brandon and Brody Jenner and their stepdad, Canadian music producer David Foster.

Spencer Pratt also explained that at the time he accepted David’s suggestion, he never imagined he would face the brunt of the audience judging his on-screen personality so harshly.

“What [David] didn’t explain to me, though, why Simon Cowell was able to get away with what he did, is [that] it was grounded in, ‘I’m trying to tell you you’re not talented because it’s just the truth’ … The problem with me just being blunt and doing whatever producers wanted and making the game is [that] the audience doesn’t see any — there’s no, ‘He’s just telling it how it is.’ he explained.

It was just like, ‘Oh, he’s a monster.’ So that’s what I didn’t see, looking back … They took it very serious,” added spencer.

Spencer Pratt was Hijacked into a new role

Spencer Pratt shared that he was hijacked into appearing in front of the camera, as the production company that took over chose to change his role.

“If I could go back in time, I would’ve known what was happening to me. I was getting hijacked, I had my own walkie-talkie, it said Executive Producer Spencer. And they’re like, ‘Spencer, get in a just kind of stir up, like, get Dave…’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, I’ve got a walkie-talkie. I stand over there.'” shared Pratt.

Reflecting on that time, Spencer Pratt said stepping into the role felt “like The Matrix,” a reference to how quickly his reality shifted.

“I didn’t realize I was taking the pill, and then once I was in, then I was too late, and then it’s just like, now we’re drinking at Nobu. I didn’t think about it. And that moment did change my life forever because nobody ever took me seriously again.”

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However, according to Brody Jenner, who spoke on The Julia Cunningham Show earlier this year, Spencer Pratt intentionally carved out his role as the antagonist on The Hills—a decision made early in the show’s development.

“His vision, I think, was part of the reason why that show did so well, because there was so much drama that was created, and he was such a good producer,” Brody said.

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