Spencer Pratt is defending his controversial stay at the Hotel Bel-Air, arguing that the luxury property was ultimately cheaper than hiring enough armed security to protect him around the clock while he campaigned for mayor of Los Angeles, as reported by Fox News.

The reality star, 43, faced scrutiny in May after TMZ reported that he had stayed at the luxury hotel while appearing to suggest in a campaign advertisement that he lived in an Airstream trailer on the site of his California home.

That home was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire. TMZ reported that Pratt had spent more than a month at the hotel, but “The Hills” alum disputed that account and said he stayed there no more than six days during the previous month.

Pratt, who ran as a Republican and lost in the June primary election, addressed the backlash in a lengthy X post shared Tuesday. He said the $1,200 nightly cost drew criticism from people who thought he should have selected a cheaper hotel.

“Why is he spending $1,200 a night? Why couldn’t he stay somewhere for $300 a night? Well, the answer to that question is not as pretty as any of us may like to hear,” Pratt wrote.

Pratt said many people assumed he was acting like a “bougie spoiled brat” and misusing campaign money. He argued that the Hotel Bel-Air was actually the least expensive practical choice because its security features allowed his protection team to leave him there alone.

In May, Pratt told TMZ that his Airstream had become unsafe and that the hotel’s armed security made it “the only option.” He claimed supporters of Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman had become increasingly hostile following his May debate performance and polling numbers.

“I can't talk about specific threats, but that lot is ... unsafe now,” he said at the time. In his later X post, Pratt said he had received numerous death threats and needed to employ security throughout the campaign.

“Throughout the campaign, I endured numerous death threats, to the point where I had to hire full-time security,” Pratt wrote. He also argued that publicly discussing such threats could encourage copycats rather than persuade people to reduce the political temperature.

Pratt described incidents that he said increased his concerns for himself and his family. He claimed people broke into his Pacific Palisades lot and left notes containing white powder on the Airstream.

The television personality also claimed that a “lunatic” who was determined to track him down charged at his young son while the child was boogie boarding. Pratt shares Gunner, 8, and Ryker, 3, with his wife and former “The Hills” costar Heidi Montag, 40.

Pratt said he consequently hired a second security detail to protect his family while he campaigned. His security team viewed the Pacific Palisades property as particularly dangerous because it was exposed on a hillside and surrounded by elevated positions.

“I wasn’t allowed to stay on that property, even if I wanted to,” Pratt wrote. He said that concern led him to the Hotel Bel-Air, which he characterized as an unusually secure facility with a fortress wall, a single entrance and a confusing arrangement of enclosed bungalows.

According to Pratt, his security team felt comfortable leaving him alone once he was behind the hotel’s walls. Staying elsewhere would have required three additional rooms for his team, which he said would have added $3,000 to the nightly cost.

“Paradoxically, by this calculation, I was actually saving a ton of money by staying at the secure Bel Air; even staying at a Motel 6 would’ve cost me more money, and in a campaign…money is everything,” Pratt wrote.

Pratt also claimed political violence places Republican candidates at a “permanent fundraising disadvantage.” He said security expenses consumed a significant amount of his campaign’s fundraising money, while Raman once appeared at a debate preparation event without visible security as he arrived with several armed officers.

Although his campaign has ended, Pratt said the safety problems have continued. “Now that there’s no campaign, I can’t afford that level of protection, even though I still deal with death threats and trespassers at my property, routinely,” he wrote.

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