Spencer Pratt usually isn't one for regrets, but he is starting to rue the day he didn't accuse Heidi Montag of cheating when they were on The Hills.
"We were just discussing that after watching how big the Scandoval Vanderpump thing is," Spencer explained in an exclusive sit-down with E! News. "We definitely should have had more cheating in our storyline because clearly cheating now is mainstream. 'Great, everyone loves cheaters!'"
Tom Sandoval probably wouldn't agree with him, but that brand of analysis is why Spencer's fans love him.
"This is Spencer's take," Heidi added quickly. "He wanted to accuse me of cheating with [Brody Jenner]. It would have been a one-man storyline..."
So in case another reality-TV franchise should come calling, rest assured, Spencer's already packing ideas.
The call probably won't be coming anytime soon from the Real Housewives neighborhood, though. Executive producer Andy Cohen recently said that adding Heidi to the mix would be "weird" because she was already a known entity from another network's show and not, as she speculated, because he was on Team Lauren.
Andy's latest comments were "much nicer than they were in the past," Heidi told E!. "So I do appreciate him saying he doesn't want to gouge his eyes out at this point." (In 2011 he called her "trash" on Watch What Happens Live and said, "I would sooner stab...knives into my own eyes than see her on this network." He later apologized.)
Quipped Spencer, "You've come a long way from trash."
But no hard feelings from either spouse, their long memories aside. Heidi's hat is still in the ring, the 37-year-old sure she'd be great on the show and was geographically desirable, given her ties to Orange County and proximity to Beverly Hills.
But while he supports Heidi's ambitions (the loftier the better, really), Spencer admitted he'd rather not go back to being a "celebrity husband."
"Personally, I don't want to be on any Housewives franchise," he said. "I would like our own television show. I don't like sharing, I don't like casts. What I've learned from trying to do The Hills reboot is you end up relying on a bunch of image-crafting self- saboteurs. And, you know, end of the day, it technically is a team sport—and we learned there's not very many good teams to be on."
If they were to join Housewives, the 40-year-old continued, "We'd have to go to Salt Lake City. I feel like they're the only ones right now that people are talking about. But you know, The Heidi and Spencer Show is where I'm putting my energy."
While Heidi noted that doing The Hills: New Beginnings was fun, "that wasn't part of our world at the time, and it had been a long time before that. So we definitely are moving forward."
And their eyes remain on the prize.
On their latest joint endeavor, the podcast Speidi's 16th Minute, the couple were discussing with their Sept. 27 guest, Village Roadshow Entertainment CEO Steve Mosko, "what show we should do to get famous again," Spencer said, and the executive recommended a Middle America Housewives.
"So I was just thinking," Spencer continued, "since Taylor Swift is making Kansas City so famous right now, we can move to Kansas City, live down the street from Travis Kelce and do a 'Real Housewives of Kansas City.' And maybe Taylor could appear once they get married—if they were to. I mean, that'd be my pitch."
Until someone takes him up on that idea, he and Heidi are keeping busy with their sons Gunner, 6, and Ryker, 10 months, and various business endeavors—plus Spencer will be making an appearance on E!'s House of Villains, premiering Oct. 12.
"There was a mistake, I thought that show was House of Heroes when I was pitched it," Spencer said, deadpan. "Once I found out who was on that couch, I was like, 'I do not belong here.'"
Um, really? "Those people are not likable," he said of the cast, which includes Jax Taylor, Tiffany "New York" Pollard and Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio. "I'm just honest. So, you know, that's not necessarily a villain, per se."
Heidi chimed in, "The timing was super tricky too, we'd just had a baby."
Talking about how they balance their relationship with their various irons in the fire, she stressed the importance of regular date nights to keep the romance alive—"What rating is this network?" Spencer cracked—and said that part of what she loves about making their podcast is "the car ride there and back."
She explained, "We finally just get some time because it does get so chaotic [at home]. So to be able to just have a few minutes to ourselves and to catch up and talk about our guests coming on, it's really fun. It's almost like a date day."
At the same time, she can't get enough of her kids, Gunner with his new appreciation for Pokémon and obsession with Universal Studios and Ryker starting to crawl."
"I love being a mom," Heidi said. "It's my favorite thing in the world. I love the hard moments, I love the good moments—because it's all good. It just really puts life in perspective about how quickly it's going and how precious the time is, and that you don't get things back. I'm gonna get all emotional..."
Spencer assured her, "It's okay, the makeup artist is right there."
Heidi added, "There's nothing about it, to me, that isn't amazing. It's my favorite thing ever."
New audio episodes of Speidi's 16th Minute drop Wednesdays, wherever you get your podcasts, while video episodes are exclusively on Spotify.
And keep reading for updates on all the love lives of The Hills stars:
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