11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Former Bay Area mayor is now a reality TV contestant: ‘You look like you sell vapes'
East Bay politician John Bauters has left the political stage to enter a new kind of spotlight.
The former three-time Emeryville mayor is currently a contestant on the new Fox reality competition show 'The Snake,' which pits players 'in various persuasive professions' against each other in a ruthless game of deception, according to a statement. The winner will receive $100,000.
Bauters joined the competition during its fourth episode, which aired on Tuesday, July 8, surprising the other contestants who had been on the show since it premiered on June 10.
'I'm a politician and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to use some ingenuity and some of the skills I've picked up along the way in politics to make sure I win,' Bauters said during a monologue portion of Tuesday's episode. 'You know, you don't survive in politics without knowing how to read people. I read them like a book.'
Comedian Jim Jefferies, who hosts the show, revealed Bauters to the other players while they were having a dinner party. The Bay Area resident emerged for a large crate, much to the dismay of the other contestants, who were not excited to see yet another opponent stand between them and the prize money.
'Go home!' one yelled at him.
'You look like you sell vapes,' another said.
'No, I'm here for a while. But you might go home,' he said with a smirk.
Bauters recently lost the election for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 5 seat to Nikki Fortunato Bas in November, and previously served on the Emeryville City Council for two terms from 2016 to 2024, in addition to his mayoral tenure.
His fellow contestants on 'The Snake' have all been selected because of their social occupations — from bounty hunting to OnlyFans content creation — which equip them with the persuasion and manipulation skills needed to succeed on the show.
Every week, players compete in a challenge, and the winner earns the title of 'the snake,' gaining control of a saving ceremony during which players take turns selecting one other person to protect from elimination.
