In brief: In a Plug Talk clip posted Oct. 3, reigning AVN Best New Starlet Cheerleader Kait said her Tampa home burned down, possibly because of an HVAC problem, and that she has moved to Los Angeles for a while. The fire is her own account.
Contains adult themes: the embedded podcast clip comes from an adult-industry show and includes strong language.
Most award winners spend the year after their big night polishing the trophy. Cheerleader Kait has spent part of hers working out where she lives.
In “Cheerleader Kait on Her House Burning Down & Losing Everything,” a clip the Plug Talk channel posted Oct. 3, a host asked where she was living these days, since she’d mentioned moving around. Her answer (0:18):
So, my house burned down. I’m on the go.
‘Just completely gone’
The house was “in Florida, Tampa,” she said, and it was “just completely gone.” As for the cause: “they’re still figuring it out, but um I think it was something with the HVAC.” She said she was home when it started, got her dog to safety, and had friends there who, as she put it, are around so much that “that’s pretty much their home, too.”
Asked whether she owned or rented, she said, “Yeah, it was mine,” and that she had put “everything that I had earned into the house.” The timing was cruel: “it was just getting renovated and it was lovely. And then that literally happened right after.”
What hurt most were the things that can’t be bought again. “I lost some family heirlooms,” she said, including “all of my grandma’s like records and her Victrola,” which she had inherited: “I was the grandkid that got that and um it’s kind of toast.” Childhood keepsakes, prom dresses included, were stored in the attic.
She also admitted that panic does strange things to priorities: “I grabbed my dog’s leash instead of my purse that has like all of my everything.” Her friend grabbed the dog. Still, she said, “everything is replaceable and one thing that I’ve learned is how loved I am by like friends, colleagues, fans, family, like everybody.” Her summary: “It’s been a tough month.”
West, for now
She said she had moved to LA “like last week,” and that the move was already in the works before the fire (2:36):
I was already kind of going to come because like I just won Best New Starlet, like my inbox is flooding
Everyone, she said, was asking why she was still in Florida. The plan now is to keep her Florida place and maybe add an LA rental, “kind of going back and forth,” because of the opportunities in LA, even though “my my home, my family, my everything is is like, you know, back in Florida.”
In a companion clip posted Oct. 1, Adam22 introduced her as the episode’s “guest of honor,” next to his co-host for the day, Chocolate God. She recalled that when she first came on the show a couple of years ago, she was “still like a mask creator.” Now she said she splits her work “maybe like a 60/40,” currently tilted toward studio work: “Right now I’m definitely on more of like a mainstream kick.” She also described herself this way: “I’m such a rule-follower, it’s ridiculous.”
An AVN press release datelined Tampa, Fla. confirms she won the 2026 AVN Award for Best New Starlet at the Jan. 24 show at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, presented by 2025 winner Gal Ritchie. In her speech she thanked Riley Reid: “You’ve been such a light in the industry and really have shown me the way.” We found no news report or public record of the fire, and her X account (@cheerluvkaitlyn) doesn’t mention it. The fire, its possible cause and the losses are her account, as she told it on Plug Talk. She is currently asking fans for XMA votes.
So the self-described rule-follower got the order right: dog first, leash second, purse never. Florida keeps her heart. LA gets the bookings.