The fifth season of Selling Sunset arrives on Netflix tomorrow (22nd April), with the associates of The Oppenheim Group returning for another dose of real estate drama.
While a number of your favourites from the Selling Sunset cast will be making a reappearance, there’s also a brand new star set to join the show – British-Nigerian property expert Chelsea Lazkani.
After all the drama between Christine Quinn and Emma Hernan last season, we can’t wait to see what happened next within the Los Angeles-based estate agency and with Chrishell and Jason now an item on-screen (although not any more in real life), season 5 is set to be one of the most explosive yet – but how much of the show is real?
We’ve done some digging on the real lives of the Selling Sunset cast to see just what’s going on behind the scenes.
Is Selling Sunset real or scripted?
When it comes to reality TV shows, Netflix’s Selling Sunset is probably as real as the UK’s The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea.
The series follows the lives of a collection of real estate agents selling some of the biggest and most luxurious mansions in LA.
The show also follows the personal lives of the Selling Sunset cast, including the likes of Chrishell Stause, Christine Quinn, Mary Fitzgerald, Davina Potratz, and Maya Vander.
Chrishell has responded to questions about how staged the series is via Instagram.
“The show isn’t scripted. If it was, I would be p**sed!” she insisted, in response to season 3’s coverage of her split from This Is Us’s Justin Hartley. “Who wrote that plot twist?!”
She added: “But seriously, they can sometimes nudge us to address things but what we say is all us. Beware anyone that says otherwise. Gotta own it.”
Recent rumours emerged suggesting some of the cast got their licence just before Selling Sunset started to film, but once more, Chrishell has been on hand to defend herself.
Sharing an Instagram snap from back in 2016 when she got her licence, the star added: “People keep trying to hate on the show, which means it’s a huge success! Lol! This post is still on my IG proving I have been licensed and working before being approached about #SellingSunset.
“Working all day showing clients properties in the heat and writing up my new listing to hit the market tomorrow! Busy! Thanks for watching though.”
She continued: “I am so grateful to have been able to do acting AND real estate.”
Executive producer of the show, Adam DiVello, who is also famous for working on The Hills and Laguna Beach, told Variety the show is “full reality”.
He said: “I can’t tell you how many hours we would sit in an edit bay just working on one scene. I think most reality shows would have turned it out in a day and we’ll spend a week.”
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However, Christine admitted in 2020 that one of her storylines was tweaked during an interview with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning.
While viewers thought we had witnessed her meet her future husband Christian for the first time, Christine admits that actually they had been dating for months before that scene was filmed.
“That was amped up a little, I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I actually met him through a girlfriend of mine, but Mary spun this story that he was a client. We were dating for three months and then we bought a house together, but television is fun.”
Chrishell echoed these comments and told TMZ while the show is not scripted, a few things are “amped up”.
But following recent rumours, Jason Oppenheim has been quick to defend his team and his business.
“There’s nothing that’s scripted, we’re never told to say anything. At most, I would say that in some situations, if some things need to be addressed or we’re meeting a client or something, we’ll be asked to wait to make sure if we get everything on camera, but that’s certainly not scripted,” he told Metro.
Real, scripted, or somewhere in the middle, we love Selling Sunset anyway!
Selling Sunset seasons 1-4 are streaming now on Netflix, with season 5 arriving on Friday 22nd April. Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide.
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