Netflix spoiled its subscribers for choice during quarantine with the plethora of reality shows they added. We were kept busy during lockdown as reality tv royalty including Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the Real Housewives franchise had our eyes locked onto our screens (yes Netflix, it’s been four hours and I am still watching).
Selling Sunset caused the most stir on social media as it showed viewers the lavish lifestyle realtors in Los Angeles can afford by selling homes upwards of $5 million all whilst trying to balance their home lives and keep up with their colleagues.
The show’s creator Adam DiVello is responsible for bringing us the reality tv gold of the 2000’s that was Laguna Beach and The Hills. Both of these successful shows were some of the first reality series brought to our screens so it’s fair to say the show was in safe hands to become a success.
What’s different about Selling Sunset to DiVello’s past projects is that it shows viewers a lifestyle that seems unattainable and behind the scenes of an industry that to the average person is hard to infiltrate. It takes elements of every successful reality show – the glamourous women, the catty fights, the beautifully lit confessional interviews – and fine tunes them so that no moment of screen time is wasted.
Not to mention the stunning real estate that fans get to feast their eyes on throughout the show. The centre stage of the show is the wide, open-plan mansions with breath-taking views of the Hollywood hills and lust-worthy infinity edge pools. As the women click their heels around showing their prospective buyers their potential future homes, we get a taste of the luxury that they are selling their clients and what everyone really wants to know – how much they make on each sale.
The show is definitely not lacking in frenemies, enemies and drama either. You may have already seen the show’s most flashy and exaggerated star Christine on social media – a Cruella Da Vil type of character who would send chills down your spine if she walked past your desk at work. She is almost always the centre of the workplace drama and stirs the pot mostly with Chrishell, girl-next-door type of girl who viewers can relate to from her humble beginnings which she makes a point of bringing up several times in season one.
Selling Sunset also lets us into the women’s personal home life which makes it easier to relate to their lives which are seemingly perfect without any context. Amanza, a single mother new to the Oppenheim Group shows the struggles of trying to raise children on her own and trying to be successful in her new job whilst taking constant criticism from her colleagues. We also see Mary trying to decide whether or not she should freeze her eggs so she can still have children later. It brings the show which is vastly over the top and exaggerated back down to earth.
This show is a captivating breath of fresh air in the reality tv genre that is bound to have you binging through all three seasons. It is easy to get invested in the storylines because each one is frankly wilder than the other. It will also make you appreciate your own work colleagues that little bit more.