The cast of Netflix's Selling Sunset [1] is making lemonade out of lemons. After Chrissy Teigen questioned the validity of the show's cast in a series of tweets [2] on Aug. 18, The Oppenheim Group agents [3] — including Jason Oppenheim, Chrishell Stause, Mary Fitzgerald, Heather Ray Young, Maya Vaander, and Davina Potratz — are responding to the claims, stating that they are, in fact, licenced real estate agents. In turn, they are also using Teigen's tweets as an opportunity to further promote the show. Season four, anyone [4]?
The tweet in particular that has a lot of people talking is the one where Teigen states that she has never seen any of the cast and neither has her real estate agent.
I will say, I look at LA real estate a lot and have never seen any of these people lol either have our agents, who I have obsessively asked. — chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) August 19, 2020 [5]
To which Oppenheim has since responded to, saying he doesn't know her agent either.
Chrissy, thanks for watching our show! Regarding your agent's knowledge of members of my team, I respectfully don't know him either although that doesn't mean he isn't successful and didn't just sell you a stunning home in Weho (seriously, I love your new house). — Jason Oppenheim (@OppenheimJason) August 19, 2020 [6]
In a separate interview with E! News, Vander brushed off the claims [7], adding, "I'm definitely not offended. And I'm actually excited she watched the show again. Any publicity is good publicity."
On The Oppenheim Group website [8] (which is a legit real estate brokerage, by the way), all the cast members are listed as real estate agents [9], with Oppenheim as the president and owner. Oh, and in case you haven't heard yet, Brett recently left to start his own brokerage [10], so that's why he's not listed on the site anymore. Keep reading to see how the rest of the cast, including producer Adam DiVello, has responded to Teigen's statements. We wonder if they'll make it onto season four — that is, if the show gets renewed.
Jason Oppenheim
"Mary, Heather, Maya, and Christine were licenced and successful real estate agents at The Oppenheim Group many years prior to filming our show. Amanza worked with us as a designer, and has been a close friend of Mary's and mine for many years," Oppenheim told People in a statement [12]. "Chrishell was a practicing agent at another brokerage, many years previous to filming Selling Sunset [13]. As a licenced agent, Davina had transacted many deals before joining the team in 2018."
He continued, "Any insinuation that the agents on our show are not experienced, successful, or licenced, evidences a complete disregard for the facts. Even a superficial investigation would identify previous team photos, hundreds of millions in transacted sales, and more than 50 years of combined licenced real estate experience from these agents."
Chrishell Stause
On her Instagram Stories [14], Stause seemingly addressed Teigen's claims by posting a video of one of her listings, writing, "Stageing starts tomorrow, hits the market Monday. I'm really a real realtor — LOL!"
Maya Vander
"Oddly enough, I did sell a house on the same street where she [Chrissy Teigen] and John Legend [15] purchased a house a couple of months ago. If she ever wants to buy in Miami I'm here to help!" she told E! News [16]. "People make fun of us, like whatever, it's all good. It means they are watching, we see it as a blessing and, and you know we are very humble about it and it's a great experience. I decided to get more real estate business. I've been doing real estate for seven years, but it's not every day you get your own show. So, that has definitely helped me to gain more credibility."
Heather Rae Young
"We all are real estate agents. We've been in an established office for years. I've been at The Oppenheim Group since 2015. I'm about to close on a $3.2 million house down here in Newport [Beach]. I'm closing next week on a $2 million house up in LA," Young told Access [17]. "We are as busy as ever. We are a boutique agency . . . we all are very active real estate agents and we're very, very busy at the moment."
Davina Portratz
"I know a lot of agents and if you're not a luxury condo buyer, you may not know me, but I closed and sold deals for $9 million and up," Portratz shared with E! News [18]. "Bottom line, I did the show for real estate as well. I did it predominantly for real estate marketing and to really focus on our business. So, that's really the intention behind it."
Adam DiVello
In a podcast interview with Bachelor Party, the producer responded to the rumours [19], saying, "I haven't seen every single one of their licences, but they've all told us they are realtors, so yes, I would assume they are."