The Insanity of 'Selling Sunset'

Have I really watched eight seasons of this show?

It would be easy to blame my wife. To say, ‘she made me watch it’. But usually, when she starts watching something terrible, I find it very easy to say ‘I’m out’ - and then go on with doing something else.

But ‘Selling Sunset’, I’ve been there for all the highs and lows.

Now, you’re going to ask me what the highs were, and I need to be honest and tell you that I don’t remember. I’m pretty sure that someone, at some point, sold a house, because I seem to remember one of the women ringing a bell in the office.

And who can forget the lows, like —- okay, I don’t really remember the lows, either. But there were arguments, disagreements, break-ups.

I can speak with more clarity about the latest season, because it’s fresh in my mind.

Now, remember that this is a show about Real Estate, about the art of selling homes. They remind you of this at the beginning of every episode, when Jason visits a huge house along with a female cast member who he previously dated, and they talk about selling the house.

Jason will be concerned about something his ex isn’t doing, and she’ll promise to do it. I can’t remember a precise example but it’ll be something like.

JASON
This house has no walls, Mary. We can’t sell a house with no walls.

MARY
I can do it, I promise.

JASON
If we don’t have walls here by November, nobody will buy it.

MARY
Trust me.

After this moment, the episode will continue for another thirty minutes, but no-one will talk about this or any other house for the rest of the episode.

So, what do these characters get up to?

Well, Season 8 has had a near full season arc about the death of a small dog.

Most TV shows we watch, because we relate to the characters. ‘Selling Sunset’, I don’t know why we watch. And I’m not saying the death of a dog isn’t relatable, but Mrs Landingham dying in ‘The West Wing’ was dealt with in 1.5 episodes. Here, this tiny dog is dominating the whole season.

Bear in mind, this show isn’t fictional. These are real people. Or at least, real in the Reality TV sense, where they always have key conversations when the cameras happen to be on.

In an episode I just watched, Jason — who is grieving the death of his very old dog — decides to take his ex (who he shared the dog with) on a test drive in a Ferrari. He speeds up and down the road, has a nice bit of fun, and then decides to buy the car.

After this, he pops to his dog’s funeral. This dog’s funeral has a bigger budget than all four of your Grandparents combined.

Then the real drama happens.

And I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely remember what happened or why everyone’s annoyed with each other but I’m going to try and summarise:

Bre found out from a woman called Amanda that Chelsea’s husband has been kissing another woman just inside or maybe just outside of a hotel. Bre told Chelsea the news, Chelsea was devastated, but appreciated Bre giving her the honest news.

Then Chrishell and Emma sat on a sofa with Chelsea and said something like ‘Hey do you think Bre told you that just to take you down?’.

Chelsea considered this for a while and demanded that Emma and Chrishell phone Bre to discuss.

Then 4 episodes followed where Emma questioned Bre’s intentions and Chrishell tried her best to get in the middle of everything and Chelsea maybe went to a house viewing or two and then Bre said she doesn’t care what people think of her but then she kept talking to people to find out what they think of her and meanwhile Chelsea’s husband has still probably cheated on her but they obviously don’t have permission to film that side of her life so instead Chrishell keeps chipping in with lots of gossip to wind up Bre and Chelsea - meanwhile Emma just floats in and out of scenes explaining how she’s friends with everyone.

A common question about ‘Selling Sunset’ is, is this show scripted?

Sometimes I get the feeling it is scripted. In fact, I saw an article that said Season 8 is the most heavily scripted season yet.

However, if there were writers, they would have come up with something more exciting than, ‘everyone grieves a tiny dog for most of the season and nobody ever thinks to try and sell a house’.

This is positively NOT my type of show. But I’m still watching.

Maybe it is my type of show, and I need to admit this to myself?

I would argue that I’m interested in Real Estate. But if that were true, I wouldn’t watch this show, because selling houses is the least of their priorities.

If you’re still watching ‘Selling Sunset,’ please explain why, I need to understand why we are all still here.