Reality television series such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real Housewives franchise often get a bad reputation for being vapid and mindless. Popular Netflix series Selling Sunset begs to differ. While the show continues to entertain with the usual features of reality TV, the show also places focus on women at the Oppenheim Group real estate brokerage firm in Los Angeles, the USA who are hustling to earn a living.
In light of the show’s third season, we had the opportunity to sit down and virtually speak with the stars Amanza Smith, Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet. The interview was conducted by ACE (which stands for Authentic Celebrity Experiences), a personalised video platform where you can get the stars of Selling Sunset, among many others, to create a personalised video message for yourself or as a gift to a loved one, for a fee. The platform has currently more than 160 talents onboard, ranging from Southeast Asian celebs to influencers.
Keep scrolling as we pick their brains to find out how the trio achieved success, their holiday plans once the viral pandemic has died down and how they deal with haters.
Mary: Don’t give up on your dreams – just keep working hard and moving towards them. Find out what it takes to achieve your goals and just do it. It will not be easy and with a lot of hard work, nothing is impossible.
Amanza: I am 43. A lot of people think that they have to achieve their dream level of success by the time they reach a certain age. They feel like they have to settle in this position in their lives. I want to say to everyone that you can keep going. There is no age limit. Don’t give up just because you think you are reaching your peak or that you have an expiration date because you don’t. A lot of the most successful women in the world have just started in their late 30s and 40s and they have a whole lot of life still to live. Just keep going no matter how old you think you are.
Mary: Try to get your point across by using your words wisely. Don’t attack nor point fingers. Do what it takes to get the issue done. You don’t have to yell but just speak firmly with what you have to say.
Amanza: I definitely can be bossy and be a b*tch. People who work closely with me will realise at some point that I am not just an evil B. If I am bossy and assertive to a certain extent, there was a reason. I am a softy too and I will apologise. But I think that if people are just going to brush off assertive women as being bossy b*tches, then that’s probably because they are not strong enough to be in the position we are in and I probably won’t really care to work with them.
Mary: I think Jonah Hill is a big fan of the show. I think he reached out to one of the people at Netflix and was saying how much he loves the show and to let him be on it.
Amanza: I am obsessed with the show Girls on HBO. Lena Dunham, who created, wrote and starred in it, is a huge fan of the show and she followed me. I fangirled about it because I love her show. I don’t typically get starstruck because I live in Los Angeles and we are around celebs all the time. This time was different. I was like, “Oh, you recognise me too?”
Mary: Romain and I have been watching Lucifer.
Amanza: I don’t really get to watch a lot of adult television because of my kids. By the time they go to sleep, I am so tired I would fall asleep before I watch anything. But, I did watch both seasons of You a few months back.
Romain: Bali. We were planning to go there for our honeymoon but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it due to the coronavirus. We are definitely looking forward to going there once we can.
Mary: The second the border is open, we are on a plane. We need a vacation, we have been working too hard.
Amanza: What people don’t know is that I was supposed to go with them to Bali. I have no one to take with me, but I am definitely itching for a holiday.
Mary: The show makes it seem easy to obtain the real estate license and jump into the industry. You have to work for months and even years to build up clients, know what you are doing to actually filling out an offer for a client. There is so much to it and it isn’t as glamorous as the show makes it to be.
Amanza: Being the newest agent, I still need someone to hold my hand and walk me through the transaction. And with the lockdown that started a day after we finished filming, I am unable to attend events and to meet people to get clients. So this has been difficult because I don’t have a rolodex of clients or referrals coming in to fall back on. It takes money to make money too. Not only do we have to market ourselves, but we also spend countless unpaid hours doing open houses hoping for a sale.
Romain: The show doesn’t show many scenes of me working. But those crazy, pretty houses you see take a lot of time and work to create. I’m not sure people understand just how much time it takes.
Mary: We’ve been pretty lucky. Fans have been very nice to us. Some of the girls do get it more than others as the fans are responding to their behaviour on the show.
Romain: We try not to, actually. No matter how successful you are, there will always be haters. You can’t do anything about it. It comes with the fame and you have to be okay with it. I doubt anyone just receives love without hate.