SPOILERS AHEAD! This article contains details from season 3 of Selling Sunset. Proceed with caution… or after binging!
The Selling Sunset season 3 finale might as well be the equivalent to Game of Thrones' Red Wedding (note: the author of this article says that having never seen a single episode of GoT). What was supposed to be a celebration of Christine Quinn and Christian Richard's love quickly spiraled into a dramatic fight between Chrishell Stause and Davina Potratz, with the realtors' fellow Oppenheim Group agents taking sides.
"I was kind of surprised to see that my wedding was used as a location for drama and as a backdrop for everything else that was going on," Christine admits to ET. "I didn't know any of that stuff went down until afterwards I was told what happened. I had no idea."
So, why did Davina go so hard at Chrishell? And what exactly was the fight that seemingly ended Chrishell's marriage to Justin Hartley all about? Oh, and is Mary Fitzgerald's engagement ring still made of moissanite? Read on for the answers to those and more burning questions from the stars of the show, Christine, Davina, Mary, Maya Vander, Heather Rae Young and Amanza Smith. (Chrishell sat out of press surrounding season 3 following the death of her mother.)
What Really Happened During That Wedding Fight?
Chrishell surprised her co-stars when she showed up for Christine's big day, just days after learning her own marriage was ending. It was the first time many of them were given the chance to speak to her about her split. Only Mary and Amanza had one-on-one time with her before that. When the conversation came up, though, Davina -- who is not close with Chrishell -- took the reigns and point-blank asked Chrishell what happened, doubling down on an earlier claim that she found it hard to believe Chrishell was truly blindsided by Justin’s move to file for divorce and that everyone needed to be open-minded to the fact that Justin has his own side to the story.
According to Davina and Maya, the conversation was actually much longer -- it took place over two hours -- and was not as tense as it comes across on TV. In fact, Davina says she was coming from a good place, something on which other cast members don’t necessarily agree. What the cast does seem to agree on, though, is that the “fight” was way more nuanced than it seemed, which may be why Chrishell makes comments in an episode-ending confessional about Davina maybe being right.
"I was not intending to offend Chrishell and I was truly having a conversation to try and understand the situation a little bit and try to be more compassionate," Davina says. "I don't know about saying that you’re completely shocked. It’s just difficult to relate to. Maybe I’m wrong. It’s possible I’m wrong, but you don’t see that part of the conversation and so, it’s just edited down to look like I’m just piercing at her, which is not what happened, as Maya attested to."
Maya says she also raised the same questions in that conversation, but her comments were cut out of the final episode. Still, Heather calls it a total "cringe" moment, and Mary says Davina was inserting herself where she doesn’t belong.
"I should say [I'm not surprised], but I mean, she always goes hard on everybody," Mary says of Davina. "I couldn't believe she did that at Christine's wedding and with everything Chrishell was going through, we all knew that was gonna be a tough thing for her."
"It was Davina being Davina," She adds. "I think she just wants to be a part of … this group, and she's not that much."
The way it plays out on the show, Davina's poking pushes Chrishell to storm out of the wedding, but the cast says Chrishell actually stuck around longer than it looks. The first time she got up, she came back. It wasn’t until a second time, when the conversation picked up again, that she ripped off her mic pack. That’s when Mary got really upset, proclaiming that she was “going to f**king kill” Davina.
"Good luck with that," Davina scoffs to ET about Mary's threat.
"I forgot I even did that until I watched it back," Mary admits. "I was so upset when that happened. I literally, like chased [production] down. I was like, ‘Turn the cameras off now. Leave her alone!’ I was so mad because she is, I mean, she's hurting and, yes, we agreed to do this show, but I was upset with our producers. I was upset with everyone. I was like, 'Make this stop right now. This is not cool.'"
Amanza says things could have gotten even worse. She says she bit her tongue the whole time, because she knew if she would have engaged with Davina, the night would have taken a turn of the Housewives variety.
"It would've been a Teresa Giudice moment!" she jokes, miming flipping a table. Amanza says she joined Mary in going after production when Chrishell left for good.
"I think I lit up a cigarette and there's like a camera right here and we were going, we were like, ‘This is f**ked up. Like, this woman is hurting," she recalls. "Like, we were-- we had like a whole moment which, I’m kinda glad they didn’t air, they didn’t show that -- I don’t know how they would’ve even made that make sense."
How Does Christine Feel About Her Wedding Being Overshadowed by the Drama?
Not great. The former actress says she and her now-husband spent more than $1 million on the over-the-top affair, with many of her favorite details -- like gloved hands jutting out of fabric walls offering black champagne, an orchestral arrangement of Ava Max's "Sweet but Psycho" playing as she walked down the aisle and more -- getting cut from the final episode. Her vows don't even play out onscreen.
"I don't believe I talk a single time in my entire wedding footage," she notes. "I was disappointed, I was very disappointed in production. We provided them with an event of a lifetime and they chose to disappoint viewers. It is what it is, but I'm going to be releasing my own wedding footage soon."
When she went to watch season 3, Christine skipped to the finale to take in her big day and, after seeing how it was put together, she chose not to watch the rest of the season.
“The juice sometimes isn’t worth the squeeze when you see what’s on camera,” she admits, once again making a dig at the producers.
Is Davina the Show's True Villain?
After season 2 dropped in May, fans quickly dubbed Davina the "real villain” of the show and, yes, she’s seen the memes.
"I think my 'villain personality' is really exaggerated and misunderstood, and I think it’s really unfair," she tells ET. "I think that I'm very genuine and I’m very honest, I stand up for the truth, and if edited a certain way, then it can look like I’m mean or cold or rude, and I understand that the audience only sees what they see."
Davina wasn’t even originally supposed to be a part of the show, joining the cast nearly two years after it had first been put together for the series’ pilot presentation, which explains why some of the girls might not be as inclusive toward her.
"The audience should take a step back and think, well maybe we don’t know everything, we don't know this person and we weren’t actually there," she adds. "That was the case in many of the scenes where you see me be 'vilified.'"
Many of those scenes involve Christine -- from poking fun at Chrishell needing to "flee" Los Angeles to process her divorce to digging at Heather for being in tabloids -- and neither woman apologizes for what they say onscreen. Christine even proudly claims the title of reality TV villain; she says she plays things up for the camera, embodying a bit of a character.
"I'm bringing it: drama, tea, look, bulls**t, attitude, sass -- everything," Christine admits. "I have different elements that work in my favor, you know? I'm really humorous and I'm funny, and comedy can be a really forgiving aspect, in terms of delivery. And Davina is German and she may come across a little bit different."
Both women own up to the fact that sometimes they might say something provocative for provocation's sake.
"Do you want to be in [the show] and be a villain, or do you want to not be in it, basically, right?" Davina asks.
What Was Chrishell and Justin's Final Fight About?
The biggest question left hanging at the end of season 3 is, what did Chrishell and Justin fight about before he seemingly filed for divorce out of nowhere? Chrishell shares a lot of details and insight into the sudden demise of their marriage, but she never explains the last fight. She just references it a few times, making it seem innocuous. Only one cast member says they know what it was about.
"I actually do know what it was about," Amanza confesses. "I'm not going to say it, unless Chrishell gives me permission ... but to be honest, it’s not -- if she chooses to share it, it's not like somebody cheated or-- it's not even, like, a huge deal."
"This is not what the argument was, but it’s equivalent to like, you said you were going to take the clothes out of the dryer and fold them and have them put away when I got home. And you didn’t," she explains. "And then the other person’s like, I didn’t, because I had a busy day and I wasn’t able to, but I did it later. It’s so dumb. It’s like, not even a life-changing argument.”
Amanza says the topic of the fight doesn't change the outcome of the story at all.
"I'm one of the closest people to Chrishell and I don't know," Mary, Chrishell's other confidante in the group, adds. "It's not my business … it could've been very important, it could've been absolutely ridiculous -- it could've been about a bottle of water -- but who knows? The result’s the same, and our friend's hurting because of it.”
Did the Cast Actually Find Out About Chrishell's Divorce From a Google Alert?
Yes, but it's not exactly what you see on TV -- at least not according to Christine, who is the person who announces the news to the team...or so it seems in the scene.
"Did I?" she asks, with a smirk. "We actually all have Selling Sunset alerts set up on our phone and, you know, they do go off all the time -- it's super obnoxious, I'm not gonna lie. We were all in office and we kind of actually found out together. It wasn't me specifically who was like, oh my God. We were reeling in this moment, you know?"
Christine says they broke the fourth wall for a bit to consult with producers about what exactly was going on with Chrishell. They wanted to make sure the news was real before they spoke about it on camera.
"We were all like, holy s**t," she recalls. "So there were conversations in the middle of that because we're asking everyone else -- we're like, guys, what is this? Like, is it a joke? Like, tell us please. 'Cause we really didn't know. So we were shocked to say the least."
Has Davina Sold the $75 Million Listing Yet?
Quick answer: No. It's been more than a year and Adnan Sen's seemingly overpriced property is still on the market, despite Davina and Christine's best efforts to move the mansion. Davina still has the listing, though, and she's quick to reiterate that it's a pocket listing, meaning you have to know about it to see the house. It's not listed in the MLS.
As for why Davina seems so scared of losing Adnan as a client, she says she's not -- and she promises that he’s not as scary as he seems on TV!
"My relationship with Adnan continues to be good and he has shown me another one of his properties for around $40 million, so that’s another potential," she teases. "He's actually a really nice guy, so what you see in my reaction is much more of a surprise to him being so tough. So, I was more shocked by his, I don’t know, maybe acting skills? I’m not sure, and I was kinda taken back, because he’s been nothing but warm and professional and cooperative to me, so I was a little surprised that he was very tough. So, I think it’s interpreted as 'afraid,' but no one wants to lose a client that’s maybe a billionaire or close to it."
Why Doesn't Davina Just Start Her Own Brokerage?
She might! Davina says she's toying with the idea, but striking out on your own as a broker is a big risk.
"As a broker, you have liability," Maya, who is studying for her broker’s license, explains. "So, God forbid you get sued or anything like that, it goes to the broker and you as the agent, you have more protection. Also, being your own brokerage, you have to have some kind of money to invest in your marketing and office space."
"That being said, you don't have to split your commission with your broker, so everything goes to you," she notes. "So you have the pros and the cons."
Does Mary Trust Her Husband, Romain Bonnet?
Yes! After confronting her hubby over lying by omission about girls coming back to his hotel suite with Jason and Brett Oppenheim after his bachelor party, Mary says she and Romain are all good.
"He's the most trustworthy person, guy -- especially of his age and in L.A. and all the attention he gets in this industry and stuff now -- he's beyond trustworthy," she gushes. "I was just very upset that he thought that that was the right thing to do, was not tell me. I knew it wasn't his fault -- Jason and Brett caused the whole thing and he just didn't want to add more to my plate."
"He feels really bad and I don't think he would ever cheat," she adds. "He's not the kind of guy that would do that. He would just be like, screw you I'm done and then leave. And then he'd go do what he wants."
As for what the future holds for the couple, Mary -- who just turned 40 -- confesses she’s been too busy working to take the next step on their fertility journey. She and Romain discussed freezing eggs on the season, and she said she got the all clear to do it, she just hasn’t had the time! She says Romain has also been too busy with work. He’s currently working on his general contractor’s license and currently does project management on construction developments -- including builds for the Oppenheim Group! Romain, who is French, made the career switch after realizing pastry chefs don’t make much money in the U.S.
"If we can't even go in to freeze eggs, should we really be bringing a kid into this world?" she asks. "I mean we need to slow down and then decide when is the right time. But I'm going to make a point to freeze the eggs soon, or embryos actually."
The pair also has yet to buy a house, to live in or flip, but it’s a plan for 2021.
Has Mary Upgraded Her Ring From Moissanite to a Diamond?
Yep! She actually did it before season 1 premiered. For those who need a refresher, Romain proposed with a ring made out of moissanite, a rare mineral, back in season 1 with the promise to upgrade it when he could. Mary’s co-workers, most notably Davina, made fun of the ring being "not real."
"It's a 2.5 carat, I guess it's almost 3 carats with all the things around it," she explains. "It's not on Heather or Christine's level, but I'm happy with it."
What Does Mary Think About the Girls' Claim That Jason Favors Her?
Mary laughs off the idea that she gets extra listings courtesy of Jason just because they used to date. She says she actually hustles harder than anyone else in the Oppenheim Group, and that's why she’s rewarded. These aren't handouts, she says. She's brought into the listings because Jason knows she’s a closer and she’s committed.
"Just look at Instagram," she says pointedly. "Are you really gonna give someone a listing or a buyer when you're not in the country? When you're not in the state? You're on vacation! How are you gonna take care of that client? You're always gone."
"They used to hustle," she adds of her co-stars. "Lately, they're just more bitching about how much I get and they don't than actually working. I'm like, shut your mouth and actually work and you get it."
Are Christine and Mary Friends Again?
Not really. While the former roommates worked to repair their relationship in season 3, both admit things didn't wind up in the spot they wanted. Christine says Mary's recent birthday party, which included a guest list of Chrishell, Heather and the Oppenheim twins, was the first of Mary's birthdays in years that she wasn’t a part of.
"I feel sad where we left, it's unfortunate," Christine confesses. Things took a turn for the already-strained pair when Christine imitated Mary at a broker's open on season 2. Christine says she doesn’t regret mimicking her one-time BFF ("it was hilarious and it's true"), but does realize it was the wrong time to do it.
"I'd seen her go off on other people, I just never thought it'd be towards me," Mary admits. "So, it's just kind of like this revelation of, do I know this person? Do I want this person in my life? I keep trying to take it back and be like, no I remember the old Christine. She wouldn't do this, and so maybe it's just circumstances that makes it feel like we're different people.”
Those "circumstances" are twofold: One, there's Mary’s friendship with Chrishell -- Christine's on-camera enemy -- and two, there's the show itself, and what it means to be on a reality show. Mary says having to constantly talk about why a friendship fell apart makes it harder to put that friendship back together. It’s something on which Christine agrees with her.
"In 'TV land,' all they want us to do is keep talking about it, that's not real," she says. Christine also says she and Amanza are in a great place after Christine accused her of being the “wedge” between Christine and Mary. In fact, Christine calls Amanza one of her "best friends."
"I'm flattered," Amnaza says in response, laughing. "A lot of people call me their best friend, and I call a few people my best friend. I wouldn’t consider Christine -- I wouldn’t consider her my best friend, I would consider her -- and I considered her before we ever started filming -- a very close friend."
Amanza has been part of Christine and Mary's social circle for years, so Mary found it laughable that Christine would put any blame on Amanza for the strain in their friendship. Amanza doesn’t take kindly to the accusation either, admitting she is a bit bothered by Christine’s criticisms of her being like a bodyguard to Mary. Still, she’s willing to laugh things off -- well, most things. Amanza didn’t love Christine’s quip about how talking to Amanza was equivalent to charity work while they were at an actual charity event.
“She comes across like really b**chy, and then she backpedals," Amanza says. "'No, guys, it's just for the show. I’m really sweet.' Well, you didn’t tell me that I was a charity case.”
"You make your bed, you lay in it," she adds. "You’re a b**ch on the show. You can’t say really b**chy stuff and then get upset when the world is like, you’re a b**ch, because you did that. Like, they don’t make you say anything on Selling Sunset. It’s not scripted."
Has Amanza Learned to Be on Time?
Yes? Amanza says the show has more than highlighted this character flaw, and she’s working on it.
“Season 3, it was, like, every episode was something about me not being punctual and, yeah, it was annoying, but maybe God is trying to tell me like, OK, if you are ashamed enough about your tardiness you will change, Amaza!” she confesses. “I did, I watched the whole season and I was like, ‘Oh! nobody's going to call me to buy a house because they don't think I can show up on time.’”
For what it's worth, Amanza has sold more than just the one house viewers saw her close on season 3 -- in fact, she sold "a whole damn building" for $6.5 million! She also hopes viewers (and potential clients) cut her some slack, as she was going through a lot of things personally in season 3 (see next question).
What Happened With Amanza's Ex-Husband?
She still doesn’t know. Amanza's ex, former NFL player Ralph Brown, went missing amid filming seasons 2 and 3, and a year later he’s still MIA. Amanza says she has no idea where Ralph disappeared to, sharing that his phone is turned off and the only address she has for him is a P.O. box.
"I have speculated to the point that I'm like, I mean -- I've filed a missing persons report at one point, I hired a private investigator at one point. They never got a visual," she shares. "I reach out to every family member, I've had friends reach out. If I reach out to his sister and brother-in-law, the next thing [I know], I would be blocked. I text, e-mail, voice message his brother and his father to no avail. I've had at least 20 of his ex-NFL teammates reach out to me saying, 'Hey have you heard from [him]? Do you know what’s going on?'"
Her best guess is that he is suffering from some sort of brain injury related to his NFL career and has chosen to go off the grid to protect their kids -- Noah, 10, and Braker, 8 -- from seeing him in that state.
“Nobody can believe it, because he was an amazing father,” she says. “It’s not like he was a deadbeat dad and it just got worse. He was a really, really involved, connected father, so it's just… it's like a movie.”
Selling Sunset cameras followed Amanza as she filed for sole custody of the kids, but she says that was just a temporary order. If Ralph shows up one day, their original 50-50 agreement would be back in effect.
"It's the most bizarre, heartbreaking [thing] for my kids, 'cause it's not just their dad, like, that whole side of the family has just disappeared," she notes. "They were very close to their grandparents and their cousins."
What Does Heather Think About Everyone Constantly Coming for Her Intelligence?
It seems like everyone has something to say about Heather's smarts, but she's OK with it.
"I think because I'm just bubbly and I'm very girly, I'm from California, I don't know... I think they think I'm stupid?" she shares. "But clearly I am where I am today because I'm not stupid. And I've worked very hard, I’ve worked my a** off to get where I am and, you know, I'd rather be funny and sweet and humble and have innocence than be a b**ch."
As for why her "Heather" nameplate necklace is backward in her confessionals -- a look reminiscent of Mean Girls character Karen’s backward bejeweled K on Halloween -- Heather is not taking the blame for that.
"Oh my God!" she cries. "They always put that on for me, 'cause I can't clip it, so I'm blaming the producers on that one."
Has Heather Ever Called the Paparazzi on Herself?
"Never, ever, ever!" she exclaims. "Like, there's no need to."
Christine and Davina give Heather a hard time about the amount of coverage she and her now-fiancé, Tarek El Moussa, get in the tabloids. But Heather says she has no control over it. She and Tarek just share their lives on social media and people turn it into stories. She doesn’t have to do anything.
"That's why you can see I get so mad in the moment, like, that’s real anger," she says of the scene in season 3 where she storms out of Christine’s house. “It’s honest, real anger and it was at the point where she had said a couple things, like, making fun of me, she was calling me and Tarek 'Speidi.'"
"Speidi" would of course be Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, who famously used to stage paparazzi shoots during their original run on The Hills and the years after.
Ironically, Heather, Tarek and Christine now share a publicist.
"She's fabulous!" Christine gushes. "I had no idea who Tarek El Moussa was, ever, until he started dating Heather, and then I started getting Selling Sunset notifications and I saw the PR that he does and I'm like, who is this guy? He's everywhere! I'm like, I need that lady!"
Is the Oppenheim Group Wine Really That Bad?
Survey says, yes. All season long, the ladies of the O Group, as they call it, complained about the quality of the brokerage's branded vino, which they drink at pretty much every group or work event.
"Jason and Brett didn't taste it before they ordered," Mary reveals, calling it an expensive mistake. "When they got it -- I was even a little bit tipsy -- and I tried to have a couple drinks and I was like, 'oh wow, that's sad. I can't do it.'"
Maya, a wine lover, calls it "s**tty," while Christine dubs it "crap."
"We’re not poor, can you get some actual good wine?" she asks. "It's gross."
Mary says Jason is working on redoing the wine -- and Heather has a request: Bottle some rosé! As for Amanza, she'll take whatever Jason wants to get rid of.
"I'm from Indiana, I grew up in a trailer. We drank wine out of a box -- you ever heard of Boone's Farm? That was, that was classy, right?" she laughs. "It doesn’t bother me at all. … If it’s called wine and it looks yellow, it’s called chardonnay, I’m totally down. I don’t know. I’m sure it is, if you are like a wine, you know, connoisseur, but it’s fine. So, Jason! If you want to just send it all to my house, you’ll save me a ton of money."
What Did Everyone Do Before They Got Into Real Estate?
And finally, while some of the women's pre-realty careers are well known -- Chrishell is an Emmy-nominated actress, Heather pursued modeling and appeared in Playboy, and Christine made her mark in films like Hot Tub Time Machine 2 -- the others' preshow life is a bit of a mystery.
Davina was also a model, she says, while Maya was actually in retail and working on opening her own fashion boutique when the economy crashed and she pivoted to real estate. Amanza was a designer/home stager before becoming a realtor, and before that she was a model (and still sometimes is, with stints on multiple editions of Deal or No Deal) and a jack of all trades, picking up jobs from telemarketing to nannying and retail to pay the bills.
As for Mary, she had the most unexpected prior career: radiology.
"I went to school for life-health sciences," she shares. "It's like a radiology technician where I do head [CT scans]. I would work in the ER and do all the X-rays and do head CTs."
All three seasons of Selling Sunset are now streaming on Netflix. For the cast’s thoughts on season 4, click here.
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