This piece contains spoilers for “Selling Sunset” season 8, which premiered on Netflix on Friday.
“Selling Sunset” Season 8 just may be the messiest installment yet.
The hit Netflix reality series returned on Friday with the glamorous agents of Oppenheim Group ready to step up their real estate game again. But luxury house listings will be the last thing on viewers’ minds, as explosive drama and scathing rumors this season have sparked cast-wide feuds that could change the group’s dynamics forever.
Some of the biggest moments in Season 8 involved Chelsea Lazkani, who clashed with castmate Mary Fitzgerald over remarks about Lazkani being a “pot-stirrer.” Even Fitzgerald’s husband, Romain Bonnet, got involved, after a nasty text exchange between his wife and Lazkani.
But the Lazkani and Fitzgerald’s frivolous beef — which also involved an argument about proper work clothing — was nothing compared to the shocking tea Lazkani’s fellow cast member and longtime frenemy Bre Tiesi dishes out about Lazkani’s marriage.
Tiesi said a friend of a friend saw Lazkani’s estranged husband, Jeff Lazkani, making out with another woman. Tiesi said she was attempting to repair her and Lazkani’s relationship, and felt she did the right thing ― Lazkani had filed for divorce in March ― but telling Lazkani about the rumor only seemed to offend her. During a conversation with close friends and fellow castmates Chrishell Stause and Emma Hernan, Lazkani accused Tiesi of trying to purposely “implode” her life on camera.
Another infidelity rumor that divided the “Selling Sunset” cast this season involved Hernan and series star Nicole Young, who at one point insinuated that Hernan had an affair with a married man. Young avoided going into detail for most of the season to spare her “good relationships” with her castmates, but once they’d previewed the season’s episodes, the inevitable happened.
In the days before Season 8 began streaming, the “Selling Sunset” cast took to social media and interviews to air their grievances before viewers could have any context.
Stause lit the first match on Aug. 31 when she went after Young over Hernan’s infidelity rumor, writing on her Instagram Stories, “Someone needs to take my phone bc 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬. Are we really still giving air time to LIARS that just want air time??”
She also alleged that Young had spread a “disgusting lie about a bestie that is categorically FALSE and SUPER damaging” and called the “Selling Sunset” production team “disgusting for blindsiding [Hernan] with this to see with the world instead of letting her at LEAST defend herself with the TRUTH.”
Chelsea complained about Young on her Instagram Stories as well, calling her castmate “the most diabolical piece of 🗑️ I’ve ever met.”
“You wanna start a rumor about Emma because all the rumors about you are true,” she continued. “OK, let’s see how this works out for you… Spreading lies for views is so damaging.”
The “Selling Sunset” star went on to bring Tiesi and Fitzgerald into the mix, too. She tagged all three in her Story to say, “You lie, placate, steal meanwhile your own 🗑️ has landed some of you in lawsuits. I’ve kept quiet until now, but this is not okay.”
Young took to her Instagram Stories to defend herself, writing of Stause’s and Lazkani’s claims, “Instead of attacking me and accusing me of lying, I think you ladies need to ask your bestie some tough questions. Did she let you know she was directly confronted on camera at the season 7 finale by the wife’s best friend? Even still, I stated this information as a rumor.”
Young added, “Given the fact that both of you have been the victim of extramarital affairs, I would think you too would stand for the sanctity of all marriages.”
Stause doubled down on her distaste for the rumors about Hernan in a Wednesday interview with Extra, claiming that Young is using the “same playbook” with her bestie that she’s used with her in the past.
“It’s unfortunate that she was given the platform to do it again and Emma not be given the chance to defend herself,” Stause added, “because as you will see now, with the receipts that are coming out, it’s so blatantly untrue.”
Mayhem continued the week of Season 8′s premiere, as Lazkani informed her followers on X (formerly Twitter) on Sept. 1 that she plans to “tell you all the truth about the cast this season,” noting that she initially “wanted to keep the peace.”
But days later, that desire for peace went out the window. Lazkani hit back at Tiesi for bringing her “racist friend,” Amanda Lynn, on the show, in order “to try to ruin me” with accusations about Lazkani’s husband.
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Tiesi has yet to respond to Lazkani’s scorching comments, but some of the other “Selling Sunset” ladies have still been exchanging jabs with one another online.
It remains to be seen how the cast will recover from their Season 8 drama. (If there’s a reunion on the way, God help them.) If and when the show returns for Season 9, viewers might get to see how all these rumors have changed the relationships among the Oppenheim crew.
At the very least, we’re sure to be thoroughly entertained with more antics, over-the-top luxury homes and designer office looks that are a far cry from professional attire.
“Selling Sunset” is currently streaming on Netflix.
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