Rules You Didn't Know The Cast Of Selling Sunset Has To Follow

"Selling Sunset" has definitely solidified its spot as everyone's favorite Netflix reality TV show. It has it all: stunning people, even more beautiful properties, and a truckload of drama. Who hasn't had their fair share of inter-office drama? But these ladies make drama look like an art form. With four full seasons currently available to binge-watch, and Season 5 on the horizon, it's safe to say that producers have managed to capture and hold our attention. What seemed at first to be just another real estate show has offered so much more. 

Not only do the beautiful ladies of The Oppenheim Group do a great job of landing amazing properties and pitching them to a star-studded clientele, but they are also endlessly feuding amongst themselves. After watching the glamorous cast make their way to the bank to cash in huge commissions and live in lavish Hollywood homes themselves, it's a mystery that they have anything to stress about ... aside from their catty conflicts, that is. And while fans are quick to assume that everything shown on the show is fake, this isn't always the case. Keep reading to learn a few of the rules the cast has to follow. Bear in mind that these rules make it clear that the temper tantrums you see onscreen are all too real.

With any successful reality TV show, skeptics are quick to assume that everything shown onscreen is done only for the cameras — which is understandable, as countless iconic reality series have been revealed to be staged. Case in point: The biggest accusation people throw around when it comes to "Selling Sunset" is that the cast aren't actually selling anything. Many doubt that the ladies even have licenses, and that they're merely playing pretend. 

President of The Oppenheim Group, Jason Oppenheim was quick to clear up this misconception. "Mary, Heather, Maya, and Christine were licensed and successful real estate agents at The Oppenheim Group many years prior to filming our show," he told People in August 2020. "Any insinuation that the agents on our show are not experienced, successful, or licensed, 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 licensed real estate experience from these agents," he added. 

"Selling Sunset" features some pretty explosive feuds, set to the backdrop of stunning views of LA. The drama on the show has gotten to be so much that it once resulted in Chrishell Stause threatening to sue her arch-nemesis Christine Quinn, as Us Weekly reported. With such crazy drama unfolding every episode, viewers might guess that it's all scripted and set up by the show's producers. However, the cast actually has to provide their fair share of drama in order to hold onto their roles in the show, as The Things points out. Interestingly, the outlet also notes that the cast can't drag their coworkers at The Oppenheim Group into the drama spotlight. 

While some of the ladies seem to always rise to the occasion and thrive off of the drama, Stause told USA Today that she's anti-drama. "I don't like to lean into the drama of it all. That is what truly does give me anxiety," she said. "If there's any one con to doing this show, it's just that I really want us to be in a place where we can all support each other and lift each other up." Fans don't quite buy Stause's claim, and there's an entire Reddit thread dedicated to pointing out how she is the true villain of the show. 

"Selling Sunset" is filled with crazy numbers. The words "millions of dollars" are casually thrown around — and with each property, a price and commission flashes across the screen that's so exorbitant, it may leave fans wondering if they read the numbers right. The lives of the cast members seem lavish because they're cashing in huge commissions, but the truth is that the existing rule at The Oppenheim Group is that you make what you sell. According to The Tab, there is no base salary.

Speaking to Express, agent Davina Potraz explained how it works. "If you get, say, 2.5 per cent commission of the purchase price, then that share goes to the broker, and then the salesperson who did the transaction, if it was their client, they have a split with the broker," she said. Her co-star Mary Fitzgerald also weighed in on how difficult it can be to rely solely on commissions. "I think the hardest thing in real estate is working for commission only. Spending months sometimes with a client and then they change their minds," she added.

When it comes to reality TV shows, you never quite know just how many moments are left on the cutting room floor. The casts' lives are filmed for hours on end, and fans are only left with 30 minute snippets of everything they do. As a result, fans have accused producers of editing "Selling Sunset" in a way that makes some cast members look better than others. However, Women's Health reports that a big rule of the show is that the cast have zero input or say in how they are edited. 

This has been especially difficult for the Christine Quinn, who is often portrayed as the show's resident villain. "I'm not used to being on television like this. There were certain things where I had trust in production, but they didn't have our backs. I was really surprised seeing the way they portrayed me," Quinn told Nylon in 2020. She also spoke to E!'s Daily Pop about what she perceives as favoritism in the editing room. "There are many times where in the show I say certain things, but they don't want to have another person respond to me so sometimes they'll do an interview clip, and I'm just like, 'Ugh! Why can't I ever get a word in?'" Quinn expressed.

One of the first things that "Selling Sunset" viewers notice is how beautiful and polished the entire cast looks at all times. While LA is certainly more glamorous than other parts of the country, these ladies always appear camera ready, sporting flawless hair and full faces of makeup. As "Selling Sunset" is a big budget reality TV show, it makes sense for fans to assume that hair and makeup is provided — but this is not the case.

Per Cheat Sheet, all cast members are required to do their own hair and makeup as they see fit. Christine Quinn definitely takes the cake as the most dolled-up agent at The Oppenheim Group, and Entertainment Tonight confirms that she spends nearly a whopping $1,000 on glam each day. "I do all of my own makeup unless it's an interview look, and I pride myself on that," she told Page Six in 2020. "I know that a lot of people outsource for that, but I'm just so great at it and I love doing it myself because I'm kind of a control freak, obviously — I don't know if you've noticed," she added.