Spoilers ahead! Chrishell Stause unpacks the events of 'Selling Sunset' season 7 and shares where the O Group 'family' goes from here.
Seven seasons into Selling Sunset, Chrishell Stause is used to taking hits from her co-stars. Only now, she's hitting back.
The actress turned real estate agent sits down with ET to break down all the messy events of Selling Sunset season 7, from feeling gaslit by Jason Oppenheim's girlfriend, Marie-Lou Nurk, to her friendship breakup with Amanza Smith, her lingering season 6 issues with Nicole Young and why she's over the Oppenheim Group being called a family.
Read on for a foe-by-foe breakdown.
Marie-Lou Nurk
Chrishell broke the fourth wall at an awkward lunch with ex Jason's then-girlfriend, after Marie-Lou attempted to put words in Chrishell's mouth and paint a picture that Chrishell was jealous of the model and "mean" to her. As far as Chrishell knew, they were totally cool, having just spent time together in Australia, both on and off camera.
"It was a little frustrating," she admits. "I don't think she would have gotten a sit-down storyline had she not said that; I don't feel like she would have been invited to the reunion had she said I was really nice to her. So, as someone in my position, it's hard because, what am I supposed to say? But it does feel targeted."
Chrishell says her reality star Spidey senses started tingling when she got the call for that lunch, suspecting Marie-Lou was attempting to drum up drama to snag a spot on the show. It put her in an awkward position with Jason, who's not only her ex and co-star, but also her boss at the real estate brokerage.
"It was pretty stressful because I felt like it wasn't exactly fair that it would then be her word against mine," she explains. "I definitely told Jason that, but I've now had him agree, this will not happen again. You can date whoever you want. I want you to be happy. I wish you the best, but I will not do another sit-down with whoever the new person is, whether we get along great or not. Hopefully we will, I don't know why we wouldn't, but, yeah, that's it for me. One and done."
Jason and Marie-Lou split after cameras went down on season 7, but there were still pieces to pick up for Chrishell and Jason.
"I don’t even know where they stand or anything like that," Chrishell says of Marie-Lou and Jason. "I think it was awkward during that, because I really felt the need to take a step back even from the friendship and just kind of make sure to draw a line about, if it’s a professional event or not, because the last thing I want to do is misconstrue anything. We're also filming a TV show in there, you know? So, it just make things a little uncomfortable, and so now I feel like everything is fine. We worked through it, you know? I'm happy for him, I know he's happy for me."
Amanza Smith
Chrishell fell out with one-time close pal Amanza during the cast's trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. After Chrishell and Emma Hernan opted to stay in their own accommodations rather than the shared villa for the other O Group agents, they also skipped a "family" dinner -- in part because Chrishell did not want to be around Marie-Lou following their issues. Amanza took it upon herself to call out Chrishell, recording a video message shaming her for skipping the meal. That led Chrishell to fire Amanza from a design gig decorating Chrishell's partner, drummer G Flip's, music studio.
"This one's hard for me," Chrishell admits. "I have so much love for Amanza."
Chrishell takes issue with a couple of things in the Amanza/Mexico dinner situation; first, she says Amanza was not blindsided by Chrishell skipping the meal. She says she sent a text to the group explaining why she was abstaining from the filmed event. Second, she points out some missing context: Chrishell claims she and Amanza made a friendship contract ahead of filming.
"The one rule was, no drama if my partner is involved at all," Chrishell reveals, "and now, we're not on speaking terms, so I'm not going to film a TV show with my partner with this all this drama."
"G's not trying to be a reality star," she continues. "They have a whole team of people that have input, as well, and it's just no longer going to work for what we thought it was going to be."
Chrishell isn't a fan of the narrative Amanza started to spin about being let go from the job, suggesting it was her only shot to show off her design talents.
"You have a whole year if you want to put your designs on the show," Chrishell notes. "But that being said, you know, we have tried to talk through it and understand where the other one was coming from, 'cause I don't think either one was out to hurt the other person; that's the difference in some of the times I've dealt with other people on the show."
"I don't think either one of us was actively trying to hurt each other, but there were times that we did," she reiterates. Chrishell says she and Amanza are on their way to rebuilding what they once had, though where they land remains to be seen. Her big takeaway from the whole ordeal is, boundaries are important. However, Chrishell says it's not her responsibility to make others comfortable with her boundaries.
"If my boundaries make some people uncomfortable, then I can't be friends with you the way that I want to be," she declares. "I think once we got that understanding, then now I feel like we're getting to a better place."
Mary Bonnet (née Fitzgerald) found herself roped into the drama, as Amanza used her showing up to the dinner after suffering a miscarriage as proof no one had an excuse to not be there. Mary mostly played Switzerland in the saga, though, refusing to take sides and consoling both parties.
"I really admire that side of Mary," Chrishell admits. "People think that she's taking the easy way out by doing that, but to be honest with you, sometimes it's harder because she's trying to be a friend to everyone, and that really is her heart. I love her. I feel like we've come a long way, as you know, she's gone through a lot. And I feel like there are times where you won't see the stuff that happened off-camera, or we will reference it or something, but it's like she really is one of those people that she needs something, I'm there and I know it goes both ways."
Nicole Young
Nicole proved to be Chrishell's main adversary in season 6, but she seemed to pull back in season 7 from fulling leaning into a villain era. At least, that's how it looked on TV.
"Did she pull back?" Chrishell quips. "I lived it so it's different. It feels different."
The two had some unfinished business by season's end, Chrishell waiting for an apology for their season 6 issues.
"So, we filmed a reunion," she offers when asked if she's received it yet. "I don't want to give a spoiler of that."
This is the second reunion special for the Selling Sunset crew, and Chrishell says it's a tie between herself and Nicole for who's in the hot seat the most.
"It gets heated, and it is going to be kind of a must-watch thing," she teases. "That being said, I also think that we got to a a good place to just try and clean this slate."
The O Group "Family"
This season, Chrishell came to the realization she wants to separate herself from the "family" mentality so many of her officemates share about their work group.
"The O group is my home as far as real estate is concerned, but it's not my home where I lay my head down and I go to sleep, and I think that's the difference," she reflects. "I think that sometimes you can get to a toxic level when, same with your real family, where people think you can say and do whatever because 'we're family,' you know? So, especially when it's your chosen family, any of these people can go work somewhere else, you know?"
For now, Chrishell's staying put at the O Group and on Selling Sunset, though the series hasn't been officially picked up for more seasons yet.
"I feel like I definitely get a lot from the show," she says. "As long as the good outweighs the bad, then I can show up and be a team player, even in the most ridiculous scenarios. But if that balance gets off, then it's time to rethink things. But right now, I feel like as crazy as it got, I still feel like some of these girls are like family to me; we really do have a good time, and I can still kind of blow off the silly stuff, because this is not what life is about. So, let me try and be grateful and give a deep eye roll and move on."
As for her wish list for a potential season 8? "I wish that I had a say in casting," she cracks. "If anyone doesn't agree with that, they're lying!"
All episodes of Selling Sunset are now streaming on Netflix. The season 6 and 7 reunion special, hosted by Queer Eye's Tan France, debuts on Nov. 15.
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