Spoilers ahead! 'Selling Sunset' newbie Chelsea Lazkani spills on season 5, from joining the O Group to playing cast mediator.
Chelsea Lazkani knows how to make a first impression -- and she's definitely going to leave one with viewers of Selling Sunset.
"The truth is I never, ever considered reality TV!" the real estate agent confesses to ET on making her Netflix debut. "If somebody asked me this time last year, 'Would you do reality TV?' I'd say, 'Over my dead body. Absolutely not.' Truly! I truly would. It's my worst nightmare, I'm such a private person typically. However, when I wanted to get into real estate, I was looking for representation. I was looking for role models that looked like me and could essentially help accelerate my career and I didn't find any. I said, 'This is an opportunity to be a role model for so many young girls that are just like you. If you don't take this opportunity, another person that may get it may be too scared to, too.' It was really about paying it forward and knowing that not only can this help my business grow, but it could also help so many other young Black women get into this industry."
Ironically, the ballsy Brit seems made for reality TV, unafraid to go against the grain and make some waves... all while closing deals in heels. She joins the show by way of Christine Quinn, the show's so-called villain. While their episode 1 meet-cute might appear staged, Chelsea professes that it was 100 percent authentic.
"I kid you not -- first of all, because I do want to set the tone -- that was the first time I have ever glimpsed at Ms. Christine Quinn," she says. "That was my first ever encounter with her. So whatever you see transpire on TV, or what you've seen transpire on TV, was just about as organic as it gets and it was really just so beautiful to have that initial, instant, electric connection with somebody. So I just want everybody to know that because I watch it back and I kind of have chills because I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I just met my best friend.'"
The pair link up at a brokers' open, though Chelsea was seemingly recruited there by production. She'd been pursuing a role at The Oppenheim Group after welcoming her second child.
"I've had my real estate license since 2017 and I worked for a company called Rodeo Realty," she explains. "I then had my son, then had my daughter, and I was like, 'I want to hang my license somewhere.' When I first got into the real estate game Rodeo Realty was so crucial to me because they have a great training program. It's kind of like a good starting point for realtors to really learn their trade and get comfortable. But if you want to be selling luxury properties and properties north of $3, $4 million, you've got to be part of a luxury brokerage that have tools to bring those clienteles in. I heard of the Oppenheim Group, I've heard of a couple of others, and I was like, 'OK, I've got to prove myself,' and there you have it."
As viewers see in season 5, Chelsea proves herself quite quickly, landing a desk at the coveted Sunset Blvd. office, where she's forced to navigate the complex office dynamics. Joining the group by way of Christine doesn't exactly help matters.
"I realized that I'm a lot different from the other ladies, if I'm honest with you," Chelsea confesses. "I went in there thinking that, 'OK, this is going to be a situation whereby me and these ladies are all going to be the same...' and I'm not saying that everyone is the same, I'm just saying I thought that I was just going to go in and be the same and kind of watching the season back, I was proud of myself because I looked back on it and I just realized that I was able to rise above it."
"I don't think five-years-ago me would've been able to rise above some of the drama," she continues, "but I saw the way I was able to navigate it and rise above it and still maintain friendships with both sides. I was like, 'That's what we need going forward,' you know what I mean?"
Chelsea helps to break up the all vs. one dynamic that started to form over the past couple of seasons, with Christine at odds with nearly everyone else in the office. She even took it upon herself to call out the women for "bullying" Christine at a brokers' open, after the women started piling onto Christine after Amanza Smith opened the floodgates by questioning Christine's intentions in sending Heather Rae El Moussa an over-the-top flower arrangement for her on-camera bridal shower, to which Christine was not invited.
"I think that as adults and as professionals, if we have a gripe with somebody, we go to that person directly, and if there is a heated discussion unraveling in front of you that you are not involved in, you shut up and you mind your business," she reflects. "At very best, if you want to get involved, you mediate, OK? But what you don't do is throw stones and what you don't do is nitpick or use that as an opportunity to rehash your gripe with that person."
"For me, it's more about staying true," she adds. "Staying true to who I am and my value system. It could have been my best friend, the one throwing stones, and I would still say, 'Hey, that's not cool,' because I say it on the show, silence is compliance. If you don't have to pick a side, but you can be like, 'Hey, that's not cool,' and nobody else but me did that."
While Chelsea is proud of how she handled herself during her freshman run, there is a moment she wishes she could take back: confronting Chrishell Stause over a comment she heard second-hand, in which Chrishell questioned Chelsea's qualifications. Chrishell's concerns were more about Christine recommending someone than if Chelsea had the real estate chops.
"The only scenes I looked back on and was like, 'Ugh!' was when I-- and it happened very rarely -- but it's when I didn't stick to my guns," she shares. "I think early on in season, you see me kind of like, 'Oh, I wonder what this person said about me, about me not having my real estate license?' But later on in the season I had to correct myself because I was like, 'Don't listen to anything. Don't listen to hearsay. Unless it's said to you in front of you, give that person the benefit of doubt and rise above it or go directly to them.' It was just me trying to remember to stick to my guns, stick to my values, and follow my intuition."
Chelsea says she's now quite close with Chrishell, as well as Emma Hernan, which may come as a shock to Selling Sunset fans, seeing as those two women are Christine's greatest on-camera enemies.
"I think everybody's entitled to their own opinions and their own walls and I think everybody had a wall, but once they met me, that wall was instantly broken down," Chelsea says. "I feel very, very grateful to have individual relationships with all of them."
"Individual relationships" is a key term, as Chelsea notes she has to compartmentalize relationships so that certain feelings don't cloud her judgment.
"I'm a loyal person and I know how to keep my trap shut," she declares. "I'm like a vault. If you give me information from this side, I keep it and I bury it. If you give me information from this side, I keep it and I bury it. I don't let the sides cross. I have so much information that I'm just not sharing."
Chelsea's not BFFs with everyone in the office, though. She never quite hit it off with Davina Potratz, a somewhat controversial figure with viewers. Davina started off as a close pal of Christine's, but has since distanced herself from her castmate in favor of befriending the rest of the group. Christine confided in Chelsea that she was hurt that Davina would prioritize being liked by the majority over their friendship, something which came up at a tea party hosted by Chelsea. Davina saw the tea party as a set-up of sorts, and attempted to clear the air with Chelsea during a one-on-one coffee date. That meet-up didn't go so well, with Davina storming off after Chelsea called her "overly sensitive."
"I think that Davina and I, we differ on values greatly," Chelsea offers. "I think ultimately the people closest to you probably share the same norms as you and our norms just very much differ. I'm very much a straight shooter and a straight-up person, and what you see is what you get. I think that maybe she's a little bit more Switzerland, and that's totally OK, but you're going to have a hard time with someone like me, because I always want to know where I stand with you and what you think of me."
"I'm still cordial with Davina, but if you stand for nothing, you fall for everything," she quips. "I think that you have to be opinionated, especially when you're in this office and the moment you shrink yourself, I personally start to think, 'Oh, is this person being genuine? Is this person being authentic?' I could be wrong. I absolutely could be wrong, but that's just me as a strong, opinionated person, how I think if you don't voice your opinions."
Season 5 ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Christine's future at the O Group in question after Emma exposes a supposed bribery plot to office bosses Jason Oppenheim and Mary Fitzgerald. Emma claims Christine, via an "associate," contacted one of her longtime clients and offered him $5,000 not to work with Emma.
"Honestly, I know nothing about it," Chelsea confesses. "I did watch the season, but I didn't actually watch that part. I'll be honest, I skipped over some parts that didn't include myself! I don't know. I truly don't. If it did happen, that's sad, if it didn't happen, that's also sad because now that it's out there kind of makes this wedge greater. I just hope that we can all communicate and talk through things and hopefully reconcile. That would be my greatest joy."
Chelsea is hopeful that Christine will keep her desk at the Oppenheim Group. "Christine adds such a wonderful energy and dynamic and she shoots for the stars as well," she gushes. "She's got these grandiose visions and brokers' opens and goals for herself, so it's just so nice to be around that energy. I have no idea, I truly don't, but I really hope not. Everybody, you put that energy out there, Christine's going to stay at the O Group and let's manifest it together because I love being in the office with her."
But don't hold your breath for a manifestation circle to pop up at the soon-to-tape season 5 reunion. Chelsea predicts it'll be a "turn-up fest" with no forward movement for the ladies.
"You put all these girls in beautiful gowns and beautiful hair and makeup and the sass comes all the way out!" she exclaims. "I'm only really, really close with two or three of the ladies. The others, I don't really speak to that frequently. We'll see if there's anything they want to hash out with me, if there's any feathers that I've ruffled, but I'm always open to have the conversation. I love to talk. I love to get people to know the why behind things I say or do. I'm not afraid of having hard discussions, so sure. Let's go."
Season 5 of Selling Sunset is now streaming on Netflix.
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