'Selling the OC' star Sean Palmieri speaks out for the first time since season 3 dropped to clear the air amid a flurry of allegations.
There's one thing Sean Palmieri and his Selling the OC co-star, Austin Victoria, can agree on: season 3 was full of lies. What they disagree on, though, is who told them.
It's been a little over a week since Netflix dropped the Selling Sunset spinoff's latest batch of episodes, a week that Sean has spent silent -- until now. The reality star sits down exclusively with ET to share his side of the story, after opting out of the all-cast press day held before the season debuted.
"It was a choice that was recommended to me," he explains of not participating in the group interviews, during which Austin and the rest of the ensemble (minus Tyler Stanaland) got to say their piece on everything that unfolded over the course of the newest eight episodes.
"I would have came," Sean adds. "I think that if I was there, I would have really shut it down, immediately; but I think it's really good to let people speak what they want to say, and then I will come back with the facts."
Much of season 3's drama surrounded Sean's fractured friendships with Austin and Tyler, with both bromances blowing up over suggestions someone in the relationships wanted to turn them into something more. Both Austin and Tyler blamed Sean; Sean says, it was the other way around, with an assist from others on the show.
"I actually, during season 2, cut off the majority of the cast," Sean explains. "There were a lot of things taking place, especially during season 1 and afterwards, that the actions, the things that I saw that were happening -- a lot of strange things that you saw, divorces took place -- there was a lot of conniving going on. I quickly started to realize, after sitting back and analyzing, I just thought that these are not really good friends, and these are not the type of people that I like having in my surrounding."
"[Polly Brindle] was a good example of a friend that, I start off friends with her, and then I saw on and off-camera, the negativity, the attacking," he continues. "Pitting against people and saying rumors and certain things that are not true? You just start to see people's true colors once they are on a TV show."
Sean points to the fact Polly is the one who first brought up the so-called rumor he supposedly started about Austin and his wife, Lisa, on camera. In episode 3, Polly sat down with Alex Hall at one of the Oppenheim Group's listings and said, "Recently, he told me Lisa and Austin invited him 'round to their house. Lisa made him weed cookies, he felt really weird, and then Lisa and Austin were insinuating that they wanted him to engage in a threesome."
"I feel like Polly came up with this rumor," Sean says. "I asked about this since the day I heard [there was a rumor floating around]."
The seed was planted on camera in a happy hour scene with Kayla Cardona and Ali Harper, which was intercut with a scene of Austin and Lisa discussing the rumor. After Sean shared his feelings about the couple being flirty, he recalls Ali and Kayla repeatedly pressing him on the point, which struck him as odd, as if there was an ulterior motive to the conversation.
"Polly and I weren't friends," he reiterates. "Quickly after season 1, we're not speaking, and then she's saying I recently told her something about Austin and Lisa, when we have not been speaking?"
"Polly, if I recently made up this rumor, how come you didn't bring it up season 2?" he asks. "You and I have not spoken. We are no longer friends."
When ET sat down with Polly, she shared her belief that Sean invented the rumor to secure screen time. Sean, however, questions, if that was his plan, wouldn't he be the one to bring it up on camera?
"She's the one who [wanted] screen time," he fires back. "I was fighting the entire time, trying to not have this on camera, and she made up a lie, caused a whole circus and turns in into a freak-show. That's what Polly does."
Sean doesn't deny, however, once confiding in Polly about Austin; instead, he suggests she twisted information and added lies to what he did share to make a moment for the show.
"I saw how quickly she became very spiteful," he says, "and she became really malicious."
Sean notes the only thing he ever said about Austin and Lisa on camera was that he got a flirty vibe from them, and it turned him off being around them. He also says details about the night in question have been misconstrued, sharing text messages with ET that establish a timeline. He never went over to Austin and Lisa's for dinner; instead, he shared sushi with Austin at a place near Austin's house, then went back to the house briefly to play video games on a VR headset Austin had recently purchased. After leaving, Sean sent Austin a text, which Austin shared on Instagram as part of a lengthy carousel to defend himself in the conversation surrounding the season. The message reads, "You guys are so fun. Let's hang out more! Thanks for having me over."
Other than the "flirty vibes," Sean and Austin actually have a very similar recollection of the night -- there was a dinner (though, again, Sean's texts shown to ET verify this was at a sushi spot and not at the Victoria home) and there was some video game playing. Sean's unclear how the story evolved to involve marijuana-laced cookies or explicit asks to join Austin and Lisa in the bedroom. He also did not distance himself from Austin specifically after this evening, as the show implies.
"This rumor about being drugged, lured into a bedroom, marijuana cookies? That never happened," he declares. "All I heard throughout filming is, there is a rumor and I was like, what is this rumor?"
"I never even brought this up to camera," he makes clear. "I never even brought it to production."
He, once again, suspects those details are an invention of Polly's, with an assist from Kayla.
"These are the two women who have been desperate since season 1 to go get out of the heat they caused," he snaps. "They are a part of destroying a marriage, they're a part of a lot of altercations in the office."
Sean's seemingly making reference to Tyler's divorce from actress Brittany Snow, which played out off camera just after season 1 debuted. Season 1 saw Kayla and Alex have flirtatious moments with Tyler, while season 2 documented the aftershocks of a surprise make-out session between him and Polly at a company party. All the women have been adamant they never crossed a line with Tyler while he was married.
"They're just trying to defend each other, because they're all into their crazy ways, as one," he alleges, brushing off Kayla's claim in the season finale that Sean was adamant about the marijuana detail off-camera as another lie.
"I never, ever spoke to Kayla and ever mentioned anything about edibles or weed cookies," he says. "What's missing from the season finale is, I confront the entire office and the entire cast when I hear about some edible cookie."
Sean says he was never even offered a cookie by Austin and Lisa; they never even made him a meal. The only thing Lisa gave sean was an almond milk recipe.
"I say, 'Who on Earth took an already serious situation I am dealing with and made up this rumor?'" he recalls. "'This never happened.' Kayla denied it. Polly denied it. Every single person said, 'It wasn't me...' to the point where I looked at the cameras and I was really mad, 'cause I was like,' Production, did you make this up?'"
Sean guesses Alex and Polly planted the seed in Kayla's head, calling his former friend "gullible."
"I noticed that Polly and Alex Hall are being really nice to her towards the finale, and I think this was a situation where Kayla just felt like she could just say and do whatever just to get herself out of the fire," he says. "She disappeared after the finale. [Alexandra Jarvis] called me saying she is trying to ask her what is going on and Kayla is not answering. Kayla just disappears, and I think that is what happens a lot in this industry and these shows."
As the rumor spiraled into the main story line of the season, Sean says he attempted to reach out to Austin to clear the air and get on the same page.
"After [my] meeting with Kayla and Harper, and they are bringing up to me a lot of questions about Austin and all I say is, 'Well, him and his wife have been flirty in the past. They are a flirty couple...' but then they were bringing up a lot of things," he says. "I am like, 'Hmm... what is going on right now? Why is Austin being brought up?' And in my head, I am like, he knows the inappropriate behavior I have dealt with in the past. I am, like, OK what is being brought up right now? I immediately text Austin."
Sean also shares this text with ET, which shows him reaching out to Austin to get clarity. Austin says he'll call back shortly, but Sean says the call never came. Sean's calls to Austin went unanswered, too. Instead, they connected in the office, on camera, for a headline-making confrontation.
"I want screen time?" Sean scoffs. "I go to the office, he brings it up in front of the entire office -- with 50 camera crew around! I immediately walk away and say, 'I'm not doing this right now.' As I'm walking away, I'm trying to talk to him in private. He doesn't want to talk in private, he wants to bring it to the screen. So, if you are so desperate to not get your family involved, your wife involved, your kids involved, why are you bringing it on screen, Austin? For everyone to talk about, when I confronted you multiple times and said, 'This needs to be a private conversation?' What are you doing?"
"He brought it to the TV multiple times," he points out. "He wants to bring it in front of an entire office, an entire camera crew. I walk away. He throws a fit. So, at this point, I'm like, there's no other choice."
The two got into a near-physical altercation, with Austin pressing Sean on the details of the rumor and where it came from. Sean warned Austin not to push him, hinting he could bring out secrets Austin didn't want revealed on camera. This led to Sean alluding to Austin and Lisa being interested in "experimenting" in the bedroom, which Austin has denied.
"It's all a lie," Austin told ET. "I'm a family man. I have kids. I'm not into that; never was, never will be."
"I was referencing everything that Austin's told me in the past," Sean doubles down of the cryptic exchange. "There was a lot of things that Austin has done that made me really uncomfortable, and when I was talking to the camera, everything I said to his face, was facts. Those were the facts."
"I think Austin thought I was an easy target," he surmises. "I usually keep it classy, I keep it chill. Then he quickly saw in the office, if he wanted to go there, that I was not the one or the two."
Sean says he was always "cordial and kind" with Austin after pulling away from their friendship, but any hope at reconciliation after the events of season 3 are dashed. The same goes for Tyler, who had his own co-mingled drama with Sean. Tyler claims he pulled away from Sean after he says he noticed weirdness from Sean when it came to his own friendship with Austin. On the show, Austin confided in Gio Helou that Sean appeared controlling over Tyler and flipped out when he found out Tyler and Austin were door-knocking (going around town and attempting to convince home owners to sell) together. Sean says, the opposite happened.
"What really happened is, Tyler did not want me working with Austin and I have receipts on that," Sean says. "There was a situation where me and Tyler started off [door-knocking], but Austin and I wanted to hit a different area."
At the time, Sean says Tyler had his own issues with Austin, so he didn't talk to Tyler about working with Austin, and that set off Tyler.
"Tyler was really upset," Sean recalls. "Tyler didn't want Austin involved. ... So I said, 'At the end of the day, you guys, let's just do what we started: Tyler, I'll finish with what we have...' ... [and] I said, 'Why would I wanna split my commission, if I get a listing, three ways and then give a huge chunk to [Jason Oppenheim] on top of that?"
This leads to the text at the center of the season finale, a lengthy message Tyler allegedly sent Sean, in which he told Sean he got swept up in the "'family' aspect" of the office, Sean should work with Austin if he sees fit and that their friendship supersedes any work (or reality TV) drama. He signed off the message with, "Our friendship comes first, no matter what. Love you long time."
"I had a few conflicts with him that were actually real-estate related," Sean says of Tyler. "He embarrassed me, and I brought it up on camera and he was not having it -- and that’s what all of them do; they try to shut someone down when they come with facts."
Sean uses Tyler and Polly downplaying (or even outright denying) comments they made about him on the show, including that he's "psychotic" and "has no friends," as proof of his point. He also notes how hurtful it was for Tyler to constantly throw his sales record in his face. Sean joined the Oppenheim Group as a marketing specialist, only obtaining his license after he started working there.
"It took me a few months to get my license as we were filming," he shares. "I just moved from L.A. to Orange County. Tyler has been over and helped quiz me for my exam. He damn well knows my background."
Sean suspects Tyler was instrumental in what felt like a takedown of him in an attempt to get heat off of himself, after the first two seasons focused on his alleged dalliances with other women while still married. Tyler's denied any cheating.
"I'm thinking that Tyler’s running around, putting poison in my name when I'm doing nothing but just speaking the facts," he says. He maintains that he found Tyler to be "controlling" in their friendship, and confirms he felt as if Tyler was romantically interested in him. Tyler brushed off any playful exchanges between them as nothing more than that: playful.
"I called him out on so many things, and [he and the rest of the cast] started to attack my character," Sean throws out. "Tyler is a man who literally humiliated his now-ex-wife in front of the entire world and has done so many horrible things ... yet you wanna talk about my character?"
"Tyler’s been the catalyst in the drama of this entire office, yet he plays the victim," he quips.
Sean's final moment of the season (and potentially on the show altogether) saw him telling Tyler, "I didn't want it to end like this," after a near-blowout fight at a company outing to the horse races.
"At the end of the day, Tyler was extremely disrespectful towards me," Sean offers. "He was making a lot things up about me, he was being extremely rude and mean towards me, and what he was saying about Austin and all these things that I'm finding out -- saying that I was jealous, that I didn't want to work with Austin ... I have the receipts on that. He's spinning everything that he's done, trying to frame it to look like me."
Receipts were a major topic of discussion amongst the cast after the blowup at the tracks, with Kayla and Ali mentioning how Sean refused to let them look at anything but screenshots of his texts with Tyler. They couldn't scroll up or down in conversations (as Sean let ET do), and Sean says there's good reason for that.
"Do you know what Kayla was doing when I gave her my phone?" he asks. "She was taking certain screenshots from someone's ex-wife and other things and sending them to herself, and I caught her. I said, 'You just lost the privilege to go through my phone. You're not supposed to be sending stuff to yourself.'"
"She's very sneaky," he claims, saying he feared handing his phone over at the season finale, suspecting Kayla and/or Polly may attempt to rid it of his receipts.
"Me and Jarvis are very close. I had her scroll through everything," he says, a story Jarvis backed up when she sat down with the cast. She was the only member of the ensemble to jump in and defend Sean in his absence.
"She's seen it, and I even asked her, am I losing my mind?" he continues. "She scrolled, she was like, 'Oh, no. What they're doing is ridiculous,' and Kayla, she knows what she did. I have them right here. She was going through my phone and sending herself information that she should have not been sending herself, and texts from other people that I do not want her having on her phone. Who knows what she can do?"
Kayla and Sean have not spoken sine the events of the season finale.
"He showed me some stuff, but there was just a lot of moments where I was just unsure," Kayla told ET of Sean and the texts. "There were some things that ... changed [in his story], and I was very disappointed, and I didn't know how to navigate our friendship."
"I am still very upset with Kayla," Sean says. "That to me is someone who makes up lies and backstabs you and plays the victim, and those type of people are dangerous in my type of world."
Sean decided to part ways with the Oppenheim Group after filming season 3. Tyler and Jarvis have also left the brokerage.
"After seeing how malicious the cast was, and anything and everything they were doing, and me not knowing what this rumor was, me being attacked here left and right and a lot of things that were cut out -- and seeing how certain castmates, including Kayla and Harper, were the ones fueling the fire, but then acting innocent?" he rattles off. "There's only so much negative negativity you can take."
Sean brings up Austin suggesting a then-newly engaged (now wed) Jarvis attended a swinger party in season 2 -- she denied this accusation -- as an ironic example of truths being twisted for storylines.
"You're calling her a swinger, yet you're going after her family -- trying to destroy her family -- but when I'm speaking the facts, you guys are gonna turn it into a whole circus and try to attack me?" he asks.
Should Selling the OC return for season 4, Sean is unsure about returning with it. He is only in contact with Jarvis.
"Whatever they want to do," he lets out, shaking his head. "I cut these people off and I've cut them off for a long time and I think that says more than enough."
"There's a lot of things," he teases of his future. "I dip my toes in a lot of industries. I'm really well-connected, so real estate's a fun thing. I'm also a creative. I also have a marketing background, so there's a lot of stuff I'm doing. But you'll have to wait and see."
All episodes of Selling the OC are now streaming on Netflix.
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