Why Are ‘Selling Sunset’ Stars Chelsea and Bre Fighting?

Famously skipped Pioneertown.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Netflix

Selling Sunset‘s eighth season clocks in at a tidy six and a half hours total. That’s short for a reality show, especially one that’s more about trying to avoid having your personal struggles aired out on a TV series than it is about real estate. The finale leaves us with Chelsea Lazkani imagining a new life as a divorcée at a house in the Hills and Bre Tiesi threatening to bring gossipmonger Amanda Lynn — who giddily told her about Chelsea’s husband’s affair in episode three — into the O Group. We’re led to believe Bre has had a change of heart over the course of this season: At first, she seems open to cultivating a friendship with Chelsea and squashing their beef once and for all — until Chelsea turns on her over the news of her husband’s affair. Chelsea’s accusation that Bre brought this to the camera for revenge is presented as the impetus for Bre putting on her blondest villain wig and strutting into the office in black leather, but the story ends there. That is, unless you happen to follow all of these women on Instagram. And you really should because there’s a lot to keep up with!

Bre insisted on the show that knowing Chelsea’s husband had made out with a woman in the lobby of the W Hotel was a burden she reluctantly bore. She continually reminds the audience that she had this information and didn’t know what to do with it. She was cut to whenever Chelsea mentioned her family and was apparently wrestling with how revealing it might further damage their already rocky relationship. When she finally does tell Chelsea in episode five, it’s presented as Bre attempting to be the bigger person, a surprisingly warm moment in which two women seemingly come together, bonded by their shared humiliations at the hands of bad men. But this is not, according to Chelsea, an accurate reflection of what went down.

On September 9, 2024, Chelsea went live on Instagram for a conversation with Jessie Woo, during which she explains that she knew exactly what Bre was going to tell her before they had even sat down. According to what she said on Instagram Live and what she’d already revealed on X, it was Chelsea who actually requested to set up the scene once she’d heard what Bre had learned. But she elaborated on her thought process during the Live, noting that her aim was to make Bre tell her the rumor so that she wouldn’t have a chance to repeat it over and over again in scenes with other cast members. She also revealed that this strategic move was only made possible by a tip-off from Emma Hernan.

When Chelsea, Bre, Chrishell Stause, and Emma are all arguing at the dog funeral in episode nine, Bre furiously reveals that Chrishell and Emma knew about the scene with Amanda before it had even happened. For viewers, this is a little confusing as it’s not clear to us how much Chrishell and Emma actually knew about what Amanda was going to say. But Chelsea made it clear during the Live that Emma knew what the subject would be and called Chelsea to alert her ahead of time. This tracks with what Bre told Cosmopolitan UK in an interview on September 9: “They knew the information,” she said. “They’ve known. They can sit here and paint whatever narrative helps them not to be attacked online, or however it is that they want to be perceived. But they were all very aware of this scene before it happened. They were aware of everything that was going on.”

This kind of post-finale mess — Chelsea also used the Live to show us the racist tweets allegedly authored by Amanda — isn’t unique to Selling Sunset. But on any other show, this is the kind of stuff we’d normally be guided through in a reunion episode, maybe even with big binders full of printed texts. However, it’s unclear if this season of Selling Sunset will have a reunion as no date for such an event has been announced. The talent is also in a sort of open rebellion against production over a rumor Nicole Young tried to start about Emma, ​​with Chrishell making it clear that she would rather be sued than appear on a show with Nicole again. Could the sun finally set on Selling Sunset? Was the tea served so hot it boiled over and ended the stiletto-clad adventures of our heroines permanently? We reached out to Netflix for comment, but for now all we can do is wait and pray.