The popular Netflix series, “Selling Sunset,” is experiencing a dramatic shake-up in its cast lineup just as preparations begin for its 10th season.
The Daily Mail has confirmed that Emma Hernan, Mary Bonnet, Chelsea Lazkani, Alanna Gold, and Sandra Vergara—who is Sofia Vergara’s sister—have been removed from the show.
According to insiders, these cast changes were decided back in April, with filming for the new season set to start in a few weeks. This information was also reported by TMZ.
However, fans can expect to see Bre Tiesi, Christine Quinn, and Heather El Moussa returning for the season, as confirmed by a source to the Daily Mail.
Mary Bonnet, 45, had an exclusive conversation with the Daily Mail on May 7, where she notably did not reveal her departure from the cast.
During the discussion, she cryptically noted that “Netflix wanted a change-up” and hinted with a smile that she was aware of upcoming “changes” but was unable to disclose further details.
Selling Sunset has undergone a thunderous cast overhaul just weeks ahead of the filming of the upcoming 10th season of the Netflix hit; the season nine poster is pictured
Sources have named another woman who is allegedly in talks to join the cast of Selling Sunset – Alex Hall, one of the stars of the spin-off series Selling the OC, which is currently on indefinite hiatus, according to TMZ.
Quinn featured on the first five seasons of Selling Sunset and emerged as its breakout star, the ‘villain’ fans could not help but find captivating.
She left the show under a cloud of acrimony in 2022, furiously denying allegations she attempted to bribe one of Hernan’s clients $5,000 to stop working with her.
Quinn and El Moussa’s return to the show was announced in April to a burst of fanfare, which Bonnet commented on exclusively to the Daily Mail on May 7.
‘Christine’s always, she’s good for the show. Wasn’t happy about the way she left, I mean the things before, but everyone grows and hopefully she has,’ said Bonnet.
When asked why Quinn was brought back for season 10, Bonnet’s responses grew increasingly opaque as she discussed the future of the series.
‘Producers know. I don’t know. I have no say over anything – well, actually, maybe I did have a little say, but I don’t know,’ said Bonnet. ‘Production was trying to decide. Netflix wanted a change-up, and there’s gonna be a lot of changes.’
She added that ‘I don’t think anybody really knows what the changes are really gonna be, other than Heather and Christine,’ only to then say with a cryptic smile: ‘Well, there is more changes than that. I just can’t say.’
Possibly dropping an inadvertent hint that she had been let go, she let slip that she was ‘not quite sure’ when filming was meant to start on season 10.
Selling Sunset follows the exploits of a glamorous set of realtors working for the Los Angeles based brokerage firm the Oppenheim Group.
Lazkani and Bonnet, who were formerly close friends, suffered an explosive falling out and spent two seasons bitterly feuding before both getting fired last month.
The trouble began when the two women worked a listing together and Lazkani showed up two hours late to the open house.
Pouring fuel on the fire, Bonnet regarded Lazkani’s outfit as inappropriately revealing and said so in front of their bosses, twin brothers Brett and Jason Oppenheim.
Lazkani told Bonnet that ‘if you wanted to be woman-to-woman you would’ve pulled me aside, but doing it in front of two men, I just think it’s a little bit of a low blow.’
Their friendship deteriorated from there into such a rancorous equation that when Bonnet was the victim of a home invasion last season, she refused to even accept the flowers Lazkani sent her as a gesture of sympathy.
Hernan meanwhile joined the show in season four and, early in her run, notably found herself locked in a seething battle of wills with the newly rehired Quinn.
This past season, she was plunged into controversy over her boyfriend Blake Davis, who was fiercely denounced by Hernan’s co-star Chrishell Stause.
Stause accused Davis of remarking that ‘pronouns are dumb,’ apropos Stause’s nonbinary spouse G Flip, whom she married in 2022.
Hernan staunchly denied the story and insisted that all Davis did was once refer to G Flip as Stause’s ‘wife’ – an account that echoes Davis’ version of events.
‘I regretfully referred to G Flip as Ms Stause’s wife,’ he told the Daily Mail in response to the drama. ‘Ms Stause corrected me that they were partners and that G Flip goes by the pronoun them. Since, I have respectfully used the preferred pronouns.’
Stause disputed Hernan and Davis’ characterization of events, and she herself left the show after season nine ‘because it’s no longer good for my mental health.’
Alanna Gold meanwhile joined the show in season eight and made waves by falsely claiming she and her husband owned the Wild West-themed Pioneertown, California, prompting a fierce online backlash from the locals.
She issued an apology, clarifying that she and her husband merely ‘invested in a home and other properties there’ and insisting ‘that I did not mean any harm, I absolutely love Pioneertown and I simply got too excited talking about it.’
Sandra Vergara – the adopted sister and biological first cousin of Sofia Vergara – was only on the show for the ninth and latest season.
She clashed dramatically with several of the cast, and at one point she emotionally denied claims that she once keyed the car owned by Chrishell Stause’s assistant, who used to live in the same building as Vergara.
Quinn’s return to the show was greeted warmly by her old gal pal Davina Potratz, who herself appeared on Selling Sunset in varying capacities for the first seven seasons.
‘I think Christine is a great choice for return because she’s a fan favorite and everyone loves her. She’s very funny. And I think she’s great for the show,’ Potratz said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail last month.
‘Heather is a little more neutral and reserved, but she’s an original cast member. So I think the show took a turn in a completely different direction. And I feel like the fans kind of want more of what it originally was, and I feel like that’s what they’re trying to get back to maybe,’ she theorized.
She offered further that Jason Oppenheim was ‘definitely super excited’ about Quinn’s comeback, and added that Tiesi – who was previously best known as one of the six women Nick Cannon had children with – is ‘probably excited.’
Potratz shared that she and Quinn are ‘very close’ and ‘talk all the time,’ saying: ‘Anytime she comes to LA, because she lives in Texas now, we see each other. And we’ve been through a lot together, both on- and off-camera.’
She and Quinn ‘have a bond like sisters and we’ve just been there through it all,’ Potratz gushed to the Daily Mail. ‘I don’t think you can really replace that, and I think that’s really what fans want to see – the authentic friendships and authentic connections and history, not some made up stuff.’
In the time since she left the show, Quinn underwent a fiery divorce from her husband Christian Dumontet after he was arrested for domestic violence, which he has denied.
‘She’s definitely been through a lot and I think she has come out on the other side and she’s doing really well,’ said Potratz.
‘And she’s never really been this crazy reactive person, believe it or not. She’s actually very even-keeled mood wise,’ Quinn’s friend insisted.
‘So she’s doing really good and I think she just wants peace in her life and not necessarily drama. And I know that that’s kind of why they hired her.’
Meanwhile a source exclusively told the Daily Mail last month that Quinn ‘was not looking to be back on Selling Sunset’ and ‘didn’t reach out’ to the producers.
However the producers, according to the insider, were bent on reacquiring her because she ‘brings the most drama and that’s what they need right now with the new season – more drama.’
Per the source: ‘Producers will bribe cast members with more money just for them to return. They probably worked out a good deal with her to get her back on. She’s someone who wouldn’t settle for anything less than she demands.’
The insider also exposed Quinn’s ‘biggest concern’ about rejoining the fold on Selling Sunset, which is ‘what her edit will be in this new season. She was made out to be a villain and she’s not like that at all in real life.’
One mark in Quinn’s favor, the source observed, is that she ‘has history with the cast, unlike some of the newbies they’ve brought on in the past.’
By contrast, Sandra Vergara ‘didn’t really know anybody before joining. It’s hard anytime they add a new person that doesn’t have a real behind the scenes connection with anyone in the cast, so that becomes difficult.’
