Stars from ‘Selling Sunset’ join CTV Morning Live in Vancouver

Prior to a meet-and-greet with fans and customers in downtown Vancouver, the stars of Netflix’s hit reality show “Selling Sunset” sat down with CTV Morning Live Thursday.

Today, Jason Oppenheim and Mary Bonnet (née Fitzgerald) are the faces of luxury real estate in Southern California for many, but the couple told CML’s Keri Adams and Jason Pires that they initially had low expectations when they began filming the series in 2019.

“Yeah, sure,” Bonnet said when Adams asked if she was surprised by the show’s success.

“I remember at the beginning we thought, ‘Oh, we had season one, and if we get to season three, that means we’ve made it.’ I mean, that’s when a lot of shows just get dropped.

Rather than being dropped, Selling Sunset is in its sixth season, which premiered last month, and Netflix has already ordered a seventh.

Oppenheim said he has set his sights on the all-time record.

“Personally, I want – so Netflix has never had an original series until (seasons) eight and nine – so we want to be the longest running on Netflix,” he said.

It’s an ambition he didn’t expect. Although Oppenheim comes from five generations of realtors, he said he initially moved to Los Angeles to practice law.

The move into real estate worked for him, but he said the transition to streaming star wasn’t that easy.

“I definitely wasn’t someone who would have ever imagined I’d be on TV, and season one I was a wreck,” said Oppenheim. “I was so stressed. Now I’m cool. Now I’m chill, but it took a while.”

Asked to share some words of wisdom for those navigating Vancouver’s ultra-competitive real estate market, Oppenheim offered tips on finding value in an expensive market.

He said he likes to look for properties that have been on the market for a while, and those that don’t have particularly beautiful, well-staged photos, noting that presentation is often key to a successful sale.

Property languishing on the market may be cheaper because potential buyers think there is something wrong with it, he said, when it’s often about the property not being presented properly.

“As a seller, that’s exactly the same mistake they make,” Oppenheim said. “Some people don’t want to. They sell a $3 million apartment — usually it’s apartments — in Vancouver and they don’t pay for staging, they don’t pay for new paint, they change the light bulbs.”

“For the same reason I look for when I buy, it’s exactly what I tell my sellers not to do.”

Oppenheim and Bonnet said the presentation took them to Vancouver this week. Their Thursday night event will be held at the Granville Street showroom of Rove Conceptsa Canadian-based home styling and furnishing company that the couple regularly works with.

“We just used them so much, we kind of reached out and we were like ‘Guys, we need to partner up,'” Oppenheim said.

“And besides, Mary’s never been to Vancouver, so it was a win-win situation.”