Many real estate reality TV shows have popped up in recent years, so it’s hard for new ones to really stand out, but even we were shocked at how much drama was stuffed into Netflix’s Selling The City. Following Eleonora Srugo’s all-women team at Douglas Elliman in New York City, and their sometimes contentious interactions with agents outside of the team, it’s a show filled with friendships, betrayal and a “f**k you Netflix” to end its first season.
Srugo is honoured to have a show on Netflix centred around her team. It is a particular feat with many similar real estate shows being male-focused, and it’s an opportunity to show real conversations about navigating New York’s real estate scene as women.
“It’s an honour,” Srugo told Yahoo Canada. “All I could have asked for, for a show like this, was to bring something that was beautiful, that was a tribute to New York, that allowed me to pay homage to my hometown, and then also have substance and depth in terms of the relationships that we brought forward. So I could not be more proud of what we’re putting out there.”
(L to R) Jordyn, Abigail and Eleanora in episode 101 of Selling the City (Courtesy of Netflix)
‘Honest’ conversations about living, working in expensive New York City
While a lot of what we see on the show is just your classic reality TV entertainment, and the eye candy of seeing these luxury properties, there are some heartfelt moments, like when we meet Taylor Middleton. She speaks frankly about financial struggles after paying for her father’s health care when he became ill. Middleton talks to her husband about wanting to look at fertility options, while still being the “breadwinner” of the family.
“It’s not the most comfortable thing to watch, but look, it’s honest and it’s real,” Middleton said. “We work on 100 per cent commission in one of the most expensive cities in the world, life happens. You have an amazing market one year and then all of a sudden it’s crickets.”
“So trying to navigate that sometimes can be … tricky. But that’s how we get through this and we sustain our existence. I’m very lucky to work for a company and to work for someone like Eleonora that provides the support and the resources to be able to help us sustain our business, and grow in even the toughest markets.”
The women on Srugo’s team are all quick to highlight how supportive she is as their team leader, including, as we see on the show, allowing Jordyn Taylor Braff (famously Trevor Noah’s ex-girlfriend) to stay with her after a breakup.
“It was such a blessing to know that I had a safe place to land,” Braff said. “Everyone on the team kind of gave me the support in a different way during that time.”
“I will say, Eleonora is constantly working, her work brain never turns off. So it was like dusk ’til dawn work, work, work. It’s always work conversations. But it was a very safe place to land, for sure.”
‘I’m very cool, calm, collected, until you keep coming for me’
Likely the most memorable moments for many will be the arguments on Selling The City, like the big finale moment when Abigail “Abi” Godfrey confronts Jade Chan, after she had been claiming throughout the season that Chan had been criticizing her, and Srugo, behind their backs. But Chan wasn’t having the confrontation and quickly ran out of the room, requesting for her mic to be taken off and threatening to sue Netflix.
“There had been so much she said, she said, she said, and it was important for me to confront her in front of my team so that they could see her response, and how she reacted,” Godfrey said about her decision to call out Chan. “And her reaction I do think spoke mountains.”
“I’m very cool, calm, collected, until you keep coming for me, and then I’m just going to come right straight for you,” Chan said in a separate interview. “But what was really going through my head at that moment is, how does this girl know any of these things about me? … Because she just joined Eleonora’s team over the past year, and that’s really what got me the most angry, is the fact that this girl was spewing information that A, was completely inaccurate and B, she only knew that stuff from Eleonora.”
“I felt betrayed that my friend was … repeating information that I had said behind closed doors. … I expect my friend, whether we’re on or off at that moment in time, to still keep our relationship between us, and that was really the underlying issue throughout the entire season.”
(L to R) Eleanora and Justin in episode 101 of Selling the City (Netflix)
But before that “explosive” interaction, Gisselle Meneses Nunez and Justin Tuinstra got into it at Nunez’s birthday celebration, after she cancelled twice on plans she made with Tuinstra to preview a property. Tuinstra and fellow castmate, Steven “Steve” Gold, also made comments throughout the show about Nunez’s knowledge of luxury real estate, like not knowing what a pot filler is.
“At first I was shocked, I didn’t expect it, and then I just took it,” Nunez said about what Gold and Tuinstra said about her on the show.” Look, a lot of people probably don’t know what a pot filler is, most of the world, but I think that overall, I just felt more motivated to prove people wrong.”
“I know that I have a lot of work to do and it’s OK. I’ve had my licence here in New York for less than one year, I’ve been in real estate for less than four, and it’s perfectly fine. … I know there’s room to grow.”
Srugo was quick to come to Nunez’s defence, saying that she’s happy that some on her team is honest about where they can learn more and improve.
“I’m really proud of Gisselle. I think it’s so much better for my team to answer honestly and say, ‘I don’t know,’ than to put on a show or answer something that they don’t know, or mispronounce something, or identify the wrong building,” Srugo said. “I think it’s great that she asked the questions, that is all I could ask for.”
“I grew up without a dishwasher, let alone a pot filler. … I’ve had moments where I’ve been with clients and not known how to put my napkin down or which fork to use. These are all things that we have to learn as we enter into this world of high end and high net worth people.”
(L to R) Jordyn, Taylor, Gisselle and Abigail in episode 107 of Selling the City (Netflix)
Reflecting on that time at Nunez’s party, Tuinstra stands by his response.
“To just be very clear and transparent, I did not want to go to that party, the minute I knew Steve wasn’t going to go,” Tuinstra said. “I was going there to be a true friend, Eleonora asked me to go there to support the girls, which I did. I wasn’t thrilled with the way a junior agent was treating me and disrespecting me.”
“I would never have done that my first inning in the game. I would never go up to a seasoned broker, ask to go preview a $25 million listing and then cancel twice. And her excuses — I won’t share with you, one of them was beyond unprofessional — and even as a friend she shared too much information, and it was a horrible excuse. With that being said, I was to the point where I was like, you know what? This is below me. I’m not going to respond to this. This is like bush league and if the roles were reversed, if it was five guys talking to one girl, she wouldn’t come to make a joke with me. … Then she was trying to pry and tried to make it seem like I was sensitive, I couldn’t handle a joke. It wasn’t a joke. … She came over there with that attitude. She had taken four shots of tequila and she wanted to try to poke the bear.”
But between all the fighting, there still is that luxury real estate negotiating we get to see on screen, a trademark of these TV shows. In Selling The City, while Srugo expresses that she enjoys negotiations with Gold, the property we see them negotiate on proved difficult, with Gold coming in with an offer US$16.5 million under the US$45 million asking price. The penthouse is currently listed for US$32 million.
“I think she enjoys negotiating with me because I am someone that’s known for getting deals done and I’m not going to waste my time if I don’t see an end result,” Gold said. “The issue with that property is it was overpriced and she, I think, knew that, but she was trying. That’s a big deal for her. That’s a big listing and if she sells it, it’s a big feather in her cap.”
“I think on the flip side, on that particular deal I feel like I made a very strong offer. I feel like most people aren’t coming in and making offers that low off the asking price because they know it’s not going to get there. But, you know, time will tell where that actually ultimately trades.”