Christine Quinn will be the first to tell you that not everything about reality TV is, well, reality.
Speaking on Zoom from her Southern California home, Quinn, 33, freely admits that some of Netflix’s biggest ‘Selling Sunset’ storylines – which paint her as the baddest (but most elegant) of the Oppenheim Group brokerage – are either excited for the drama or entirely wrong.
“Oh, I’m not allowed to share anything,” Quinn says of the show’s behind-the-scenes secrets. “But I do it anyway.”
It’s that refreshing candor, coupled with her signature snark, that underpins Quinn’s new book, “How to Be a B—-Boss: Stop Apologizing for Who You Are and Get the Life You Want” (Abrams, 224 pp., on Tuesday). Billed as “part prescriptive guide, part manifesto, part eye-opener,” the book tackles popular self-help topics like relationships, finances, and manifesting with candor, humor, and surprising pearls of wisdom.
Quinn also lets fans in on her vulnerable side — the part of her story that she says is often left on the Netflix cutting room floor.
“We are multifaceted human beings with different elements and different personality traits, and there are vulnerabilities that we don’t see,” Quinn says. “So I encourage people to get to know me outside of the show and read the book.”
When fans read the book, they’ll learn that Quinn came from humble beginnings — and wasn’t born confident. It took her years to fully embrace herself, which she hopes to empower other women to do with the activities, personality quizzes and memories shared in her book.
“The secret to confidence is just being so secure with yourself that it doesn’t matter what anyone says about you,” she says. “Nothing bothers me because I feel so strong with the person inside. It’s all about loving yourself first.”
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Sometimes loving yourself means leaving situations that no longer serve you.
When asked if she was still part of Group O – a major cliffhanger at the end of Season 5 – Quinn bluntly replied “absolutely not”. Instead, she’s at her own brokerage, RealOpen, which specializes in real estate transactions via cryptocurrency.
“It wasn’t a healthy environment,” Quinn says of her old office. “It’s toxic. It’s a cult. I have no desire. Bon voyage.”
But her “Selling Sunset” fans needn’t worry: She says she won’t be leaving the show anytime soon.
The departure of Quinn’s O Group may shock some, but it was no surprise to the producers of “Selling Sunset,” she says, who had known for a year and a half that she was planning to start her company.
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Still, “it wasn’t a practical story that Christine would go out and start her own brokerage. It’s not good TV,” Quinn says. Instead, the producers decided to “get creative” and come up with a more dramatic reason for its release. Cue Agent Emma Hernan’s damning accusation at the end of Season 5 that Quinn offered one of Hernan’s clients $5,000 not to work with her.
Quinn argues the bribery scandal was concocted for the cameras, including the meeting she appeared to spoil in which she was supposed to discuss the allegation with her former bosses.
“When I heard about it, I was completely shocked,” she says. “I get that they have to do creative television, but no. There was no scene where I had to show up to the office, and the clock is ticking and waiting. Like, no. You didn’t call me at the office that day. It’s cute, though.
This isn’t the only meeting Quinn has been accused of dropping out for no good reason. She also missed the season 5 reunion special, sparking speculation that she didn’t go to avoid facing her rival agents face-to-face.
Quinn, however, says she missed the taping for a simpler reason: she had COVID-19.
“Of course they didn’t mean that. It’s inconvenient. It’s not fun. They wanted me to zoom. I didn’t feel good. I told them, ‘I’m not zooming.’ in bed.’ I slept until 4 p.m. that day. I was literally a zombie.”
Quinn hasn’t been one to shy away from confrontation on camera in the past. After all, when you have a slew of reality stars vying for the spotlight, she says battling the show’s villain is often a reliable way to get screen time, so her co- stars rarely miss an opportunity to shake their cage. Amanza Smith did this during her Season 5 broker opener, she says, when Smith confronted her about an out-of-context text message.
“We don’t really have storylines if there’s no conflict,” Quinn says. “So sometimes people get creative to get airtime, I’ll say that.”
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When asked which of her fellow castmates could most benefit from her book’s advice, Quinn pauses to think before responding to Heather Rae Young – an O Group agent with whom she had a friendship before they don’t argue on screen.
Although Young has a “fire” of confidence inside, Quinn laments that she can be “very easily swayed.”
“I would love for her to be able to take her own power, set boundaries, tell people ‘no’, assess situations and make her own decisions,” she continues. “It would be a great read for her. But I’m not saying that in a bad way.”
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Being a TV villain is good for business
Off-camera, Quinn is more grounded than her reality TV reputation would suggest, and she jokes that she wears sweatpants to work far more often than the head-to-toe glamor she’s known for on “Selling Sunset”.
The contrast between his real persona and his “Selling Sunset” villain persona can sometimes be shocking to his clients.
“I work with people who say, ‘I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve seen the show, and you might not be my favorite character, but no one can say you’re not a boss. a– b—-,'” she says. “‘You are the hardest working, and I want you to represent me and be in my corner.’ So that really worked in my favor, believe it or not. And I do. I do what’s best for my clients, and I represent them and their best interests, and I think that’s what makes me so good at my job.”
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Throughout filming and launching her brokerage, Quinn says her “#1 priority” has been her book. But the path to publishing was not easy.
Her initial proposal, which she submitted shortly after Season 1 debuted in 2019, was rudely rejected.
“I asked to work with someone who was like, ‘This is shit. It’s not going anywhere,'” she says. “But persistence is key, and I don’t take no for an answer. If you’re told no, you’ve just asked the wrong person.”
Quinn finally found the right people, a “wonderful group of b—— bosses” who shared her vision. And now, as she prepares for the release of her book, she hopes it can inspire all women – whether they love her, hate her or have never heard of her – to live their better life.
This includes the woman who rejected her book years ago.
“The funny thing is, I know the woman very well, and as soon as I become a New York Times bestselling author, I’m going to hand-deliver (a copy) to her office,” she says with an ironic smile. “I’ll even sign it for her.”
Let’s just hope the cameras roll when she does.
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