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After Christine Quinn’s exit at the end of season 5, it was unclear what “Selling Sunset” was going to look like moving forward. Netflix had renewed the docu-soap for a sixth and seventh season, but its first five seasons relied so heavily on the Christine-as-villain and Christine vs. Chrishell narratives that, in some respects, it kind of felt like the show had lost part of its DNA with Christine out of the picture.

That being said, it was time for Christine to go. She was great for the show and proved herself to be a solid reality TV villain until the beginning of season 5, when she lost the plot and turned to acting like she was above the show when everyone on the cast had fully ostracized her. The Chrishell/Christine dynamic, which helped propel the show’s initial popularity, had grown stale. Her remaining ally, Chelsea, had just joined the show and was game to be her partner in crime while being careful not to go down with the sinking ship that was Christine. Season 6 demonstrated that she learned a thing or two from the show’s OG villain, though.

Season 6, which dropped on Netflix last Friday, wound up being one of the series’ best offerings yet. Freed from Christine’s grasp, it felt like the group could breathe again, with their dynamics becoming more flexible. When a group’s common enemy takes themselves out of the equation, they’re inevitably going to turn on one another, no? Throw in a few new (literal) agents of chaos, and we had ourselves a season (read the live tweet thread of my binge here).

Nicole, who I immediately could tell I wasn’t going to like, joined the cast after having worked for the Oppenheim Group for eight years. She immediately set her sights on Chrishell, the star of the show. To me, the clear subtext was that Nicole has long been frustrated about Chrishell becoming the de facto face of the O Group, despite the fact that Nicole sells much more real estate than her. She’s evidently been privately seething about how much oxygen Chrishell takes up in the room, and finally being invited to join the show six years into its run (that should tell you everything) gave her an excuse to use it to fuel her fire and establish a place for herself in the spotlight. The issue was, however, that while Nicole might be the more experienced real estate agent, Chrishell is a veteran reality star at this point. She cut her teeth going toe-to-toe with Christine, and now she’s ready for anyone coming for her. Nicole, armed with minutiae about real estate listings and drug test results and calls to her lawyers, was no match for an activated Chrishell, who knows how to make an on-camera face-off end in her favor all on her own. The proof is in the way Chrishell gathered Nicole multiple times this season.

Not that she hadn’t before, but Chrishell stepped up to the plate this season in a big, big way. She’s no longer competing with anyone for top billing (something she’s always had, but something that Christine was fighting her for), and she’s no longer forced to fight with someone she viewed as inauthentic and there for the wrong reasons. I also think she’s genuinely the happiest she’s been since she joined the show. Her relationship with G Flip is sincere and sweet and has had a really fantastic effect on her. She’s more free-wheeling and less encumbered.

The other person who really came to play this season was Chelsea. It was clear from the moment she stepped foot in that office that she was a total star, and she fully blossomed this year without the shadow of Christine dulling her shine. While I couldn’t get behind the reasons behind her coming for Bre “as a Christian,” which felt like an icky hill to die on, she proved she was game to play a quasi-villain role (depending on how you see it). She’s not afraid of conflict, and the show needed someone fearless like her to bring the drama (and the fashions).

Speaking of Bre, she was an absolutely unexpected surprise. I really loved her energy, her high-wattage clients and how easily she stood her ground during her first season. It bodes well for her future on the show — and we can also thank her for the Nick Cannon tea.

Isn’t it interesting that this show has made a trend for itself in spotlighting the woman’s side of a big tabloid story? First it was Chrishell’s divorce from Justin Hartley at the height of his “This Is Us”-fueled fame, then it was Heather dating Tarek El Moussa at the end of his incredibly messy divorce and now it’s Bre, one of the many women Nick Cannon has famously had children with.

Anyway, as for the others? Heather (who will seemingly barely be in season 7) continued to laugh at her own jokes and be a great sounding board for her co-stars, Emma is a solid, albeit kind of unexciting beta character for Chrishell and Amanza does a great job at vocalizing unpopular opinions and standing up for the underdog, which I really appreciate. She also always seems to have a lot going on in her personal life that she’s only able to touch on or allude to — I wish we heard more about that. It seems as though we’ve officially said goodbye to Maya, who appeared once via FaceTime, and Davina, who uttered approximately seven words in the background of group office scenes this season. As for Mary, she’s necessary for the show because she is full of contradiction, unintentionally messy and almost always wrong. I think it’s very telling that her and Chrishell basically end up having a falling out after Chrishell’s breakup with Jason and Christine no longer being around to be the only subject they talk about with one another.

Speaking of Christine, let’s close this loop: What we also lost with her is her fashions. Christine very clearly studied at the Erika Jayne Fashion Institute, taking things to another level of impracticality from the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star. Erika completely changed the game when it comes to glam and fashion not just on “Housewives” but on reality TV in general — and if you disagree, you can argue with the wall. Christine took that baton from Bravo to Netflix and the rest of the women on “Selling Sunset” have all followed suit season after season. It was Chelsea who took the baton from Christine, continuing to deliver some genuinely high-fashion moments that leave my jaw on the floor. The other women try, but none are as convincing as fashionistas. You get the sense that they’re dressing that way because they feel as if they have to to keep up — not because they want to.

May 23, 2023

The exception to that is Amanza, who delivers looks that are just as extra as Chelsea’s and Christine’s, but perhaps not as fashionable. It’s obvious that she has a lot of fun getting ready and putting together ensembles to film in, but I find that my reactions to her fashions skew less towards “SLAY!” and more towards “I have questions!”

Out of the goodness of my heart, I went back through this season and screenshotted every single one of Amanza’s looks from this season and rounded them up below for you to feast your eyes on. This exercise is meant to be fun and not meant to dunk on her — some of the ensembles were nice, she’s a gorgeous woman and I truly do love her on the show (though I’m already preparing myself for Chrishell vs. Amanza) — because seeing all of her season 6 looks all together is quite the journey, to say the least. Enjoy the ride below!

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