“Selling Sunset” began eight seasons ago when Chrishell Stause was new to the Oppenheim Group. This year, Alanna Gold is the new cast member in town.
The series follows real estate agents working out of the Oppenheim Group brokerage firm — although it’s usually more about cast clashes than it is about closing deals, as Alanna finds out during one very tense dinner in Pioneertown.
What’s Pioneertown, you ask? And what does that have to do with “Selling Sunset”? Read on.
How Alanna Gold got into real estate
Speaking to TODAY.com, Alanna explains her road to working with luxury real estate in southern California.
“I came from a very small town in Canada. It was outside of Toronto, maybe 45 minutes to an hour outside,” she says.
Originally, she studied science with the intention of becoming a veterinarian. She started modeling on the side, though, and that opened up her world to new possibilities.
“I started traveling, I started living in different cities around the world, and it just started opening my mind to different possibilities, and opening doors,” she says. “I realized there was other things that I could be doing in life, and it really is how I ended up moving to California.”
While she’s always had an interest in real estate, she says the pandemic was her push to pursue her license.
“I took that as a perfect opportunity to get my license and start moving into that industry,” she says. “I really made a full switch, and kind of started focusing all my time and energy into real estate.”
Alanna made a splash in her first season, specifically when she decided to try her hand at a listing in Manhattan Beach. While the listing ultimately went to Mary Fitzgerald and Chelsea Lazkani, Alanna says she doesn’t regret going for it.
“When that opportunity presented itself, I kind of saw it as a way to put myself out there and get myself out of my comfort zone,” said Gold. “(I wanted to) show Jason and Brett (Oppenheim) that, I’m here to play, and I really am here to put my best foot forward.”
Does she really own Pioneertown?
Alanna Gold married Adam Gold in 2022. When they got engaged in 2019, she wrote, “Beyond excited to see what this amazing life has in store for us. I know with you, it will be nothing short of an adventure… Love you more than any word can describe!! Best friends for life!”
While her husband doesn’t feature in the season, part of their marriage does. Alanna organizes a cast trip to Pioneertown. The town, decorated like the Old West, was built in 1946 by a group of California-based investors to be used as a film set, per the town's website.
Alanna and her husband, who have “always felt a profound connection to the desert,” are now part owners of the town and also own a home they call Cosmic Ranch.
“In 2020, when we learned that a large portion of Pioneertown was for sale, we saw an incredible opportunity not only to strengthen our ties to the community but also to preserve a piece of history,” she tells TODAY.com.
She says the couple and their business partner David Corso, as well as investor Gary Friedman, founded Pioneertown Land Management “with a mission to restore Pioneertown to its original vision and purpose."
The Pioneertown Gazette wrote a statement following the season taking issue with her ownership claims.
"The people of Pioneertown kindly request an apology from Selling Sunset and Alanna Gold. The baseless claims by Selling Sunset’s Alanna Gold that she ‘owns Pioneertown’ undermines 78 years of internationally celebrated film, arts and cultural history," the statement read, in part.
The Gazette describes Pioneertown as a "mile-square census designated community with over 400 residents and is privately owned by over 100 independent parties."
Alanna has a "minority non-controlling interest in an entity that owns six of 35 parcels in the Mane Street area, constituting less than 1% of Pioneertown's total 640 acres."
"The claim that she owns the 'entire town' is verifiably false," the statement reads.
Representatives provided the message Alanna sent to Pioneertown residents to TODAY.com.
"I want to reach out to personally say I am so deeply sorry for the confusion I have caused. I certainly do not own Pioneertown, I never should have said that and I apologize for doing so. I want you to know that I did not mean any harm, I absolutely love Pioneertown and I simply got too excited talking about it. My first date with my husband was there and our wedding was at the Soundstage. We wanted to become part of the community so we invested in a home and other properties there," she said.
"We are contacting any and all reporters to make sure they update their stories and correct the record. Again, I am so sorry to the people of Pioneertown, I would never want to disrespect the town’s history or any of the people who make it such a wonderful place."
About that dinner scene…
While in Pioneertown, one of the season’s most contentious moments unfolds. Nicole Young, at a dinner with Amanza Smith, Mary Fitzgerald and Alanna Gold, hints that another cast mate, Emma Hernan, is having an affair.
“It’s nothing. (It’s) something you guys already know, but don’t want me to bring up,” Nicole says during the dinner. “I heard about it from a source. I wish I didn’t know. It involves Emma and that’s all I want to say. It’s morally upsetting to all of us.”
The other cast members try to get Nicole to stop speaking. Looking back, Alanna says she tried to handle the situation as her most authentic self.
“I wanted to show up how I would actually show up in my own life,” she says. “And I’ve learned over the years, when I’ve had friends that come to me with drama, or, ‘Oh my God, this girl is doing this,’ I’ve learned to tell them, ‘Look, you need to actually go and talk to the person about it and not start spreading a rumor. It never works out well. And so that is the piece of advice that I gave to Nicole.”
While her advice was to confront the situation head on, the end of season 8 became clear that the Nicole did not take her suggestion, instead sharing the rumor with cast member Bre Tiesi in the finale.
“I gave her my best advice,” Alanna says. “She obviously didn’t want to take it. That’s obviously up to her."
The scene led to backlash. Emma Hernan posted on Instagram with the song “Lies Lies Lies” by Morgan Wallen and thanked him for the “theme song” of Season 8. Other cast members, like Chelsea Lazkani and Chrishell Stause, also backed up Emma.
"Now I’ve watched the show, I definitely do not agree with how she put it out into the world," Alanna says.
The 2 cast members she's closest to
Alanna says Chrishell was "amazing" the whole season.
"She's so sweet, and she's definitely been someone I've been able to lean on when I've had a question or kind of anything that's come up, because obviously this was my first season, so she's really helped me through things like that," she says.
Mary was also "very sweet," Alanna says.
"Those two were both amazing."
Odeya Pinkus
Odeya is an Associate Producer at The Kelly Clarkson Show, as well as contributing writer forTODAY.com. When she isn't producing or writing, she might be performing in a comedy show, hanging out with her cat named Pepperoni, or frantically trying to catch up on 10 seasons of Vanderpump Rules. Odeya graduated from Binghamton University with a Bachelor's degree in English Rhetoric. She also has a Master's degree in Broadcast & Digital Journalism from the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University. She does not have a PhD, but she did spend a lot of time in improv classes.
