Selling the OC’s Sean Palmieri left Jason Oppenheim’s real estate agency of his own accord.
“Sean is not at the Oppenheim Group anymore,” Jason, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the season 3 premiere of Selling the OC.
In season 3 of the Netflix reality series, Sean found himself at odds with costars Austin Victoria and Tyler Stanaland. Fans saw in the trailer that Austin confronted Sean about spreading a rumor about his family, which led to a physical altercation.
While Jason shared that it was Sean’s “decision” to leave the agency, he imagined that the drama played a role in his exit.
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“I can’t imagine that it didn’t have something to do with it, but I’m sure that professionally he wasn’t finding a lot of success,” he added. “And then I think maybe this added to the frustration, but I don’t know. It’s really a strong question.”
For Austin, he had no hard feelings about saying goodbye to Sean. Austin told Us working with Sean made things “toxic in the office.”
“It felt like when he was there I couldn’t be there. Some of us didn’t want to be there when he was there. If we had events or anything,” he explained. “It was kind of like we’re trying to keep ourselves separate because I don’t want that in my life. I have enough going on. I’m a father, I’m a husband, and I am growing my business. That’s what my focus is on, and I don’t need to deal with lies and rumors.”
Austin also shared that Sean mentioned to several of his coworkers that he wasn’t thrilled over the lack of camera time he got on the series.
“He had mentioned to numerous people in the office that he didn’t get screen time, season one and season 2 ,” Austin claimed. “I know Sean was going through some stuff I know financially as well. So I was there for him, his friend, he opened up to me [on] numerous occasions and unfortunately, I became the target.”
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Jason clarified that Sean was not fired from the agency and that Sean approached him about leaving.
“Generally, things work themselves out and I think people make the decisions that are best for them. I think that the fact that Sean came to me and told me that he was going to be leaving probably made things easier,” he explained. “I think in my position, I really just want everyone to be doing what they think is best for them, both professionally and personally. I want everyone to succeed, whether it’s at the Oppenheim Group or outside the Oppenheim Group.”
Selling the OC season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
