Austin Victoria has released a statement on his feud with Selling the OC co-star Sean Palmieri.
The Selling Sunset spin-off, following a group of agents at the Oppenheim Group’s Orange Country real estate brokerage, delivered some unexpected queer drama in its newly-released third season.
In episode three, Sean claimed to his co-stars Alexandra Jarvis and Alexandra Harper that Austin and his wife Lisa invited him over to their house, where they were a “little bit flirty” with him and propositioned him for a threesome.
A separate scene showed Austin informing his wife about the rumour, which he shut down: “His story is he come over, we ‘drugged him’ with marijuana cookies and tried to have a three-way with him.”
Austin and Sean later had a heated confrontation in the office, where the former vehemently denied that such a proposition took place.
After Sean doubled down on his story, claiming Austin told him, ‘If I wasn’t married, the things I’d do,’ Austin described him as “disgusting” and “not hot”.
“I would never f**king wanna hit on you,” said Austin. “You’re the last person I would ever hit on.”
In an Instagram statement (7 May), Austin “set the record straight” on Sean’s claims, saying the “truth will always prevail”.
The former model accused Sean of fabricating the story for “screen time”: “In reality TV if you are not featured, you are not paid.
“When you quit your job and haven’t sold a property in 2 years, you get desperate.
“Contrary to popular belief, reality TV doesn’t pay the bills. In reality TV, you can quite literally make anything up and it’s your word vs theirs. Scary stuff!”
When Sean tells people Austin and his wife tried to have a threesome with him, all hell breaks loose in the office.
Selling the OC Season 3 is now playing. pic.twitter.com/1o6Su0o5nr
— Netflix (@netflix) May 3, 2024
During their office confrontation, Sean tried to back his story by highlighting how Austin complimented his physique, commenting “them legs” on one of his Instagram photos, to which Austin responded: “It was a compliment. It doesn’t mean I want to fuck you!”
In Austin’s statement, he continued to say that his comment “does not mean I’m hitting on you, especially if we are good friends”.
“Lastly, I’m a straight man. I love my wife and we have never and will never “experiment”,” he explained. “I can care less what you do in your personal life. Zero judgement here, do what makes YOU happy!”
When it comes to his relationship with the LGBTQIA+ community, Austin shared that he has queer friends who he ‘loves’ and will ‘always support’, adding: “Love is Love! I agree with this 100%.”
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During an interview with US Weekly, Jason Oppenheim confirmed that Sean has since departed Selling the OC.
While Jason “can’t imagine” that his feud with Austin was a reason for his exit, he thinks it “added” to his frustration in his lack of ‘professional success’ at the office.
“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 revealed.
“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.”
The third season of Selling the OC is now streaming on Netflix.
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