Yahoo Lifestyle 
Luxe Listings Sydney cast spill on real estate drama: 'It's a war zone'
What exactly is it about shows like Selling Sunset and Million Dollar Listing New York that draw viewers in so easily. Is it the multi-million dollar properties, or perhaps the attractive real estate agents that sell them? Maybe! But, let's be honest, without all the insane drama we'd all be tuning out.
So, when Amazon Prime Video announced they were creating a similar style show set on our own shores called Luxe Listings Sydney, Aussie fans were thrilled.
And the show (and the houses themselves) is every bit as dramatic and opulent as you'd expect. But it seems as though viewers are only getting a tiny peek into the true drama of the world of real estate in Sydney, with stars Gavin Rubinstein, D'Leanne Lewis and Simon Cohen telling Yahoo Lifestyle it's like a "war zone".
When asked if the real estate world is really as dramatic as all these shows make it out to be, Simon quickly clarified, "Are you kidding? I reckon there's more drama outside of the show than you see in the show!"
"It's World War Three every day!" the buyer's agent added.
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D'Leanne didn't love that description so much, saying: "What do you have to remember is that we're dealing with people at the top of their games, we're in the top of ours, there's a lot of people wanting to get there. And you don't get to where we are by not competing on a really hardcore level every single day.
"You choose how you compete. So you can compete in the healthy way or you compete in an unhealthy way, and I don't think either one of us would have been at the top of our game, now, if we chose to compete in an unhealthy way.
"I think that besides the bumpy moments, it is a really positive message that gets through, and we want to inspire people to, a) want to come here and b) work in real estate. It's not as dog eat dog, as some would say."
"I think it is," Gavin quickly added.
"People make s**t up about you every day!" Simon agreed.
"I think it's a war zone. Daily," Gavin continued. "I think you're literally going into battle, every single day and I think if you want to, you know, that's just as a sales agent if you want to add to that, running a business and then building salespeople, you know, Simon does it, D'Leanne does it too.
"It's tough. You know you've got to be mentally a different sort to be able to work centre through all of the ups and the downs. You know it's hard, it's hard work, and I would agree on the show you see nothing or very little of what it's like in terms of drama in the real world because it's, it's crazy."
"I say prepare for war, so you can live in peace," he concluded.
But it's not all intense. There are some beautiful moments involving Simon and D'Leanne's families, with one scene, in particular, making D'Leanne cry.
"My mum and dad, they're really not fussed about being on TV. I mean, they're really simple, beautiful people. But what I loved is that mum and dad came out were immigrants from South Africa, an apartheid-based country, and for dad actually to be able to tell his story on camera was an absolute highlight for me. And even when I saw that, I don't tear up very often, but you know, there were a few beautiful moments and I teared up."
Simon and Gavin agreed that it was a beautiful scene with Simon joking: "I've never seen you tear up, so you must have gotten really emotional!"
"Every time I lose a deal, I cry," he added, to which Gavin jokingly responded, "You must cry a lot."
And while they're no doubt going to be compared to Million Dollar Listing New York and Selling Sunset, Simon and Gavin don't believe there are many similarities. D'Leanne confessed to never having seen the shows, as she's too busy working.
"Nah, I think we're so different," Simon said. "And not in a bad way, some of those guys I love, right. Some I find over the top. I won't mention any names, but I think we are who we are. We're both individuals. I don't think either of us are like any of those guys personally."
Gavin added: "No, look I think one of the main differences in this show, is when you compare it to Selling Sunset or Million Dollar Listing right, you talk about, you know the Oppenheim brothers. Like, you know, I've got a lot of friends in LA, no one knew who the Oppenheim brothers were in LA, before that show.
"You look at Ryan Serhant's career, Fredrik Eklund's career. Again, who were they before Million Dollar Listing? I think, if you ask anyone in the real estate industry in Australia, who is D'Leanne Lewis, who is Simon Cohen, you know, eight or nine out of 10 people are gonna know and that's one of the biggest differences is our businesses are all in a very good position pre the show. So it'll be very interesting to see kind of what it does, if anything, after the show, and that's the difference."
When asked to sell the show to viewers, Simon joked: "We don't need to. The show sells itself. All you've got to do is watch, and it's sold."
"Best show ever, watch it or get left behind." D'Leanne added.
"Supply and demand," Gavin added. "How many Australian reality-based real estate shows are there? None. Watch our show."
Luxe Listings Sydney is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.
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