Cast member Juawana Colbert believes that she and her co-stars 'weren't given a second chance, possibly because of what we represented as minority women.'
- Nov 12, 2022
AceShowbiz - Netflix has decided to pull the plug on "Selling Tampa" after only one season. Following the cancellation, a cast member of the "Selling Sunset" spin-off believes that racial discrimination played a role in the decision.
"When they show us [black women] in a different light - when we're bickering, fighting and name-calling - they get a season 2 and season 3, but that's not what we were displaying," Juawana Colbert told Page Six. "I feel like we weren't given a second chance, possibly because of what we represented as minority women."
The news outlet claimed that the ladies were left wondering for almost a year whether the show would be renewed for a sophomore season. A source shared that they were given the "runaround." It was also said that fans sent "hundreds" of DMs "daily" to the cast members about a new season, but the ladies didn't know what to say to them.
Last week, "Selling" franchise creator Adam DiVello and producer Skyler Wakil broke the news during a Zoom call with the cast members. "Adam specifically said [the decision] was related to numbers but never gave any additional information," Juawana said. "I don't know if he was talking about rating numbers or budget numbers. He just said numbers."
"When it comes to a minority show of all minority cast members, we're going to naturally have lower numbers because we are a minority in numbers [of the population] in general," Juawana continued.
The real estate agent also revealed that the producers were "out of touch" on how to film with an all-black cast. "With sew-ins or the types of extensions that typically women of color have to get, we don't work on that same time frame," she said. "It's not a wash-and-go. Women that are minorities, it's not that easy. Our hair, just in general, takes longer."
She noted that her co-stars brought up the matter to production. "I don't recall it being like, 'OK, we understand. We're going to make a conscious effort to do something different,' " she explained. "It was almost like it wasn't said." Juawana also shared that while not all of production staff were white, but those "in control" of making big decisions were.
The source, meanwhile, further shared that the cast was not given much of an explanation about the decision. They were just told to tell inquiring fans, "There aren't any plans right now for more 'Selling Tampa,' but luckily the first season is still on Netflix for fans to rewatch or discover." It was also said that Adam never visited the "Selling Tampa" cast on set, even though he visited "Selling Sunset" and "Selling the OC".
"We know that ['Selling Tampa'] was No. 1 in multiple countries, and it did fairly well. Obviously, it's not going to be a 'Selling Sunset' season 5. … It's just weird. All of a sudden this all-black cast doesn't even get a chance for a season 2," the insider added.
