Netflix’s ‘Selling Tampa’ Canceled After One Season, Cast Blames Racism For Decision: We Weren’t Given A Second Chance, Possibly Because Of What We Represented As Minority Women

Netflix’s ‘Selling Tampa’ Canceled After One Season, Cast Blames Racism For Decision: We Weren’t Given A Second Chance, Possibly Because Of What We Represented As Minority Women

Did Selling Tampa deserve to be given the boot or was there something more sinister involved? Cast member Juwanna Colbert seems to think the latter.

It was recently reported that Netflix canceled Selling Tampa, the only show in their “selling” category with an all-black cast. Allegedly, the show’s producer, Adam Divello, wielded the axe to the ladies of the series via Zoom a week ahead of the public announcement. While he vaguely blamed it on the show’s “numbers,” cast member Juwanna Colbert believes racism is at fault.

Juwanna Colbert

When it comes to viewership, it seems that the show did not do so badly. Reportedly, when Selling Tampa debuted it was number 1 in the U.S. on Netflix within 24 hours after its release. The reality series hit number one in multiple other countries as well. An insider shared,

“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.”

During a recent interview, realtor Juwanna Colbert spoke on the show’s cancelation and shared why she thinks the series wasn’t renewed. The 41-year-old Selling Tampa star said,

“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.”

She continued,

“I feel like we weren’t given a second chance, possibly because of what we represented as minority women.”

Juwanna Colbert

Selling Tampa premiered in December 2021 with eight luxury real estate agents. The entire cast consisted of Latina and black women, including Colony Reeves, Anne-Sophie Petit, Tennille Moore, Karla Giorgo, Rena Frazier, Alexis Williams and Sharelle Rosado — Allure Realty’s head broker. The show followed the ladies as they navigated their careers, friendships, and love lives.

Netflix has yet to share an official reason behind the series getting pulled, but, according to Juwanna, the production company seemed to be “out of touch” with shows centered around African American women. She noted that expectations for the cast to be ready to film within an hour were unrealistic.

“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. It’s not a wash-and-go. Women that are minorities, it’s not that easy. Our hair, just in general, takes longer.”

Juwanna continued and said the cast complained about the short prep time, but nothing was done about it. She also cited the marketing for Selling Tampa as another pitfall.

“I think with the all-white cast members of ‘Selling Sunset’ handing off a key to all-women black cast members in Tampa kind of set us up for misrepresentation and comparison and, really, a competition, honestly. I think from the get-go, we were set up a little bit at a disadvantage.”

Apart from internal challenges, the ladies also faced external criticism. Sharelle Rosado spoke exclusively to theJasmineBrand about the hurdles the cast faced. In the interview, she responded to DJ Envy’s claims that the firm was not showcasing any actual sales.

The media personality posted, 

Sharelle responded,

“And [cricits] not seeing closings – I don’t understand. Like Rena said, she made a caption that said ‘just because we didn’t ring bells or throw confetti doesn’t mean we weren’t closing homes.’ We had a big development with a developer that we had multiple listings. That was huge!”

 She added,

“What people need to understand is that it takes a long time. We were filming during the pandemic and a lot of people don’t want a whole camera crew coming in because of what’s going on. So it was hard getting a lot of people to even say  ‘okay, I’ll be a part of it.’ Because it’s a new show.”

Juwanna also responded to the claims that the women were not selling.

She said,

“For whatever reason, they chose to edit it how they wanted to edit it, but we are all active, we are all busy, we all have higher-end homes that have sold, and we have ones that are not higher-end homes that have sold. We are all active agents. When we were filming, there were deals that were done, but that’s now how it was edited.”

Although Adam Divello nor his team have responded to Juwanna’s allegations, a source close to production reportedly said,

“This decision was made solely on performance, and we hope to tap into various members of the cast for future projects.”

What do you think about Selling Sunset being canceled? Tell us in the comment section below. 

[VIA]