Stars of Rich Listers, from left, former Miss New Zealand Holly Cassidy, former deputy PM Paula Bennett, and Annabel Marshall. Photo / Supplied
Stars of Rich Listers, from left, former Miss New Zealand Holly Cassidy, former deputy PM Paula Bennett, and Annabel Marshall. Photo / Supplied
Fast cars, mega-mansions and cheesy one-liners.
New reality show Rich Listers purports to give a behind-the-scenes peek at the glamorous world of luxury property sales in New Zealand - but if you look a bit closer, the show is more "fictional" TV than reality.
It follows Kiwi real estate professionals – including former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett and former Miss New Zealand Holly Cassidy – as they attempt to buy and sell homes worth up to $42 million, but the deals aren't real.
Some agents featured on the show have little to no experience selling top-end luxury homes, while the price of some homes are over-estimated by millions of dollars, including a $9m home claimed to be worth $20m.
The agents are also given fancy sports cars and licence to ham up their lines.
Alex Breingan, managing director of the show's producer Stripe Studios, said Rich Listers reflects the "genre of reality TV", but uses fictional storylines.
It aims to entertain audiences with compelling narratives, charismatic real estate agents and a range of luxury homes, he said.
"At the end of each episode we remind viewers that 'the pricing and negotiations depicted in this programme have been created for storyline purposes and are entirely fictional'," he said.
Viewers need to wait until the last seconds of each episode - once all the credits have rolled - to see that message flash up.
Ray White Howick agent Dave McCartney shows off his comedic talent in Rich Listers. Photo / Supplied
Rebecca Trelease - an Auckland University of Technology lecturer in communications studies and former Bachelorette NZ reality contestant - was surprised to learn the storylines were entirely fictional.
She said while most viewers expected heightened drama in reality shows, they also typically expected some level of authenticity.
One Auckland real estate insider also said the show was rankling many other agents by over-glamourising the industry and making it look "silly".
Ray White salesperson Cassidy said the agents in Rich Listers were selected because they had experience in front of a camera, such as doing Miss Universe in her case.
However, they were not actors and the show's scenes were not scripted.
Instead, the agents are presented with scenarios, she said.
"They say, 'This is what we want it to be, but you can be yourself and say it how you want to say it'," Cassidy said.
"But of course as soon as you put a camera in front of people, they change."
Examples of fictional storylines include in episode two where Ray White Howick agent Dave McCartney meets the owner of a Waiheke Island mansion with spectacular views of Auckland city.
The episode ends without making it clear whether a deal is completed or not.
The Waiheke Island home on Church Bay Rd that recently sold for $9m but is quoted on the show as being worth $20m. Photo / Supplied
Agents Dave McCartney and Annabel Marshall fly to Waiheke Island to discuss the sale of a mansion with beautiful views over Auckland city. Photo / Supplied
In real life, however, the Church Bay Rd home sold for $9.2m in June - or almost $11m less than the price quoted on the show.
Bayleys Waiheke and Great Barrier agent Mana Tahapehi - who does not appear on Rich Listers and is not associated with the show - was the listing agent who successfully sold it.
McCartney and Marshall played no part in the sale.
A second example involves the sale of a penthouse apartment in the new 57-level Pacifica building in central Auckland - the city's tallest residential building.
Episode one shows the agents competing to be the ones to sell the $42m apartment with its panoramic views.
"This is meant to be the biggest, most expensive apartment in New Zealand ever, so I want my name on it," Harcourts Northwest Realty agent Diego Traglia says.
However, in real life, Barfoot & Thompson agent Annie Xu is the agent with her name on it.
After the show was filmed, the "super penthouse" was split into smaller penthouse apartments. Xu - who is not associated with Rich Listers - sold one of them for $8m.
Two others are still on sale for about $10.2m and $4.2m.
In a third example, Ray White agent and former Miss New Zealand Cassidy is seen touring a Remuera home on Arney Crescent that is quoted as being worth about $15m.
Cassidy tells Ray White listing agent Ross Hawkins she knows a rich buyer interested in the home.
Cassidy's real-life job profile lists her as a personal assistant to another agent as well as a licenced agent.
The home is yet to sell.
Cassidy told the Herald she's a "hybrid" agent, who both sells homes and works in administrative roles.
She said she's sold luxury homes in the past when teaming up with fellow agent Cheryl Whiting and has also won awards as a top administrator, including for managing teams with 50 people.
However, a real estate insider said the show rankled him because it engineered a stereotypical view of the industry.
An artist's impression of a penthouse apartment in the 57-level Pacifica building in central Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Harcourts Northwest Realty agent Diego Traglia plays the part of a hotshot agent in Rich Listers. Photo / Supplied
That included agents "snaking" clients from behind the backs of rivals and over-glamourising the job when in reality only a handful of agents worked in the high-end luxury market.
He said Ray White's McCartney and Harcourt's Traglia - who portray rivals on the show - are both well regarded in the industry in real life and highly successful.
However, they have been successful by selling a high volume of homes worth from $1m to $2m and typically had little to do with top-end properties, he said.
He said while the agents themselves were licensed in real life, almost everything else in the show seemed to be fictional, including many of the cars they "cruised around" in.
"One of my friend's dad's cars was being used [in the show]," he said.
"It's listings that aren't theirs, it's cars that aren't theirs, it's words they wouldn't use."
AUT's Trelease, who has written academic papers on reality shows, said the show had high points, like McCartney's talent for comedic timing.
A Remuera home featured on Rich Listers. Photo / Supplied
However, by being fictional, it lacked vulnerability and a human touch, such as the "confessional" - a typical reality TV scene where participants confess their struggles to the camera.
And - as someone who has been trying but unable to buy her first home in Auckland for three years - Trelease also believed the show lacked nuance or a social commentary to give it more charm.
"If the actual goal of following these people is not to share a part of their real lives or inform New Zealand about the process of buying and selling high-end properties then what is the purpose," she said.
For Cassidy, however, the agents in the show, view it as entertainment and won't be losing too much sleep if people take it too seriously.
"I think it's more done like a comedy spin and a bit more of an entertainment thing as opposed to representing the New Zealand real estate industry," she said.
