Owning Manhattan star Ryan Serhant favors transparency – says he's won't make "another fake reality TV show"

Owning Manhattan Season 2 premiered on December 5, 2025, featuring CEO Ryan Serhant and a team of real estate agents as they explored high-end luxury listings across New York for their high-profile clients.

Reflecting on the season, Ryan told Us Weekly, in an interview published on December 6, that he wanted Owning Manhattan to capture the realities of the real estate market. 

He wanted the show to be as transparent as possible, even if that meant showing their losses and their struggles with clients. To Ryan, delivering an honest representation of his work to the viewers was his priority over the drama of reality TV. 

“Everything is real [on the show] because everything else is big and everyone has a facade, everyone lies. Nothing is real, I believe nothing. So, it would be a disservice to the world to create another fake reality TV show,” Ryan said. 

The Owning Manhattan star wished to avoid crafting storylines to give the show a positive look. Thus, he hoped the series would be appealing to viewers because its format would be unlike other reality TV shows. 

Ryan Serhant says Owning Manhattan season 2 focuses on real estate over interpersonal drama

Speaking about the concept of the show, Ryan expressed that he had “literally zero interest” in crafting storylines to attract viewers. 

He noted that he was “totally fine” closing the season, even if they had “no deals.”

“Even if all the deals died or fell apart, and the company had to file for bankruptcy. That is the season finale of a show that I would watch. It’d be terrible for my real life, but it would be the reality of it. It’s refreshing in a way that I haven’t seen in this format before,” he said. 

While reflecting on the reason for creating Owning Manhattan, Ryan admitted that he wanted to make a “deal show” after being part of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York from 2012 to 2021. 

He then pointed at the fanbases of shows like Shark Tank, Succession, and Gossip Girl, noting that viewers enjoyed watching “deal shows.” Consequently, he wanted Owning Manhattan to deliver that to the audience. 

“Owning Manhattan is not about the drama. It’s about the deals. It is also about what happens because of the deals – and they’re real deals,” he mentioned. 

Speaking about the authenticity of the deals made on the show, Ryan confidently stated that viewers could “follow along on social media” or the news to see the aftermath of the contracts or check if they were “really closed.”

According to him, the show’s close connection with reality made it “so different,” since it lacked any manipulation or interference.

As the executive producer of the Netflix series, Ryan had access to the show’s making and noted that the structure of the scenes made Owning Manhattan stand out from the rest. 

“It lets the audience know this is not something you’ve seen before and this is worth watching … I give Netflix a lot of credit for allowing us to play and allowing me to really, really push the envelope on format,” Ryan added. 

Season 2 of the Netflix series saw Ryan have a few emotional outbursts. One, when he lost a $60 million deal to newcomer Peter, and two, when he felt overwhelmed as he struggled to manage work and family simultaneously. 

Despite those moments showcasing his vulnerability, he kept them in the series, so viewers could glimpse the reality of how taxing dealing in the real estate market could be. 

Stay tuned for more updates.