'Selling the Hamptons' showcases high-end LI real estate brokers
"Selling the Hamptons" cast members J.B. Andreassi, from left, Bianca D'Alessio, Michael Fulfree, Mia Calabrese, Peggy Zabakolas and Kenny Arias. Credit: Discovery+
Long Islanders J.B. Andreassi and Michael Fulfree are among the real estate brokers starring in the new Discovery+ series "Selling the Hamptons," premiering early Thursday on the streaming service. Both appeared on 2020’s similar Netflix show "Million Dollar Beach House."
"The similarities," says the Riverhead-born and Water Mill-raised Andreassi, 31, now of Southampton, "are you have three of the same cast members," including Commack-raised Peggy Zabakolas, "and the same production company. And of course they're both about Hamptons real estate. But the difference," he believes, "is this show is a much more refined and I think appropriate look into it, showing the lifestyle around it, going to the different local restaurants, the beaches — things that were not captured in the other show," which was a half-hour as opposed to the new one's roughly 45 minutes. "And I think Michael, myself and Peggy are much more experienced in what we do."
They along with Kenny Arias, Mia Calabrese and Bianca D'Alessio of Nest Seekers International wheel and deal from East Hampton to Westhampton, from Sagaponack to Sag Harbor, with houses listed for $35 million before the bidding war even starts. Here, says the Bronx-born Fulfree, 32, a child of Arthur Avenue raised primarily in Centereach and now living in Center Moriches, "People worth hundreds of millions of dollars, who fly private, come in from all over the world" to buy.
Why do such often-private individuals agree to splash themselves on reality TV? "Luckily a lot of these guys want to experience something different," Fulfree explains. "Even when you're worth billions of dollars, you can't just be like, 'Oh, I want to be on a TV show.' Money can't buy that experience. And so a lot of times, they'll go with it."
Fulfree and Andreassi are friends from their days playing football at Saint Anthony's High School in South Huntington, from where they graduated in 2008. Fulfree then became an international model, working on campaigns for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana and other designers and living for a few years outside Milan. The son of John and Elaine Fulfree, he has two brothers: John, an attorney, and Steven, who works for the data company Oracle. Michael and his wife Samantha have a 2½-year-old son, Luca.
Andreassi, the son of local developer Joseph Andreassi II and Donna Andreassi, played football at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire before graduating to work in marketing for the National Hockey League and then as a sales and leasing consultant with the real estate firm Related Companies in the Washington, D.C., area. He works with his brother, Chase, in a side venture, Andreassi Development, a successor to their father's company; their sister, Hannah, works in PPC (pay-per-click) internet marketing.
"J.B. is very humble and he doesn't tell you all the crazy accomplishments his family has done," Fulfree says. "So there's two streets in the Hamptons that are named after J.B.'s family: Andreassi Way and Hannahs Court," both in North Sea. "Andreassi Way was pretty much named after Chase," he says, "and Hannah got Hannahs Court. And J.B., we make fun of him all the time that what he got named after him is the Wi-Fi password at his parents' house!"
That said, he adds amiably, "There's no Fulfree Way out there."
