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This story contains spoilers for season 9 of Selling Sunset.
Heather Rae El Moussa is returning to her Selling Sunset roots!
The former Oppenheim Group agent, 38, briefly appeared in season 9 of the hit real estate drama, which dropped Wednesday, Oct. 29 on Netflix. El Moussa’s cameo occurs in episode 5 at a donation drive hosted by the O Group at their Orange County office, where the agents round up items to help those impacted by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.
Both the O.C. and L.A. agents are in attendance, including Chelsea Lazkani, Mary Bonnet and Bre Tiesi, who is one of El Moussa’s good friends. When a truck filled with baby items arrives at the drive, Lazkani notes the donations are from Tarek and Heather, referring to the former Selling Sunset star’s husband Tarek El Moussa.
This seems to be a hint at Heather’s imminent return, as she then walks into the frame with a big smile on her face. Tiesi immediately spots The Flip Off star and runs over to give her friend a big hug.
“I missed you so much,” Tiesi says, to which Heather exclaims, “I missed you!”
Netflix
She then jokes that she’s “here to save” Tiesi, seemingly referring to all the drama happening between the O Group agents this season. The two then run off to have a more private discussion about what’s going on at the office.
Referring to the donation drive, Heather first says, “This is so awesome. I’m like, I’m not having another baby any time soon.” Heather is mom to son Tristan, 2, whom she shares with Tarek. She’s also stepmom to Tarek’s older children — daughter Taylor, 15, and son Brayden, 10 — from his previous marriage to Christina Haack.
Tiesi, who shares 3-year-old son Legendary with Nick Cannon, added in agreement, “That’s what I said, take it all.”
Heather then looks around and asks, “Where’s Chrishell?” referring to her former costar Chrishell Stause, who she’s still friendly with.
Tiesi then gives a frank response: “I don’t know. I don’t really talk to anyone. I’ve learned that’s the better route.”
“You have anyone that you’re at least cool with?” Heather asks, prompting Tiesi to share how she’s still on good terms with Bonnet, Amanza Smith and Alanna Gold of all the L.A. agents.
Tiesi has had a longtime feud with fellow agent Lazkani ever since she joined the cast in season 6. While she tried to wave the white flag in season 8 by giving Lazkani a heads up that her now ex-husband was allegedly seen making out with another woman, the bad blood between them still lingers this season.
Stause and Emma Hernan then got involved in the drama and stirred the pot even more, resulting in Tiesi eventually unfollowing Hernan on Instagram and having leftover tension with her fellow agents.
Netflix
Heather’s appearance concludes with Bonnet running over to give her a hug as she asks, “How are you? I miss you so much.”
Another scene of Heather greeting O Group co-founders Brett and Jason Oppenheim with a warm embrace then pans onto the screen.
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Heather started out as a full-time cast member on Selling Sunset since it first premiered in 2019. In December 2023, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that Heather would not return to the Netflix show in its eighth season.
The news came after the HGTV host revealed Netflix had not called her back to film season 7 during a March 2023 interview with Adrienne Bailon and Keltie Knight for E! News.
“Season 7 is filming right now, but I’ve been off maternity leave and I’ve been excited to get back to work and so far I have not been called back,” she said at the time. “It’s been a little frustrating. I’ve been there from the pilot, from the beginning.”
Heather did make a brief appearance on the show in season 7 before going on maternity leave. Her cameo in season 9 is the first time she’s returned to the show since then. She now stars on her own HGTV show alongside her husband Tarek and his ex-wife Christina Haack called The Flip Off.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Following her departure from the show, Heather opened up about what it was really like to film Selling Sunset — after being a series regular for nearly seven seasons — during an April 2024 appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast alongside Tarek.
“It was a blessing that I wasn’t asked to come back,” she said, before explaining, “With Selling Sunset, I never knew when I was going to be filming. It was last minute, it took over my life, it was hard to do my real job — real estate. It was hard to do anything else.”
She added that some days were so tough that she “came home crying,” and Tarek chimed in, “every day.”
Selling Sunset season 9 is now available to stream on Netflix.
