From high-fashion to high-end real estate, Selling the Hamptons star Mike Fulfree knows all about living the dream, but when the fast lane started taking its toll on his health, Fulfree knew that his lifestyle needed a drastic renovation.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, the power broker opens up for the first time about watching himself on Season 2 of Max’s hit reality show weighing 315 pounds, his journey to lose 100 pounds and answering the “huge wake-up call” that changed his life.
Us: Tell Us about how things have changed since you starred on the first season of Selling The Hamptons.
Mike Fulfree: Well, everything has really changed. I went from just being a real estate agent to a very high-producing real estate agent. I’m pretty much selling everything that I list over ask on record numbers. And now I have a team. I have two other guys that work with me. They’re doing an incredible job. They made more money in the last two months with me than they make in the whole year before they worked with me. So my guys are really happy. It’s like a bootcamp every day. I’m a little bit of an asshole, but I get the job done and their pockets are fat, and I always tell them that’s what it’s about. I’m trying to teach you guys how to really do this business because, obviously, previously, it didn’t work. I want to mold somebody. And these guys are becoming like little mini Fulfrees and it’s awesome.
Us: How has your personal life has changed since the reality show?
MF: Obviously, the money’s been coming in a lot more since reality. TV’s helped with that. So I’m doing a major renovation at my house, literally gutting my whole house and I’m really excited. We start in a few weeks. Since the show, it was planning, saving for that [and] building a team.
Us: You’ve actually had a major physical transformation since filming Season 2.
MF: It’s a whole different Mike that people won’t even recognize. I lost 80 pounds so far since filming. I was at my heaviest. I was at my unhealthiest. I was almost 315 pounds. I’m down to 228 pounds now. I take things very seriously — my health, my business, my family.
Us: How did you get to 315 pounds?
MF: So it was the beginning of the grind when the [first season of the] show really aired. I’m just eating so bad, working really late, and what’s the only thing that convenient? There’s no drive-through salad spot on Long Island. It’s just easy just to cram down garbage.
I saw all these stupid trends. I hate to say this about pills, I think they’re very dangerous. I didn’t do any of that. I went natural and I just worked my ass off, and I just looked at food differently. I didn’t look at food as a main event. I’m Italian from Long Island. Our events are all wrapped around food, so I didn’t make food a priority. I made it just something to survive and I changed my mentality. I just put how I work into my health in a very strict, regimented way. I drink a gallon of water a day. I want to get down to 215. So I have 13 pounds left to get down to 100 pounds lost.
Us: You’re a totally different person losing 80 pounds.
MF: It’s ridiculous. It’s a small little lady.
Us: Why did you want to lose the weight?
MF: I wanted to live. Another thing I don’t do [is] I don’t drink, and that’s something I want to talk about this season to help other people like me. There’s a lot of things I don’t do anymore. My best weapon is when I go to these events with major, major people with big money. Everyone’s drinking. Their ambitions are down, and I’m sharp as could be. I’m able to speak with these clients. It’s really, really nice just to be able to be there for my clients and not just be some party guy and I could actually talk business at any point. It’s awesome.
It started as just a health thing that I noticed. My clarity. I wake up at now at 5 o’clock in the morning because in real estate, everything is socializing in my business. You don’t take clients to a library — you take ’em to a bar, a restaurant. You’re ordering steaks, cocktails are flowing. And then if you’re trying to become successful, you’re taking out clients. Especially during the summer in the Hamptons, I would [go out] five nights a week. I noticed this was an every night occurrence, and I know if I wanted to get healthy, it just ended up being a few weeks into diving in.
And then I stopped drinking. There’s so much sugar in alcohol and carbs. I just notice like, holy shit, I feel so much better. I’m double better. I’m not just eating better. I feel more clear. I’m not putting any alcohol in my body. I’m going to stick with this lifestyle. I think it’s a problem with a lot of agents — substance abuse. And no matter what, [even though] it wasn’t a real problem to me, it was when you’re drinking and socializing and it’s every night. It’s not a good thing. I don’t think it’s taboo at all. I don’t give a s–t what anybody thinks.
This money doesn’t mean s–t if I get really sick from my health and I go too far with it. So it’s a huge wake up call. I’ve been humbled by it. I realize like, okay, money is not everything. You got to get your health right, because the beautiful house you’re building you’re not going to be able to use it if you can’t walk outside.
Us: You were a fashion model before getting into real estate.
MF: Yeah, I’ve always had eating issues. I think it started with the modeling. I was really, really skinny. I’m 228 [pounds] and I look skinny right now, and they had me at 175.
Us: Wow.
Mike Fulfree said he has dropped to 228 pounds.MF: My nails were changing color from malnourishment. It’s crazy s–t. I modeled in the rough time in 2010. This is almost 15 years ago. It was a different time. Everything was being the skinniest you could be. It wasn’t like everybody’s beautiful [and] you could be anything you want. They wanted very, very skinny, very, very sickly looking. That was the look back then, and it was wild. But I don’t know if that affected me, but I know for a fact after [the first season of Selling the Hamptons on] Netflix, I just started gaining so much weight.
Us: Do you miss your modeling days?
MF: I make more money in a week than I made in a year. [laughs] I’ve been asked. A lot of people in the Hamptons, they’re still connected to the business, and they know me from then because I did a lot of big stuff, and they want me to go back into it as the older model kind of thing. And I would never go back.
Us: Did the fashion world teach you anything about what you’re doing now?
MF: No, my tough Italian mother did. They told me not to take any s–t. I grew up in a very low, middle-class town center in east Long Island. I don’t come from big wealth, but they taught me how to just don’t give a shit. Don’t take everything so serious. You have to have to realize you’re just humans, and you’re there to work. And they taught me how to speak up for myself. And I’ve always been very comfortable with speaking to people. I don’t care how rich you are, we’re all just people.
Us: You and your wife Sam have a son, Luca. And you’re trying to expand your family?
MF: Me and my wife want to have a baby, so that’s what we’re working on now. Our little buddy’s about to be 5 [years old]. So this is a second [child].
Us: Why was this the right time for you?
MF: I feel like we focus so much on building something. My wife runs a tile company. I run a real estate business and it’s come to the point it’s like, alright, we have everything together. We’re doing everything in our 30s the right way. It’s like, ‘Let’s go!’ We’ve had to really grind the last few years to get to this level. It’s unbelievable. I try to stay humble about it, but reality TV can bring out that ego sometimes when they want me to film something.
Us: So it’s possible we’re going to see your new addition in Season 3.
MF: We’ll see if we get pregnant by then, but I have a feeling we’re going to be filming again this summer.
Us: So is Selling the Hamptons Season 2 even more dramatic than Season 1? I know there are a couple new faces.
MF: Yeah, it was disaster. [laughs] People are going to like it. Butting heads with everybody. It was the most wild season ever.
I had a real issue [with] one of the guys on the show, but it ended up working out.
It’s as real as could be. It’s crazy that we were able to film this shit, but me and him [costar Dylan Eckardt] had a problem years ago. They never told me. They just said, ‘Oh, show up here.’ This is going to be the first day of filming. And they know I have a big problem with him. And, of course, who shows up in a loud obnoxious G-Wagon? Dylan. So it didn’t start off well for me.
Us: Is it a rivalry?
MF: I don’t like his attitude. I am fine with him now because he knows to respect what I do. I looked up to him when I first started and he was selling a lot of crazy s–t, working with big-time celebrities. We’re more non-polished. We’re more like street guys that don’t come from much. We recognize each other. I guess it’s more of a thing where he says, ‘Alright, well, this guy’s not going to back down from me.’ And everyone backs down from Dylan. But I don’t care at all.
Us: He’s the bad boy of the show.
MF: He is a little bad boy. He is the surfer from Montauk. And he is good inside, though. Dylan is a good guy.
Us: And, of course, there are multi-million mansions!
MF: You’re going to see a $150 million house that I’m trying to sell and then f–king [costar] Peggy [Zabakolas] trying to steal that client from me to no avail. I literally rented him a half a million-dollar house for two weeks. He spent half a million dollars for two weeks.
A lot of cutthroat activity, a lot of big homes. The home we toured at the time was the most expensive home [listed] in the world. I mean, Bugattis, billionaire clients and some of the fanciest restaurants in the world.
Selling the Hamptons is now streaming on Max.
