Get reacquainted with Kayla Cardona, the 'Selling the OC' agent who's listing some serious drama

Kayla Cardona might be fairly new to the real estate industry, but she was quickly engulfed in O Group drama. 

Selling The OC made its way to Netflix in summer 2022, and fans reveled in the glorious listings and soaked up the turbulence between co-workers, particularly thanks to Cardona. Now Selling The OC season 2 has finally hit our screens, we're anxious to see how she is settling in. But before we meet up with our favorite agents, let's review a few things, shall we?

Meet Kayla Cardona from 'Selling the OC'

Kayla Cardona hails from Orange County and she's 34 years old. She's a single mom with a teen son named Jordan. On the show, she revealed that her parents didn't support her decision to keep her baby after getting pregnant as a teenager, and she was forced to move out of their home and into shelters as a result. 

"That was the hardest thing for me, when my parents disowned me at the time that I needed them the most," she said during the first episode.

Before making her way into real estate in 2019, she worked several jobs to stay afloat. She actually told co-worker Alex Hall that she was still working a second job while waiting for potential commissions to come through.

"People wanna come across as like, 'Oh, I'm this badass agent that's making it right away,'" Cardona told Women's Health in 2022. "The reality is you might need one or two side hustles to get you through the first couple years of real estate. That's just the truth."

She admirably proved her worth in the industry, as her O Group bio states: "She started her real estate career working alongside the highest-rated team on Zillow and all of Orange County where she quickly became a top 1% agent, earning a prestigious Executive Club Award."

In season 2, we catch Kayla and her son join Brandi Marshall and her son, SJ, for an outdoor meal. Although his time on camera is brief, you can tell the mother-son duo share a close bond. 

What about the Kayla and Tyler kiss drama?

Her success on Selling The OC seemed to be clouded by a little office drama...particularly with Tyler Stanaland, real estate royalty and pro surfer. She allegedlly tried to sneak a kiss with the realtor on several occasions, which normally wouldn't be an issue, except he was married to actor Brittany Snow at the time. Since the first season hit screens, Tyler Stanaland and Brittany Snow have called it quits, and he allegedlly has set his sights on other O Group co-workers since his split. 

In a 2022 interview with Reality Life with Kate Casey, the surfer-turned-realtor mentioned the now buzzy incident with his co-worker, which got everyone talking—including Cardona.

"One night, Kayla did try and kiss me. And then it happened another night as well," he revealed. "And so on the show, out of respect for her, I am just kind of trying to minimize it and brush past it so that there isn't drama. We can all focus on what we should be doing."

According to Stanaland, the incident did not come between him and Snow at the time, and Cardona apologized for the almost-kiss. He also admitted that oftentimes he and the co-workers are "all over" each other, which could cause some confusion, to say the least.

Cardona decided to set the record straight with her own interview. 

"Everyone else wants to put all the blame on me. No one else is innocent, I'll make that real clear," she told Netflix Tudum. "I think they reacted from a place of guilt and they wanted to put all that heat on me because they know they're guilty themselves. I haven't done half of the s*** that they've done. And I'm also talking about off-camera."

Well, well, well. Is she referring to Alex Hall and Tyler Stanaland's "friendship"? Is she alluding to his suspected interest in Polly Brindle? What exactly has gone down since season 1 wrapped? We're about to find out, that's for sure. (No spoilers here, folks.)

"We’ve been over it. We’ve been done," she added. "But everyone else seems to keep going about it. So hopefully they'll eventually move on." 

What can we expect from Kayla Cardona in season 2?

In a teaser trailer, we caught Stanaland reprimanding Cardona and wishing she'd stay out of his business. (So clearly not everyone has moved on.) Plus, we hear Brindle getting annoyed with Cardona for allegedly showing co-workers some juicy video footage (likely involving everyone's office crush). Seems like she's still stirring the pot...

In an interview with US Weekly, Cardona insists Stanaland and Brindle's video is more intimate than they let on. Even though people get quickly absorbed with the Alex Hall/Tyler Stanaland romance, Brindle keeps popping up in the equation because of said video. 

Stanaland, for his part, isn't pleased, but seemingly remained level-headed about the whole ordeal.

"I don’t think it was used as blackmail per se, but it was kind of used as a smoking gun to kind of bring up some past hurt between certain people and just an unnecessary tactic in my opinion," he told US Weekly. 

Who is Kayla Cardona dating?

At the moment, Kayla is currently single, though it's likely we'll see relationship changes as the show continues. We'll just have to stay patient and find out. Perhaps we'll get some intel in Selling the OC season 3. 

Selling The OC season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.