Shahs of Sunset: Meet Mike Shouhed

The  cover of Beverly Hills Weekly, a local print publication in Beverly Hills, is splashed with a picture of Shahs of Sunset. Move over Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, there is a new hit reality show headed to town.  Four members of the cast gave an in depth interview to reporter Melanie Anderson and I will share some excepts of the interviews in a series of blogs. First up is Mike Shouhed, a 33 year old single guy who spends his time enticing the ladies with his good looks when he is not working at a commercial real estate firm in Los Angeles. You can expect Mike to be the eye candy on the show. He is confident, perhaps a bit cocky and always on the go. He’s the one in the Bravo commercial that is pulling his hot, wet, self out of the pool. I’m sure you remember the image. Unfortunately there are not nearly enough pictures of him on the Internet right now, but something tells me there is about to be plenty. Until then, here is what Mike has to say about the show. 
 
So, how did you end up on “Shahs of Sunset”?
When I heard about it I didn’t want anything to do with it because I had some misconceptions about how they were going to portray our culture and people growing up in Beverly Hills. Then I got a call from one of my friends and one of the head producers of the show, Jesse Leed. After speaking to him and realizing his sincerity and his love for the project, I decided to be part of it. It was an easy choice once I knew who else was part of the show [which is produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions]. These were people I was friends with already and had a great relationship with, so I thought why not? Like GG [Gharachedaghi], I was best friends with her sister [Leila] growing up, so she’s like my little sister. We’ve all kept our friendship throughout the years.

Why do you think you were cast?
It wasn’t really a casting. The show is more a glimpse into the life of six friends who are juggling their family life, their social life, their up and coming careers, and their love life, and we just happen to be Persian.

What made you feel like the show wasn’t going to portray Persians negatively?

Just so we make it very clear, this show is not a documentary. It’s not a Persian-based show. It’s based on six friends who happen to be Persian. They touch on our culture, how we’re very family oriented, how we’re very hardworking individuals, but it’s a very light, fun, entertaining show, similar to “Pawn Stars,” “Swamp People,” or any show that gives you an hour of entertainment. Jesse made that perfectly clear. The cast [is] so unique, so funny, and I think people are really going to get a kick out of this show.

You experienced the boom and bust of the Las Vegas real estate market. Tell us about that.

Then the economy tanked. The market started to crash; banks started failing. It seemed like it happened overnight. What we had spent years trying to build all of a sudden came crashing down and there wasn’t a thing we could do about it. I went from not eating lunch some days, not having dinner because I was working so hard, to where I was picking up my phone just to see if it was still working, because everything stopped.

What’s your goal for this show?
I want [viewers] to get a sneak peek into Mike Shouhed’s world of working hard, playing hard. I’m a dedicated commercial real estate agent. I work for an amazing company, BRC Advisors, which dominates the Beverly Hills real estate market. I work with one of the top agents, Houman Mahboubi, who has become my mentor. We’re going to rock this thing. I’m super excited about my move here and my transition to this company. I think I’m going to build much greater wealth here than I ever did in Las Vegas and I did very well for myself there. People are going to see my journey in this show.