The team: an ultra-rich group of Asians and Asian-American friends, starring Christine Chiu, Anna Shay, Kane Lim, Kim Lee, Cherie Chan, Kelly Mi Li, Jamie Xie and Kevin Kreider.
The situation: wild buying spikes, scary parties… and waiting, is that a Gucci claw machine at a one-year anniversary party?
It’s easy to write off Bling Empire as a display of over-the-top truth, crass. Let’s be real: times deserved a cringe like Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr Gabriel Chiu’s wife Christine spoke about supporting orphans in China as door-to-door gifts for guests at the New Year’s party Lunar held on Rodeo Drive – yes, that was famous. street in Los Angeles that she rented for a night in the first episode of a Netflix reality show.
(Related: Bling Empire: The Horriest Times at Netflix Show)
So when I started looking at those expectations, the only thing I didn’t expect was to sympathize with any of them, let alone get tears in my eyes.
I wasn’t the only one moved by the show either. A friend’s text had come in: Two programs came in and I shouted! I need to make DM Cherie on Instagram.
She was referring to Cherie Chan, a pregnant heiress with a denim empire who recently lost her mother, and had trouble finding closure in that loss.
The themes of parent-child relationships and loss are at the heart of many cast members ’storytelling, including model and international DJ Kim Lee who finally decides to look for her biological father to -only to understand that it was over before they could even reconnect. Model and fitness coach Kevin Kreider had also tried to seek the same reconnection for himself. He was introduced to a Caucasian family in Philadelphia as a child and now wants his parents to seek birth in South Korea.
(Related: Bling Empire: 6 Things to Know About New Netflix Reality Show)