''Bling Empire'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on January 15, 2021. The series focuses on the lives of wealthy, materialistic East and Southeast

Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

, socialites based in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

area, described as real-life ''

Crazy Rich Asians ''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his ...

''. It is the first American reality television series in which the main cast are all of East and Southeast Asian descent. On March 10, 2021, Netflix renewed the series for a second season which premiered on May 13, 2022. The third season premiered on October 5, 2022. The sister Netflix series, ''Bling Empire:

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', launched in January 2023.

Cast

*Kevin Taejin Kreider – Male model born in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

but adopted and raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Kreider narrates the series for the audience. *Kane Lim – Real estate developer and investor from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

with family interests in real estate, shipping, oil and tankers *Christine Chiu – Philanthropist,

couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

collector, and co-founder of Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery inc. In 2021, she competed in the thirtieth season of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. She was paired with

Pasha Pashkov ''Dancing with the Stars'' is an American dance competition television series that premiered on June 1, 2005, on ABC. It is the U.S. version of the UK series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', and one of several iterations of the '' Dancing with the ...

, they finished in fourteenth place after being eliminated in week 3. *

Gabriel Chiu Gabriel Ham Chang Chiu Jr is a Hong Kong American plastic surgeon and philanthropist who guest stars in Netflix’s reality TV series ''Bling Empire'' alongside his wife Christine Chiu. Chiu was born in Hong Kong and claims to be a direct descenda ...

– Plastic surgeon and husband of Christine Chiu, and said to be a 24th direct descendant of the

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

emperor. *Kelly Mi Li – Self-made entrepreneur and film producer born in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, who dated actor Andrew Gray in season 1 *Anna Shay – Part-Japanese, part-Russian socialite whose fortune comes from selling her father's company Pacific Architects and Engineers *Cherie Chan – Denim heiress and former singer *Jessey Lee – Family business is in furniture *Kim Lee – DJ and former model, raised by her Vietnamese mother, but searches for her father in season 1 *Andrew Gray – Kelly's boyfriend. Andrew is a model and an actor, who was best known for playing the

Red Ranger This is a list of characters from the Power Rangers universe – including Rangers, villains and supporting characters. Minor characters (including Monsters, foot soldiers, cross-over characters, and spin-off characters) may not be listed. A * A ...

in the 2013 show '' Power Rangers Megaforce''. *

Jaime Xie Jaime Xie is an American businesswoman, model, socialite, and reality TV personality. She has starred on the Netflix TV series ''Bling Empire'' as an original main cast member since 2021. Early life Jaime Xie is the eldest child of Ken Xie, ...

– Fashion influencer and model. She is the eldest daughter of Chinese-American tech businessman Ken Xie *Guy Tang – Hairdresser and singer-songwriter * Mimi Morris (season 2) * Dorothy Wang (season 2) – Youngest daughter of controversial Chinese-American businessman and slumlord billionaire

Roger Wang Roger Wang (born 1948/49) is a Chinese-American businessman. He is the chairman and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Golden Eagle International Group. Early life and education In 1948, Wang was born in mainland China. In 1970, Wang ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Season 3 (2022)

Reception

For the first season, review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Bling Empire'' may be another celebration of lavish wealth, but the focus on an Asian American cast gives this reality program an intriguing layer of cultural celebration." Diane Gordon of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' thought the television series was more than the "grotesque opulence" that it depicted, with compelling characters among the cast, some of whom were exploring their identity. Eilidh Hargreaves of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' found the "epic rivalries", "ridiculous" problems, wild whims, "self-serving" philosophy of the main characters to be compulsive viewing and "deliciously odious to observe".

Spin-off

In October 2022, Netflix announced a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-set spin-off series ''Bling Empire: New York''. It stars Dorothy Wang, who was a cast member in season 2 of the original series. The spin-off was released on January 20, 2023.

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original current series 2021 American television series debuts 2020s American reality television series Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Los Angeles English-language Netflix original programming Asian-American television Asian-American culture in Los Angeles