Contrary to popular belief, it's not only money that makes the world go around. It’s also entertainment. And we, the viewer, sit firmly at the centre of it. We not only crave it, we expect it from most of the content we consume.
Top-tier reality TV entertainment is what I expected when I sat to watch the first episode of the third season of Netflix’s hit reality show, Dubai Bling. And I did what I always do when watching reality TV – ignore my immediate responsibilities to watch the lives of a group of Dubai influencers and entrepreneurs, though the actual 'reality' of what we see has always remained suspect.
Halfway through episode one though, I checked my email. Then I got up to make a snack, without pausing the show. I also noticed how messy my kitchen was and decided to re-organise my cutlery drawer. I wondered if I should bake some cookies. Then, a friend called and it was a good time to catch up.
"What is that in the background you’re watching?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing," I responded.
This is the greatest crime a reality show can make – not to be a worthy topic of conversation.
I don’t write this with joy. I was the biggest cheerleader of Dubai Bling season one and even season two, which I felt had its shortcomings that I hoped would get ironed out in season three. Wrong.
Things have gotten worse.
So what was the problem? After forcing myself to consume as much of the season as I could, I realised the issue was apparent from one of the first scenes in the first episode.
In the scene, entrepreneur Mona Kattan is hosting a New Year’s Eve dinner and invites the rest of the cast to start the year with positive intentions, and possibly heal relationships between warring factions in the group.
However, one of the cast members, influencer Farhana Bodi, refuses to greet fellow cast member Safa Siddiqui. Bodi, we soon find out, had earlier gotten wind that Siddiqui has been telling friends that Bodi does not own her Birkin bags, but rents them instead (writing that line was more entertaining than watching the scene).
The whole cast, more than 10 of them, are standing to discuss the issue with each other, while facing the camera. We already let it slide that this was a New Year's Eve party filmed sometime in the middle of last year, but this seemingly forced conversation, where everyone is breaking the fourth wall while looking at each other in a mock social set-up feels insulting to our suspension of disbelief.
This same dynamic is repeated throughout the season, where every scene feels staged beyond reasonable doubt.
To be clear, reality TV has long been by definition a manipulated medium, this we know. Producers and cast actively create artificial scenarios and contexts in order to generate or magnify existing issues and drama. This is all marketed as “real”, depending on your definition of what real is. I, like many others, choose to believe that a themed dinner party, a fashion show or a girls trip is the perfect place to bring up old gripes, such as not following the strict dress code at a wedding or dating someone’s ex.
Why? For two reasons.
First, cast members’ feelings in these moments are often valid to them and the potency of their truth is translated through the screen. Second, producers create realistic atmospheres where we as voyeurs feel as though we’re watching something that is intimately happening between a group of close-knit friends.
Whether this is accurate or not doesn’t matter. The illusion is so flawless, we choose to believe and be entertained by it.
But in season three of Dubai Bling, cast members have seemingly abandoned all pretenses of normalcy. Someone throws a funeral for a Lamborghini. And someone buys the trademark of another cast member’s business for the sole purpose of a storyline on a show.
What am I watching?
There is a true art to unfolding drama on a reality TV show and Dubai Bling turned it into a paint by numbers – it's two dimensional and boring.
It's a shame because there are some important life experiences that some of the cast members go through. From health issues to complications with divorce and co-parenting or balancing friendships and business partners, these are not boring topics. However, similarly to season two, these issues are not given the depth they deserve and each scene feels like a race to the next showdown.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
From slow-motion entrances and the uncoordinated ways topics are brought up for the cameras, to the fashion – which, far from being avant-garde is mostly a case of tacky costume peacocking – it was all too much, too desperate, too transparent to be taken as good quality reality TV.
The point of this genre is to sit and enjoy frivolous, wholesome drama that is manufactured to our benefit. Not to watch something that feels so staged it insults our intelligence as viewers and feels like a farce.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
