It's been more than a year since Bling Empire was filmed, but the newly-released Netflix series is just making a splash now. Here's what the cast members are up to in 2021
It's been more than a year since filming wrapped on season one of Bling Empire, but the runaway Netflix hit has only just debuted on the streaming platform and its cast of characters—including the inimitable Anna Shay, everyone's BFF Kane Lim, DJ Kim Lee, series one mean girl Christine Chiu, model Kevin Kreider, pop singer-turned-mom Cherie Chan, and silent queen of judgmental facial expressions Jaime Xie—have become stars and household names overnight.
While the world waits with bated breath for season two to be announced (will there be? won't there be? tbd), Netflix checked in with the Bling Empire cast via video conference to find out what they've all been up to—and to get their first impressions and feedback from watching themselves on screen in season one.
Here's what the cast of Bling Empire has been up to this year.
Related: Meet the cast of Bling Empire
Bling Empire Cast: Where are they now in 2021?
1. Kevin finally got his own apartment: The model-producer ditched his roommates and co-living situation for a 500 sq ft apartment for which he pays US$1,700 monthly.
2. Kane and Anna are window-shopping buddies, literally: Nothing can stand in the way of these luxury lovers and their favourite fashion items. "During Covid, there was no shopping, no nothing," Lim says. "Having a friend like Anna? Nothing's shut down." Lim says he and Shay would stand outside of Gucci while the sales associates held up merchandise for Shay to select through the window.
3. Christine's feelings are still hurt: "When I'm watching Anna play games, changing my seat, or telling me the wrong time to show up, watching it replay, it hurts still, a little bit, now," Chiu says. "I do know Anna's heart; and I respect her. It is what it is."
4. Anna is sticking to her principles: "I didn't feel that certain people were really real," Shay says. "When I see someone like Christine, it is very very hard for me to take her seriously. When I first met her, she was very different than she is now." She says she does not speak to Chiu.
5. Jaime just learned what a penis pump is: She googles it while on the video call with Netflix and... isn't shocked at all.
6. Are Kelly and Andrew still together? "The relationship that changed the most since filming is definitely my relationship with Andrew," Li says. "I didn't know what the word gaslighting meant until now. I actually had to look it up... I definitely see where the audience is coming from. They saw a period, a really dark period of our relationship. With Andrew's behaviour, I don't excuse it at all. I think it's 100 per cent wrong. After filming we took a good five month or six month break where we just focused on ourselves.
"Going to therapy individually and just learning about ourselves... now that we're back in communication and back seeing each other, it's just been night and day," she says.
6. When is Cherie and Jessey's wedding? "We definitely don't have a date, we don't want to have a Zoom wedding, we don't want to plan and have a small wedding or people to get sick," Chan says. "We don't know anything yet. Nothing is set in stone yet."
7. What about that Kim and Kevin kiss cliffhanger? "Me and Kim's relationship has changed a lot," Kreider says. "Me and Kim talk about relationships a lot. Is there an attraction? I don't know. She's hot, how could I not? Kim and I do not follow each other on Instagram. We still have that social media rivalry thing. If I follow you first, but you don't follow me back, does that mean now that I like you more? It's a commitment now, following her this time. She watches every one of my stories."
8. Jaime's only regret: She says she didn't bring enough clothing options with her. "I didn't have access to my full closet," Xie says. "I brought, like, one-fiftieth of what I actually have."