(This trauma explains why she was so upset about being excluded from a bachelorette party, she tells viewers.) She gives a goat to Lesa Milan, a fashion entrepreneur, for being a good friend.
Chanel Ayan, the model, recounts how her father tried to marry her off at the age of 14 in Kenya. The storylines are shaped by the women’s backgrounds. It is an accurate reflection of cosmopolitan Dubai, where foreigners vastly outnumber locals: Emiratis make up a little over 11% of the population. The others come from America, Britain, Jamaica and Kenya. Two of its stars are Arab, only one of whom is Emirati. Its cast endorses the notion of the emirate as a melting-pot, and its line-up is more diverse in terms of race and nationality than most other editions of “The Real Housewives”. On the whole, the superficial world the women inhabit is both repugnant and riveting, and reinforces stereotypes of Dubai. South-East Asian nannies and maids appear to hand “madame” her designer sunglasses. At times the flashy, international veneer is pierced, reminding viewers that they are in the Gulf.
