Look inside the private lives of Sydney’s crazy, rich Asians
Ten has rolled the Pilot Week dice on a reality show starring three of Sydney’s richest, and most secretive, young women
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He once had a client who requested the Harbour Bridge be closed down in order to host a private dining experience complete with a chandelier hanging down from the centre of the famous iron arch. VIP concierge Karim Gharbi admits he considered trying to pull this outlandish request off for all of a couple of seconds before he turned his client down.
It’s one of the few times the Sydney businessman has declined a request. But tickets to a Cannes film premiere? No problem. A front-row seat to a Paris fashion show? Of course.
It’s Gharbi’s impeccable reputation for creating high-end experiences for his clients that attracted the attention of producers for Network Ten pilot week show, Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians, with Gharbi cast as the “fixer” for Sydney’s wealthy Asian community.
Off the back of the internationally-successful 2018 big-screen comedy, production company Screentime approached Ten with the idea for a fly-on-the-wall reality TV show that follows the lifestyles of the uber-wealthy Asian community of Sydney. It would be easy to compare it to the Real Housewives franchise, but Gharbi is quick to point out this will be nothing like that reality franchise.
“The concept of this show is quite positive,” Algerian-born Gharbi tells Insider. “It’s not in an Asian’s nature to fight at all, they are very kind-natured. You won’t see the catfights and bitchiness in this show that you see on Real Housewives.”
Gharbi says he was a natural fit for the show as he has a large list of extremely wealthy Chinese clients. He quickly became the producer’s gateway to them, but convincing them to be on the show was easier said than done. “They asked me if I had any clients who would be open to being on the show,” Gharbi says. “But as you can imagine my clients are very private. I’ll tell you, the hardest thing I have ever done is convince my clients to be in the show. It goes against Chinese culture to brag about their wealth. But I helped them see that the show could be a way for them to raise awareness for the charities they support and in that way, I was able to get them on board.”
And so we meet the cast — Lulu, a Sotheby’s International Realty mogul; charity princess Crystal and her dog Manolo; and international beauty queen, Emily. The three women are firm friends but make for awkward viewing as they’re clearly not comfortable being followed by cameras. The main focus of the first episode — the only one filmed unless it gets a green light after pilot week — is a fashion dog show Crystal helps organise to raise money for the Sydney Dog and Cat Shelter.
Ten executive producer Paul Leadon, who was responsible for bringing us shows like Gogglebox and Shark Tank as well as Kinne Tonight and Tabou that debuted in last year’s pilot week, believes Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians will be popular because it shines a spotlight into a community that is generally secretive.
“It was very important not to reveal what they’re worth because they consider that vulgar,” Leadon says. “But the show proves how rich they are by taking a look into their lifestyle. The casting was similar in a lot of ways to Gogglebox because it was so important the talent were likeable. And we had to be careful not to be seen to be poking fun at them or being racist. It’s a slippery slide.”
This is the second year Ten has held a pilot week and it is the only network in Australia to do so. Even in the US, where pilot season is an annual occurrence, it’s not something held for the public, but the TV executives.
“(Pilot-week shows) are risky and expensive but it’s tremendously successful if we get something up,” Leadon says. “We put six up last year and four were picked up.”
Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians, Ten, September 8, 9pm