Here’s Where ‘Bling Empire: New York’s Vika And Richard Stand After The Finale
Vika #Vika
If you’re not binging Bling Empire: New York on Netflix right now, WYD?
The Bling Empire spin-off brings in a whole new set of personalities for your reality viewing pleasure. In addition to Dorothy Wang, who comes to the series from the original Bling Empire based in Los Angeles, the New York spin-off features six new wealthy socialites including the quick fan-favorite couple Richard Chang and Vika Abbyaeva.
While Richard seems to be an open book, his girlfriend is a bit harder to read. Vika, who is only really known to the cast and audience as Richard’s other half, doesn’t appear in the public eye much beyond her appearance on Bling Empire: New York, and her connection to Richard.
Here’s what to know about the reserved reality star.
Vika and Richard have an 11-year age gap.
Vika, 27, is Richard Chang’s girlfriend. The couple met early on in the pandemic, and have an 11-year age gap between them (Richard is currently 38).
Based on her Instagram, it seems she’s lived in New York for at least a few years but she’s originally from Russia. Compared to the rest of the cast, she seems a bit timid. (Except, of course, around her BF.)
Still, Vika isn’t gonna allow herself to be counted out. According to Netflix, she’s determined to be her own person (and was once in a girl gang in middle school to seem “tough.”)
Vika might be a professional model.
Vika reportedly works as a model for luxury brands, but she’s never posted about specific modeling gigs before. However, she has posted photos sporting lots of luxury clothing brands such as Rat and Boa and Dion Lee.
Vika has also posted professional headshots by photographer Andrey Nik, who specializes in model portfolios. So, it might be her job or it could potentially just be a hobby.
She’s a jet-setter.
If there’s one thing you should know about Vika, it’s that she loves to travel. Her IG feed is full of dreamy pics from all around the world. She’s posted snaps from Mexico, Spain, Miami, Greece, Italy, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more. Talk about feed goals!
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Vika’s net worth is probably pretty large.
At the beginning of Bling Empire: New York, Richard describes Vika and himself as “bling adjacent,” insinuating they aren’t as wealthy as the rest of the cast. Still, they’re def not struggling in the finance department. Unfortunately, Vika has not confirmed the number herself, but outlets have still made guesses. One even estimated that her net worth was around $1.5 million. But the real number is anyone’s guess.
Why did Vika stop Richard’s proposal in the finale?
Another thing that was seemingly unquestionable about Vika was how much she loved being in a relationship with Richard. Aside from a slight hiccup when Richard tells Vika not to go on a trip to the Bahamas with the other women on the show (major ICK vibes), the two seemed very happy together.
So why did she cut Richard off mid-proposal? At the end of this season of Bling Empire: New York, Richard begins a romantic speech about how important Vika is to him. But before he can actually pop the question, Vika interrupts him.
“If you are going where I think you are going, I have to stop you. Okay?” Vika said. She goes on to tell him that she doesn’t want to rush their relationship, and it isn’t a good time for the couple to get engaged with “everything going on.”
It seems Vika was alluding to the pressure from Richard’s family for the couple to get engaged. Although Vika assured him that she was happy in the relationship, Richard didn’t seem too convinced at the end of the season.
Are Vika and Richard still together?
Typically, the next step after turning down a marriage proposal is a break up (or at least, that’s what rom-coms have taught me), but Vika and Richard seem to be going strong. The cast members continue to post super sweet tributes to each other on their IGs. In fact, based on their Insta stories, it looks like the couple celebrated Lunar New Year together this past weekend. Earlier this month, Vika also shared a sweet post about the couple traveling to Italy together.
Richard also updates his feed pretty regularly with pics of Vika, including most recently, a carousel of the couple checking out the Gucci store in Italy. Sounds romantic, right?
It’s one of Vika’s latest Instagram captions that really confirms that the pair are still an item. In a post she made following the premiere of Bling Empire: New York, Vika refers to Richard as “my boyfriend,” and defends his charity event that was, in her eyes, not given proper recognition on the show. I don’t know about you, but that’s giving definite girlfriend vibes.
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