The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist

[bilgistic]

A group of LA teenagers arrested in 2009 for stealing from celebrity homes inspired a media frenzy and a movie. Now, two of them tell their stories.

The limited series is on Netflix.

Edited September 24, 2022 by bilgistic

[bilgistic]

This is excellent trash. I watched all three episodes last night. I completely hated Nick, who showed zero remorse for his crimes.

[peachmangosteen]

Neither Nick nor Alexis really came off well. Nick obviously doesn't think he did anything wrong and Alexis was lying left and right. But yea, it was a fun dose of nostalgia.

[bilgistic]

I laughed at the show calling Audrina Patridge an "A-lister".

[SlovakPrincess]

I feel like my brain needs a shower after watching that.  All of these people are delusional and horrifyingly shallow.

Also ... astoundingly stupid.  In what universe did they think they'd never get caught?  In what universe did Alexis think identifying Nick to the police wouldn't somehow end up with her being nabbed, too?  Nick caring about his attorney's looks 🙄

I can't believe he stashed the stolen goods at his grandma's property.  WTF LOL.

Whatever else I might think of the celebrities who were victimized here, I feel badly for them in this case.  Nobody deserves that, and especially the ones who had family heirlooms and things of sentimental value taken.  

[Caseysgirl]

Why are we giving these little shits even more attention?

[bilgistic]

Alexis works at a recovery center that her estranged husband founded. She also seems to be an influencer type. Her mother still shills her kooky "manifesting" mindset snake oil. She also calls her self "Dr. Andrea Arlington". OK.

Edited September 25, 2022 by bilgistic

[bilgistic]

This is just batshit: In 2015, Nick was arrested and charged with solicitation to commit sexual assault for trying to hire someone to rape his longtime nemesis, esthetician to Dawn Daluise.

[merylinkid]

They all were a bunch of freaking narcissists.  I include Perez Hilton and the producer ladies in that description.   No wonder Alexis turned out the way she did.   Her mother's reaction to her kid being involved in burglary?   "How could you do this to me?"   I have never heard so many "I" and "Me" sentences in my life.    (yes i realize what I wrote).   

Mother "She was using her body to make money, I've been doing that since I was 14, what was the problem?"   Yeah  how the fuck did that work out for you?   Also, look how much you were spending on maintaining that body so you could still make money.

But honestly none of these people were likable.   Nick and Rachel had been thrown out of school and been caught stealing before they even started breaking into cars, let alone start the Bling Ring.   I mean if they cops did more than just circulate the videos they might have found these guys ANYWAY.   Also NEVER PICK A LAWYER solely based on looks.    You notice when he got a real lawyer who knew what the hell he was doing that a decent deal came along.   I mean the new guy could only do so much after all the damage, but 2 years and then probation and restitution was HUGE.   

Perez Hilton can just disappear forever.   He's smarmy and just a paparazzi, he doesn't care what he posts as long as he gets attention.   

The producer ladies were vile.   "Oh hey we got a point to the show now -- one of them got arrested."   Just zero self-awareness how vapid they are.  

Even the cop just wanted to be seen as so cool and awesome for solving the crimes.   Dude, you got told who did it.   You didn't solve ANYTHING.   Also, some common sense would have told you to stay far away from the movie in order to save the prosecutions.

But even after everything they did -- most got fines and very very very little jail time.   Because white kids from the Valley "we don't want to ruin their lives" while moaning about how the people they robbed were emotionally scarred for life.   Yeah think about the victims would you?

[SlovakPrincess]

I definitely agree with the sentiments about Perez Hilton being smarmy (also why were we subjected to that hideous sweater??), and the producers of the reality show being awful.

Everyone was so terrible, I pretty much only felt bad for the burglary victims ... and the prosecutors whose case got compromised by that one officer consulting on the Bling Ring movie.  

 I had no sympathy for Prugo that the attorney he hired based on image alone screwed up -- Prugo didn't deserve immunity anyway.   He wasn't asking for a plea deal so he could flip on a "higher-up" or ringleader (how these things usually work), he was one of the two equal leaders of this crime ring!  He wanted immunity for trying to blame his behavior on his equal partner in crime and for turning on a bunch of people who'd helped on one or two of his burglaries.   

If Neiers hadn't been a complete idiot, she actually would've been better positioned to "flip" and get an immunity deal.

Much like the awful Inventing Anna series, they tried to put some "actually, isn't all of society and our culture to blame?" spin on it at the end.  And ... no.  Nope, these are all just greedy, shallow people who want sympathy because it was just so traumatic getting caught stealing millions worth of other people's property.

ETA: Prugo is actually possibly sociopathic -- he matter of factly talked about sending the Lopez guy in to steal all of Paris Hilton's jewelry, laughing that he didn't care if Lopez got caught.  And he clearly was happy to throw his "friend" Rachel under the bus and back that bus over her a bunch of times

Edited September 25, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[Chaos Theory]

Is it weird that I feel dirtier after watching this then after watching The Jeffrey Dahmer series?    I mean yeah that was sad and infuriating but this was just pathetic.  No one came out looking good in this.  Yes I feel a little bad for the people robbed.  I don’t care how rich and vapid you are no one deserves to have their mothers engagement ring stolen or even their house broken into but…..vapid people telling a vapid story.

  I need a shower.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Chaos Theory

[cmfran]

On 9/25/2022 at 7:15 AM, bilgistic said:

Alexis works at a recovery center that her estranged husband founded. She also seems to be an influencer type. Her mother still shills her kooky "manifesting" mindset snake oil. She also calls her self "Dr. Andrea Arlington". OK.

Yeah, she was a piece of work. Her kids never had a chance. 

[TrixieTrue]

This is very shallow, but did anyone else think the Nick wore those ridiculous hats in all of his interviews because he's losing his hair? 

[bilgistic]

It looked like he was losing his hair over the years, so probably. The "influencer photo shoot" thing that he did throughout the series didn't have the endearing intentions he hoped for—not for me, anyway. I hated him even more for his preening.

[cmfran]

18 hours ago, TrixieTrue said:

This is very shallow, but did anyone else think the Nick wore those ridiculous hats in all of his interviews because he's losing his hair? 

He definitely was.

[absnow54]

Wow, what a vapid mess! I felt bad for watching it, because I feel like I was only contributing to these kids raging narcissism. 

First off, I watched the Bling Ring, and Emma Watson was not portrayed as the ring leader, nor was she the lead. She was the "star" due to name recognition, but that was it. Rachel and Nick were very much the leads of that movie, and Nick actually got a very sympathetic edit, I was kind of shocked he was such an unapologetic jackass in real life.

The first two parts of this documentary were kind of boring, especially since I'd seen the movie, but watching the prosecution's case fall apart in the third part, along with the lawyers succumbing to showbiz was funny to watch. I'd watch a show about that. 

[sainte-chapelle]

On 9/25/2022 at 1:48 PM, SlovakPrincess said:

ETA: Prugo is actually possibly sociopathic -- he matter of factly talked about sending the Lopez guy in to steal all of Paris Hilton's jewelry, laughing that he didn't care if Lopez got caught.  And he clearly was happy to throw his "friend" Rachel under the bus and back that bus over her a bunch of times

My jaw actually dropped when he laughed about Lopez. He was painted in a more sympathetic light in the film. What a disgusting piece of trash. I hope he wasn’t paid much for this. Dude, enough with the hats, we know you are balding.

[GaT]

I'm just watching episode 1 now, & I'm confused. In all of her high school era photos, Rachel looks Asian, Then in later photos & her interviews, she doesn't. Did she have tons of plastic surgery? 

EDITED: I think I've got my girls confused, is the one doing the interview Alexis? I thought Rachel was the one stealing everything with Nick.

EDITED AGAIN: Yep, I got two girls confused, I just don't understand why they're interviewing Alexis so much.

Edited September 28, 2022 by GaT

[hoodooznoodooz]

What an idiot. Nick chooses a lawyer whose image and “tailored suit” he prefers and then starts flipping out when the lawyer has no idea what he is doing.

[hoodooznoodooz]

There’s absolutely no reason to give Alexis all of these extreme close-ups. She hasn’t said anything even remotely in the same zip code as profound or thought-provoking.

[TrixieTrue]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

I'm just watching episode 1 now, & I'm confused. In all of her high school era photos, Rachel looks Asian, Then in later photos & her interviews, she doesn't. Did she have tons of plastic surgery? 

EDITED: I think I've got my girls confused, is the one doing the interview Alexis? I thought Rachel was the one stealing everything with Nick.

EDITED AGAIN: Yep, I got two girls confused, I just don't understand why they're interviewing Alexis so much.

It's a little confusing. Rachel didn't agree to be interviewed for this. Alexis has changed her face so much that she doesn't look like her old pictures. And I agree that Alexis is going for thoughtful and changed, but it comes across like someone stringing words together without knowing what they mean. 

I wonder how much Alexis and Nick were paid for this and if they've both fully paid their restitution. 

[GaT]

I still have episode 3 to watch, but I would like to take a moment to discuss Paris Hilton. Did I hear correctly, they kept going back to her house & taking more money & things until they stopped finding them? Paris Hilton kept getting robbed, & did nothing about it? She didn't report it to the police, she didn't change her locks?, she didn't hire security? Is she the world's most stupid human?

Edited September 29, 2022 by GaT

[merylinkid]

33 minutes ago, GaT said:

I still have episode 3 to watch, but I would like to take a moment to discuss Paris Hilton. Did I hear correctly, they kept going back to her house & taking more money & things until they stopped finding them? Paris Hilton kept getting robbed, & did nothing about it? She didn't report it to the police, she didn't change her locks?, she didn't hire security? Is she the world's more stupid human?

They were taking things like the money left in purses, bits of jewelry, a few clothes.   They weren't taking paintings off the walls or walking off with the larger pieces of jewelry that you would see were not there.   Stuff that meant a nice score to the thieves but was the equivalent of spare change and clothes hiding in the back of the closet to Paris.  So it is highly likely that she didn't even notice stuff was gone because she had so much stuff, a few missing things didn't stand out.   The money was money she literally left just sitting in various purses because she didn't even notice she left it.   that's how ultra rich she is.     Until the guy took everything.   He got greedy and made it noticeable.   

[TrixieTrue]

On 9/29/2022 at 1:34 AM, merylinkid said:

They were taking things like the money left in purses, bits of jewelry, a few clothes.   They weren't taking paintings off the walls or walking off with the larger pieces of jewelry that you would see were not there.   Stuff that meant a nice score to the thieves but was the equivalent of spare change and clothes hiding in the back of the closet to Paris.  So it is highly likely that she didn't even notice stuff was gone because she had so much stuff, a few missing things didn't stand out.   The money was money she literally left just sitting in various purses because she didn't even notice she left it.   that's how ultra rich she is.     Until the guy took everything.   He got greedy and made it noticeable.   

I thought he was sent in specifically to empty the safe. It wasn't his greed, but the others. Well, his greed AND the others. 

To be clear, what Nick and Rachel did was wrong, but if they had just kept up what they were doing at Paris's home, going back every month or so, taking mostly cash left in purses and a few clothes, they may never have been caught. Their own greed and hubris did them in. And also the fact that they were committing a crime. 

Since Nick had stashed some of Rachel Bilson's things at his grandmothers, I wonder if she got anything back. She may not have wanted it, but some sentimental items were taken. I think her mother's wedding ring was mentioned. I'm sure a lot of jewellery was insured, but did any of the victims, Paris Hilton, Audrina, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, etc, get some or any of their stolen property back? 

Edited September 30, 2022 by TrixieTrue
spelling

[GaT]

When they were showing what everyone was convicted of, I didn't see anything about anyone being convicted of robbing Paris Hilton. Did they just decide to not prosecute for that one?

[cmfran]

Watching this reinforced the fact that I could never live in LA.

[Welshman in Ca]

On 9/25/2022 at 10:48 AM, SlovakPrincess said:

I definitely agree with the sentiments about Perez Hilton being smarmy (also why were we subjected to that hideous sweater??), and the producers of the reality show being awful.

I recognized the producer on the right as we look at them (their left) as the producer of Marcus Lemonis show, not sure why anyone would describe them as awful, they were sent to do a job & that's what they did.

[absnow54]

On 9/30/2022 at 3:26 PM, GaT said:

When they were showing what everyone was convicted of, I didn't see anything about anyone being convicted of robbing Paris Hilton. Did they just decide to not prosecute for that one?

I think they only got “no contest” pleas out of robberies with security footage, and by the time they negotiated the plea deal for the guy who stole Paris Hilton’s safe, their case had been compromised by the officer who decided to consult for the movie. 

[Vivigirl10]

Alexis is an absolute idiot (for some reason who insists on trying to appear enlightened and deep, regardless, I totally blame her whackadoodle Mother), but Nick is just a disgusting excuse for a human.  I was actually left upset that pieces like this are giving him exactly what he craves.....attention.  He committed a crime, has no remorse, and has seemed to profit from it in more ways than one. 

I hope he carries with him that throughout his life, he's repeatedly been told that he is neither charismatic, smart, interesting or attractive enough to garner any of the attention he so desperately craves.  A Loser of the finest degree. 

Andrea screaming in the phone at the Vanity Fair reporter...."you lied, you liiiiiieeeed"!!!  OMG, reality t.v. comedy gold.  

I wonder if Tess has anything to do with her "sisters" and "Mom" anymore?  I feel like they are estranged?  

[SlovakPrincess]

On 10/2/2022 at 11:27 AM, Welshman in Ca said:

I recognized the producer on the right as we look at them (their left) as the producer of Marcus Lemonis show, not sure why anyone would describe them as awful, they were sent to do a job & that's what they did.

They were snickering about filming and making money off of an (admittedly dimwitted and guilty) woman getting into trouble and facing jail time.  And they basically admitted they staged a scene and pretended they had captured a "real" moment as it was happening.