DUBAI: Netflix’s “Soy Georgina” (“I Am Georgina”) is back, and this time it explores Argentine model Georgina Rodriguez’s life after her move to Saudi Arabia with partner Cristiano Ronaldo in 2023.
The reality show dominated the Netflix Top 10 in 46 countries after the release of season two. One episode was set entirely in Dubai and showed the Burj Khalifa lit up for Rodriguez’s 28th birthday.
The model-meets-Middle Eastern-luxury formula seems to be one the producers were keen to continue, with fans taken on a whirlwind tour of the Kingdom in season three as Rodriguez and her family explore life in the country.
However, the high-end hotels and stunning seascapes are interspersed with moments of real introspection and fragility, which takes this program from stereotypical reality TV territory to something altogether more inviting and — dare I say it? — heartwarming.
We follow Rodriguez as she embarks on a number of firsts. These include the opening of her first beach house, Villa Perla, to starring in an international campaign for a famous clothing brand and making her debut at Paris Fashion Week by walking for Swiss fashion label Vetements.
One of the most touching aspects of the show is Rodriguez’s relationship with her children — the couple have five, the eldest of whom was born to another mother. The opening scenes of the season show Rodriguez’s worrying about, and praising, her kids and it offers a new side to the woman we are more used to seeing on fashion billboards.
Similarly, the — albeit sparse — scenes of a football legend pottering around with his young family offers insight into Ronaldo as a father, for which the series is all the better.
There are, thankfully, no engineered high-drama interactions and although it does sometimes feel like a carefully staged advertorial, there are candid caught-on-camera moments where the star seems tense and nervous at public events.
She is also not one to shy away from talking about her humble roots and being honest about the sometimes taxing reality of her life in the spotlight and what it takes to be a poster girl for all things glamor.
