Episode 12: Christmas in the UAE, Mariah Carey and Dubai Bling

Culture Bites

In this week’s episode of Culture Bites podcast, hosts Enas Refaei and Farah Andrews talk about Christmas in the UAE as Enas, despite growing up in the Middle East, is spending her first festive season in the country, while Farah has been celebrating the occasion in the UAE since 1997. Farah has also shared a list of Christmas films; the good, the bad and the ugly. The hosts share their excitement for American singer Mariah Carey’s anticipated performance in Abu Dhabi in January. They also talk about Brad Pitt’s 60th birthday and look back at some of his career highlights. Arts and culture reporter Maan Jalal joins Enas and Farah to talk about Netflix’s reality TV show Dubai Bling, which stirred controversy among Arab and international viewers for apparently depicting stereotypes about the region. The discussion also reflects an argument about the show highlighting the diversity of Arab culture, dialect and tradition.