‘Real Housewives’ franchise takes its drama to flashy Dubai – Kimberley Daily Bulletin

The camera pans across a vast expanse of desert before careening toward an artificial island lined with luxury homes in the Persian Gulf. Eerie chords ring out, as though warning viewers: This is not your “Real Housewives of Orange County.”

For the first time in its 16-year history, the American franchise that has become an institution of reality television will take its glamor and soap opera abroad — specifically, to the…