Spoilers for Bling Empire season 2 ahead. In the first season of Bling Empire, we saw hints of chemistry between cast members Kevin Kreider and Kim Lee—but at the time, Kevin was interested in another Bling Empire cast member, Kelly Mi Li. The second season kicks off with hints of a budding romance between Kevin and Kim, the cool-girl DJ Kevin bitterly despised at the beginning of the series. ("I hated her," he told EW of their first meeting. "I just couldn't stand her.") The flirtation between Kevin and Kim evolves into a key storyline in season two. No spoilers here, but it's clear from the trailer that it's not all smooth sailing between the two: "I hate it when people lie to me," Kim says to Kevin, and another scene shows Kevin repeating angrily to Kane, "You had to tell her?", presumably about Kim. Kim, meanwhile, is seen saying, "I'm going to have to get over the fact that Kevin dated all these girls."
Fast-forward to the present day, close to a year after filming. Both Kevin and Kim are very active on Instagram (duh) and have given interviews about what to expect from the new season, so let's dig in.
Speaking to People about the second season, Kevin said that viewers will see that there's more to him than "the dumb ditzy guy." He explained, "I have a lot more sides to me," adding, "For season 2, you get to see a lot more real-life stuff happening to us."
The second season filmed in the summer of 2021, Christine Chui told Fashionista, so close to a year ago. Which means that Kim and Kevin are close to a year out after the (somewhat) rocky end of season two—again, no spoilers, but the castmates have had plenty of time to patch things up and/or drift apart since the second season filmed.
"This season is shocking," Kim told ET Canada. When asked about her relationship with Kevin specifically, she said, "It was very intense."
Kevin jumped in to add, "It's a hurricane, it's rainy, it's tumultuous, but...you gotta have them, I guess, in the world?"
"Whatever that means," Kim laughed.
One thing is clear: In the run-up to the filming of season two, these two were flirty. as. hell. Speaking to E! in January, a few months before season two began filming in May, she joked, "There's definitely a lot of flirting going on. Kevin's been calling me every single day." Kreider interjected to say: "No! You've been calling me every day. She gets so upset if I don't call or text her back right away."
Are Kim and Kevin together now?
Not according to Instagram. They do comment on each other's posts and follow each other, so they're probably not on bad terms—Kim commented a hand-over-mouth emoji on Kevin's repost of the trailer, and they like each other's posts—but they certainly haven't posted any photos together in the last few months, or mentioned each other on social media.
They did attend LA Fashion Week together last October, likely around the time filming for season two wrapped up:
And they've been doing promo for the new season together looking friendly, if not romantically involved:
Here they are side-by-side at the Netflix premiere party, third and fourth from the left, which, again—looks friendly, not romantic:
Judging by the IG evidence, Kim and Kevin were friends before their romance—you know, in that interim period between Kevin hating her and falling for her—so it looks like they're back to being...just friends. In fact, the duo confirmed in a Today interview that while they aren't even living in the same city. "I'm in New York now, and Kim's in Los Angeles," Kevin told the outlet.
Kevin added that he and Kim are "still close" and were in touch after filming. "We tried to check up on each other to see how we're doing emotionally and mentally." He also did say that he needed space after Season 2 wrapped. "All of us needed space and distance. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry ... and I think the audience will feel the same."
As for Kim, she said she's "at peace" with the way everything went down. "In the end, it was going with your gut feelings. I had to do what’s best for me instead of doing what the outside world said."
