When lettings agent Harvey Thrower was offered a job working at a leading real estate agency in Dubai, he jumped at the chance to earn a fortune in one of the hottest and most lucrative property markets on the planet.
With the added attraction of a starring role in the TV reality show Dubai: Selling the Dream – Britain’s answer to the hit Netflix series Selling Sunset, about a group of high-end LA estate agents – he looked forward to a life of endless partying and big fat pay cheques.
It didn’t quite work out like that.
Six months after joining the British agency Betterhomes on probation, he parted ways with the company having sold just one property – a £330,000 apartment in The Lofts Central Tower, a 32-storey building in Downtown Dubai, earning himself just £3,300 in commission.
Undaunted, 23-year-old Harvey turned his hand to off-plan and investment sales for another firm, but after six months of poor returns had no choice but to return to the UK. In all, he burned through £40,000 of savings supporting himself while he chased success.
For Harvey, getting rich in Dubai was a dream literally and metaphorically built on sand. Yet he has no regrets about taking part in the C4 show, nor his adventures in Dubai more generally. ‘It’s not always the easiest environment, especially for young people like me who were initially blinded by the city lights,’ he says.
‘It takes time to learn that success is not about the glamour.
‘It’s about strategy, discipline, knowing how to navigate tough situations. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. Dubai was an incredible experience, and it set me up for everything I’m doing now.’
When lettings agent Harvey Thrower was offered a job working at a leading real estate agency in Dubai, he jumped at the chance to earn a fortune
With the added attraction of a starring role in the TV reality show Dubai: Selling the Dream, he looked forward to a life of endless partying and big fat pay cheques.
Back in the UK, he works for London estate agency Dexters, where he earns up to £55,000 a year.
Seeing him flop on TV, however, is unlikely to put off the stream of Brits now flooding to the most populated city in the UAE. An estimated 250,000 young Britons have moved to Dubai over the past decade – more than live in Oxford – lured by the blue skies, designer lifestyle, vast salaries and zero rate income tax unless earnings are transferred to the UK.
Vast salaries, that is, if you make the cut.
Yet there is a dark underbelly to the UAE, an authoritarian state, which shuns democratically elected institutions, a free press or freedom of speech, and has outlawed gay relationships.
Human rights groups like Amnesty International also question the treatment of migrant workers employed as builders and cleaners throughout the property industry.
And while there is no restriction in the UAE on Westerners living together, nor on drinking alcohol in bars and private houses, a practice that was decriminalised three years ago – unlike in neighbouring Saudi Arabia – it is still a city that frowns on public displays of affection like kissing and holding hands.
As recent examples show, there is no hesitation to arrest and imprison foreigners for perceived misdemeanours.
Last June, Irish air hostess Tori Towey was charged with attempted suicide –considered a crime in the UAE – and alcohol consumption in public, which is still an offence. She claimed she was in an abusive marriage and tried to end her life after a row with her husband.
Police were called but instead of helping her, they strip-searched her and put her in a crowded cell. Placed under a travel ban, after her husband allegedly destroyed her passport, she was only allowed to return home following intervention from the Irish Government and British campaign group Detained In Dubai.
In December, meanwhile, 18-year-old Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham in north London, was jailed for a year for having sex with a girl just a few months younger than him during a holiday romance. He is currently in the notorious al-Awir prison, a high-security jail which houses death-row inmates, murderers, terrorists and violent gangsters.
Irish air hostess Tori Towey was charged with attempted suicide and alcohol consumption in public
Marcus Fakana, 18, from Tottenham in north London, was jailed for a year for having sex with a girl just a few months younger than him
With so many Brits flocking there for its luxury holiday atmosphere, it can be easy to forget the culture is not the same as that found on, say, the Balearics or the Caribbean.
Harvey says he was aware of the harsh regime before moving to Dubai from reading the British newspapers – but he learnt more about the strict legislation during his office training, which taught him ‘what was acceptable and what could get you in trouble’.
‘I was definitely conscious of the strict laws and respecting the Arab culture,’ he says now.
‘You certainly have to be mindful of what you say, especially online. It’s not like the UK where people can say whatever they want without consequences.
‘In Dubai, certain things like criticising the Government, swearing on social media, insulting someone, or making negative comments about the royal family or the law can get you into trouble, or even complaining too harshly about a company or service. For example, I heard of people getting into trouble for posting rants on social media about their landlord or a bad experience with a business. In the UK, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but in Dubai it can be an example of defamation, so you have to be mindful of what you say publicly.
‘But did I dress differently? Not really. Dubai is modern and, in most cases, you can wear what you would normally wear in the UK. The only time I was conscious of what I wore was in certain public areas or malls where it is more expected to dress modestly.
‘For women, Dubai is fairly modern, and, in most places, they can wear what they normally wear in the UK. The only time they are expected to dress more modestly is in places like malls, Government buildings or more traditional areas where covering shoulders and knees is generally advised.’
Neither did he ever kiss in public although he went on a few dates.
Harvey is portrayed as a party animal rather than a grafter in the series
‘I was aware that public displays of affection weren’t acceptable in Dubai. You don’t see people kissing or being overly affectionate in public. So, I just followed that.
‘You just have to be sensible. Walking around drunk in public isn’t really tolerated like it might be in the UK, though as long as you stay within the rules, it’s not an issue.’
Originally from Kent, Harvey went to work for an estate agency straight after grammar school – and did well. Within two years he was working as a senior lettings consultant in Canary Wharf, ‘where I was a top performer in my company’.
At the age of 20, however, he’d had enough of dark, rainy London, and was drawn to the ex-pat lifestyle in the UAE instead, where his cautionary tale begins. Yearning for a more glamorous lifestyle – driving flash cars, jetting around Dubai marina in a speedboat and sipping cocktails in exclusive bars – he joined Betterhomes in July 2022, and moved into to a £1,000-a-month apartment in Damac Hills, on the outskirts of the city, which he rented from a friend of a friend.
Run by former Foxtons agent, Rick Waind, the company rewards hard graft with lavish perks – with the caveat that earnings are heavily reliant on commission from individual sales.
At first the lifestyle seemed just as he’d expected. Brokers are incentivised with monthly lunches at Michelin-starred restaurants, boat trips, Bedouin dinners in the desert and three-day jaunts to places such as Phuket in Thailand. Indeed, Waind lent Harvey an acid green Lamborghini after his first sale.
The trouble was, that was to be Harvey’s only sale, and as he struggled to pay the rent, his savings depleted.
The streets were not paved with gold after all.
An estimated 250,000 young Britons have moved to Dubai over the past decade – more than live in Oxford
‘If I had known how much money it would cost me and how difficult the reality of it is, being an agent and succeeding, I would have had second thoughts,’ he admits now.
‘I went out there with the plan of spending the £10,000 they advised I would need to get myself started. In reality it was actually significantly more.
‘It took me four months to close my first deal, which only earned me £3,300. Despite my best efforts, I incurred over £40,000 in expenses while I was there and eventually ran out of money.
‘It is an expensive place to live. Even the cars you rent cost £300 – £400 a month; your phone bill is considerably more expensive than here. I was there for a year before I decided that financially I was at a loss, and it didn’t make sense to stay.’
Inevitably, Harvey is portrayed in the six-part reality TV series as a party animal rather than a grafter. His constant banter and tongue-in-cheek humour seems to irritate the other brokers, earning him a reputation for being ‘cocky’, a ‘Jack the lad’ and ‘boy about town’.
In one scene, during a party aboard a superyacht in the Dubai marina, he manages to insult senior Belarusian broker Karolina Chernoshei over her attitude to work.
‘I’ve never been on a boat like this before in my life,’ he says. ‘I can definitely mix business with pleasure. That’s my style: going out, having fun, meeting clients at the same time. That’s the dream scenario.’
‘Party energy,’ she says dismissively. ‘In the office you need to have working energy.’
‘You’re getting old,’ he disagrees. ‘I think that’s what it is. You’re not used to this young energy in the office.’
‘Wow,’ she replies, clearly insulted. ‘Thanks Harvey. That’s a really nice and gentlemanly thing to say. You’ll go really far with your clients being like this.’
In a last-ditch attempt to help him make a sale, Waind teams Harvey up with Karolina to mentor him, which makes uncomfortable viewing.
‘The problem is that they sometimes come out here and they think this is an extended holiday,’ Waind says on the show. ‘I’ve seen him out and about.
‘He’s a bit of a Jack the lad. He’s a bit of a boy around town. He needs to reign that in. He’s here to work. He’s not here for a holiday. If he’s here for a holiday, he’ll be back on a plane in a couple of months’ time with zero cash in his pocket.’
And that’s exactly what happened.
‘Watching it back, there were moments when I thought: ‘Did I really say that?’,’ says Harvey now. ‘But overall, I’m proud of how I handled myself. I think I came across as authentic, driven, maybe a little bit fearless…
‘I brought energy and a bit of humour when it was needed,’ he laughs.
‘I knew when I went out there that I wasn’t going to please everyone, but I was true to myself, which is what mattered to me.’
How does he feel about his mentor today? ‘Looking back, I have a lot of respect for Karolina,’ he says, diplomatically ‘We didn’t see eye to eye at first, but I now realise that she was trying to push me to be better.
‘She knew what it took to succeed in Dubai real estate. In the end she helped me get my first sale. I might not have appreciated it at the time, but I can see now she played an important role in my journey.’
Apart from his non-stop partying, Harvey blamed his experience on a ‘miscommunication’, which meant he was put in the sales department, rather than lettings.
‘Traditionally in Dubai, you start off in a lettings market, get familiar with the area and the properties and then progress into sales and turn your tenants into buyers,’ he explains.
Whatever the real reason, Harvey’s confidence does not appear to have taken too great a knock. He has just bought his first home with his social media influencer girlfriend, he tells me: a two-bedroom apartment back in Canary Wharf.
- Dubai: Buying the Dream can be streamed on Channel4.com