True story of world's richest dog unveiled in new Netflix series
We've gorged ourselves on the murder and madness of Tiger King, and spent countless hours trying to get everyone we know to watch the splendidly unnerving Squid Game - but now there's a new kid on the Netflix block ...
Well, a new dog actually - a diamond chain-wearing German shepherd called Gunther who is worth £328m, to be precise.
The streaming giant's hotly-anticipated docuseries Gunther's Millions - released today (February 1) - is so fantastically off-the-wall it's pretty safe to say it's already your new obsession.
On the surface, it's a charming tale about a dog who inherited a fortune from a wealthy countess and lived a life of luxury, but there's actually far more to it than that.
As the story goes, a very pampered pooch named Gunther was bequeathed an eye-watering $400m (£328m) from his owner Karlotta Liebenstein, with family friend Maurizio Mian tasked with looking after him.
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The documentary explains how the countess had a son, Gunther, who unfortunately took his own life. Since then, the aristocrat ‘transferred her love’ onto his pet dog, who was named after him.
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The off-the-wall tale of Gunther's Millions really has to be seen to be believed. (Netflix)Swimming in cash, Gunther the dog's every whim was taken care of, with 27 staff at his beck and call and several luxury villas to roam around in countries such as Italy, as well as Madonna’s former Miami residence.
But the pooch's carer Maurizio, who comes from a family that owned a huge pharmaceutical business, had even loftier ambitions for Gunther and his sizeable trust, and began a new lifestyle at the Vogue singer’s home, auditioning ‘young and beautiful’ people to live there.
This strikingly fortunate group became known as The Burgundians, who lived in the mansion alongside Gunther and adhered to 13 commandments.
Yes it's got a bit weird now, hasn't it?
The documentary chats to former Burgundians member Michelle Mainoni, who divulges that ‘researchers in white lab coats’ began ‘watching and studying us’ while casting director Ed Arenas compared the goings-on to a ‘science experiment.’
Orgies rapidly became a routine part of daily life for The Burgundians, the Netflix series reveals, with Michelle stating they were actually encouraged to have sex with one another.
"And then I don’t know what happened, it just got weird," she says.
"It morphed from this glamorous, hedonistic lifestyle to more like we’re being watched 24/7,’ she continues, revealing there were even cameras in the bedrooms.
Feeling somewhat culpable, Maurizio admits The Burgundians were perhaps a mistake, and once the odd set-up fell apart he instead opted to focus on business interests in Italy to "change the scenery a bit."
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Gunther's Millions tells the story of a German shepherd who inherited $400 million (£328m) from a mysterious countess. (Netflix)Porn stars and football teams
Never one to shy away from the limelight, the ambitious Italian entrepreneur then bought up some of his homeland's football teams and hired two porn stars La Ciocciolina and Valentine Demy to front his new empire.
You could perhaps be forgiven for thinking the idea of The Burgundians was a bad one, but Mian still decided to set up the Italian equivalent, The Magnificent Five - but this time with local celebrities, including Italian entrepreneur, television and media personality Fabrizio Corona.
Each member of the group was handed a necklace, with five lights representing each aspect of the ideal life; every time they ‘achieved’ one of them, it would glow.
The Magnificent Five were also tasked with encouraging the participants to procreate a ‘generation of truly happy people.’
But happiness was actually the last thing any of this stuff conjured up, with former member Emanuel Cirinei explaining the whole thing was one of the ‘saddest moments of my life ... it was like brainwash.’
Ok huge plot twist - SPOILER ALERT
So far. So madcap.
But things take an incredible turn when the show reveals that not everything was quite as it seemed in the world of an overly-monied German shepherd.
You see, Gunther's Trust wasn't real. The countess had never existed and all this money had actually belonged to the Mian family all along.
‘She was not a countess, she was an avatar,’ Maurizio tells the filmmakers.
And no countess also means no son - with the Italian entrepreneur actually saying the tragic character was based on him.
Just like the fictional Gunther son, Mian also suffers from depression and was desperate to find a cure for the unhappiness through The Burgundians and The Magnificent Five.
The £328m had belonged to his family, and had been put in the dog’s name in an offshore account to avoid paying high Italian taxes.
‘It was a carefully curated decision, financial artifice for taxes,’ Maurizio explains in the documentary.
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