In fact, some of the characters were likely intended by the author to be a pop culture reference or parody in themselves. For example, Erik was clearly a parody of infamous character from
Big Brother in both personality and physical appearance. In another example, Lucia bear a striking resemblance to the protagonist Tamara from
Tamaras Exposure (both have same hairstyle and are blonde) and they even share exhibitionist trait, a trait which they both gained from an accidental exposure and felt excitement from them afterward.
I have a sneaking feeling that Erik and Lucia may not be the only characters that were deliberate parody of respective character(s) from other games or other works.