"My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" on TLC

[overedge]

Just .

I was interested to learn, however, that gypsies (at least the ones on this show) don't like to have bathrooms in their trailers because it's gypsy tradition to "do their business" outdoors....

[BigB08822]

I saw this on the guide and begged my bf to turn it on but he rolled his eyes. Now I see this thread and and I saw a few posts on FB. Must add to DVR.

[JAF]

Found this cable hopping wasn't going to watch, not my type of show, but the preview was mind boggling,

I spent the next hour , of course I couldn't tear myself away for the second hour - also watched with .

Leave it to TLC

[merrywidow]

I watched 2 hours of this. One of the things I found interesting was that it centered on the girls/women. They marry, stay at home, have babies, etc. while the men go out to work. We only saw the young groom pitching hay so I'm curious as to what type of work the other men do? I did feel badly for the gypsies who had their trailer site demolished. They claimed they had no place to go but the little boy (Jerry) said something about having to live in houses & apartments that were offered to them & the families didn't want to do that. They don't want to assimilate. Other ethnic groups have had to & still were able to retain their culture & embrace their heritage.

[KikiSashaFan]

I came across it last night as I was flipping channels. I watched the whole thing, I just couldn't turn it off. It was fascinating in a sort of way.

[skatesindreams]

I think that this was first shown in the UK.
Can someone provide details?

There is a large "Traveler" community in Europe.
They are traditionally secretive about their lives and activities.

[overedge]

Yes, it's a series from the UK that TLC has bought....and American-accented narration, and subtitles, have been added for the benefit of non-UK audiences.

The groups shown in the episodes last night were Irish Travellers. I had to look up "travellers" on Wikipedia because I thought "travellers" were the people that go to music festivals all year round and dance around Stonehenge at the solstice, but apparently those are "new age travellers", many of whom are ex-hippies or kids of hippies. Irish and Scottish Travellers have a much longer heritage. There are also some Irish and Scottish Traveller colonies in the US.

I seem to recall some big fuss in the UK several years ago about Travellers getting social assistance without ever having to look for work or without having a fixed address. I'm not sure how that was resolved, or whether that had something to do with the demolition of the Travellers camp that was shown on one of last night's episodes.

[pollyanna]

I wondered if anyone else would be watching this! It was and and It is my new guilty TV pleasure.

There seemed to be so many cultural contradictions. The way the young girls are dressed, and it's common for the men to grab them at parties, but then they wouldn't dream of swearing in front of a man. In many ways, they are old-fashioned, but in other ways they are, well, not. Poor grandmother, she was still sad that they were no longer allowed to actually travel.

[victoriajh]

lol overedge i had to wikipedia as well!!! i just want to know how they pay for those dresses!!! yikes! the pink marshmallow one was i actually thought they looked terrible- but then again I am clealry not a traveller as I enjoy peeing inside too much......

[skatesindreams]

There are similar groups in the US in West Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina, etc.
"Dateline" did a program several years ago about some of them.

[millyskate]

This was aired in the UK a few months ago... It's definitely an attention grabbing series.

[Matryeshka]

This show is just...beyond. Beyond everything. It has inspired me to find a hapless male, force him to marry me, and then we'll run off to join the gypsies. I'm going to change my name to Valencia, and I've decided he's going to change his name to Cullen.

And once I've joined the gypsies, I'm going to force ALL of them to become ice dancers, representing the Czech Republic and other countries that are vowel deficient, because that's CLEARLY where they need to be. I mean, a light-up cotton candy pink wedding dress that has moving butterflies? Put that to a Lady Gaga/Carmina Burana mash-up and it would be perfect. Those girls can slutterize like no one's business. And the Spanish get-up gypsy things, COMPLETE with gum smacking. Sasha would be so proud (And Kate and William. Imagine what Beatrice would have worn if Kate and William had a gypsy-themed wedding.)

And that non-traveller's mom--yikes. If ever someone needed a bridge in Norway to guard, it's her. They might not have been born traveling folk, but damn were they meant to become them. Obviously, she's three fries short of a happy meal, because damn, how do you go from living in a house to living in a trailer WITH NO TOILET?!!!

And the six year olds--I've always said the early you hoochie them up, the better. What six year old doesn't need a spray tan and a dress that weighs twice as much as she does?

I will say though, I have to focus on the ridiculous aspects of it because if I didn't, I'd be screaming in outrage. A lot of what they do is tantamount to child abuse. I feel bad at their land being taken and their houses destroyed. There's a part of me that is OUTRAGED on their behalf that anyone in this modern age could be treated like that. OTOH, there are aspects of that culture that needs to die out. I'm really not sure that keeping traveler traditions means emulating Beyonce and spray-on tans. And dropping out of school at 11? It shows in this show too--they have the vocabulary of the average 8 year old.

I learned when I researched them after that chav is a gypsy word. That's so fitting on so many levels.

[allezfred]

This show has been a huge hit in the UK, but it has been quite controversial here in Ireland and many Travellers have spoken out about how it is an inaccurate and sensationalised portrait of their culture. I'd take anything shown with a fistful of salt.

[my little pony]

some of those trailers are smaller than their dresses. do they set fire to them after their communions and weddings?

[GarrAarghHrumph]

Is this show about Travellers - Irish; or Romani/gypsies? Or does it go back and forth?

[victoriajh]

some of those trailers are smaller than their dresses. do they set fire to them after their communions and weddings?

yeah i wanna know that too! not like you could keep them all!!!!

[millyskate]

Is this show about Travellers - Irish; or Romani/gypsies? Or does it go back and forth?

Irish travellers. It's a shame the commentary has been modified... I hope it hasn't been sensationalized.
There will be an episode focusing on the men and their activities.

[skatesindreams]

Is this show about Travellers - Irish; or Romani/gypsies? Or does it go back and forth?

Thus far, the Irish group.
I think that the commentary was modified because TLC believed the audience wouldn't understand the accents!

[millyskate]

Thus far, the Irish group.
I think that the commentary was modified because TLC believed the audience wouldn't understand the accents!

The British woman commentating the original documentary would have been very understandable... although maybe a few of the travellers might have needed subtitles.

[Matryeshka]

They subtitle all the travellers for American TV. I would also guess the commentary was modified simply to fit into a 43 minute time slot--stuff had to be cut. There's still a British female commentator, and she is understandable.

In the US version, they're using "travellers" and "gypsy" interchangably, which is both confusing and wrong. I don't know if it's how it's edited, it was seen as a harmless omission so as not to confuse viewers, or if it was done in the original broadcast as well.