My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding Recap: Finally, a Wedding!

64 Comments

1. 1
   snowshoecat
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 6:17 am

   Forget Ammie? In my dreams. I mean it. She stares at me in my dreams. And that gorgeous (no pun on Gorga intended) hunk of man she married–again!!!—

   Now, on to the recap. Luv ya Polly — mmmmmmwwwwwaaaaaaaaa!

2. 2
   Gypsy
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 7:27 am

   Holy Hell SSC! Wow, just WOW! Ummmm this is in no way a reflection of my alias!

3. 3
   LadySC
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 7:40 am

   I really liked my big fat gypsy wedding, I randomly caught it in a marathon weekend and was instantly hooked. I’d never heard of travelers and was only vaguely aware of Romany Gypsies. Aside from the risque outfits and bling the original show highlighted a people proud of their culture and the discrimination they faced. The episode with the children watching their homes being bulldozed was actually quite powerful.

   I was interested to see how American Gypsies fared here. After watching the first episode I was completely disappointed. They all seemed like country folks that decided to call themselves gypsies. Where are the trailers? The intense domestic training of the girls? The first episode showed a father insisting his daughter go to high school to make her life better. While that’s noble and how it usually is, there was a UK episode dedicated solely to the Traveler/Gypsy disdain for organized education and getting education by working.

   Additionally, although the UK Gypsy girls dressed all types of slutty and inappropriate they seemed to take their Catholic religion seriously and there were strict rules about being around boys. I fell like the Americans are faking the funk and just giving us trash tv without the backstory and history of the UK version.

   Loved your recap thought, I was considering tuning back in but now that I’ve discovered that this site recaps nearly everything, I’ll come here instead.

4. 4
   notwithoutmytv
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 7:42 am

   My wife asked if I wanted to go on vacation in Virginia and see the gypsies. I said “Only if I get to throw a beer bottle at them as we drive past.” She asked “What, do you want the cops to show up?” I said sure! The cops will take my side over a bunch of thieving gypsies, isn’t that what the gypsies are always complaining about?”

5. 5
   no cars go
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 7:48 am

   can we discuss the vinegar thing? were they just straight up drinking malt vinegar and salt in addition to putting it on every food they eat?

6. 6
   snowshoecat
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 8:19 am

   No reflection on you at all, Gypsy, although you just might have a wee discussion with your dad.

7. 7
   Gypsy
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 8:57 am

   Oh he’s aware of the full meaning. He just wants me to buy a nice house on the North shore and settle down instead of being a Rom or a “Gypsy” in the traditional sense. Not the slutty, shaking my booty and hanging off the back of trucks in bedazzled Forever 21 number.

8. 8
   snowshoecat
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 9:22 am

   Well I wish him luck with that!!

   *giggle*

9. 9
   KartofflMuter
   Posted May 31, 2012 at 10:45 am

   As a Hungarian,I am speechless. Gypsies,in Europe,look like they are closely related to Indians. They wear long skirts,lots of bangles,scarves,rings, are dark skinned,are known for horse trading and violin playing. I have read many books on the Gypsies. My husband is from India and the first time my mother met him she whispered in my ear, “Ehr schaut aus wie ein Zigoyner.” He looks like a Gypsy. While Gypsies are often discriminated against in Europe,this bunch of yahoos are-frankly-nuts. Listen to The Gipsy Kings or watch Latcho Drom-available online. This show shows misguided white trash with no traditions,only misinformation. Sadly,if you look at the Ghagra dresses or Lhenga Choli with duppatta and zari,you’ll see what the’s fools are trying for. Bollywood wedding dresses are very expensive,colorful,and gorgeous. They can cost $2,000-$20,000. Yo can find them for a few hundred or a few hundred thousand. But they aren’t heavy. They are made with silk and quite demure -Aishwarya Rai wouldn’t be caught dead looking like a fool or a hooker.
   These girls really should learn to read.

10. 10
    kthxbai
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    @Pollyanna You get major props for this. Specially since anybody just walking in and watching this would have to be confused as hell.

    Plus TLC is pissing all over our legs and calling it rain.

    For example in this episode, they didn’t mention that Bill the groom is mixed himself.

    His dad that we saw is not a Traveler. I don’t know if he’s still together with Bill’s mom or if he lives in Murphy’s Village. The only reason Bill gets to call himself 1 or live there is because they count blood through the mother only.

    Which means Jackson’s not a Traveler.

    What’s interesting is that Tamara’s last name is actually 1 of like 3 that everybody in Murphy’s Village uses. But Bill’s of course isn’t.

    (I got suspicious when I saw that M on the train and started poking around)

    What I’m not sure about is if they showed anybody that actually lives in Murphy’s Village. Because not many of them would want to be on TV.

    I’ve got a theory about the W VA group. I think when the 16 yr old that was an abused wife left her husband and went back to her family, that caused her family to become separated from their larger group.

    Which is how come we keep seeing just that same family. There are so many people in it I think they’re sort of just being their own group. With mixed ways.

    @LadySC I think that was a Dale Farm segment on the UK show? There’ve also been a few specials about it that aren’t part of the MYBFGW franchise. Just regular news because it was a big story.

    @KartofflMuter In UK and even more in US the Rom have mixed so much with Travelers that you can hardly see any S Asia left in their face. Even if you know it’s there and are looking for it.

    Some of the ways though like jewelry parties and saving up for big fat weddings as soon as a baby’s born you can trace back to S Asia. Gypsies and not. When Travelers started, they took up Rom ways!

11. 11
    labowner
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    What in the holy hell is this? My fucking gawd, these delusional people live here? This show is one non-stop car accident and I can’t stop looking. Thankfully I haven’t heard the word “bohemian” uttered yet. I blame you Polly and TVGasm. I am addicted.

12. 12
    snowshoecat
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    Lab, well of course you’re addicted. It’s what the Gasm does best.

    TaterMom, Travelers come from Ireland and have had most of the Asian blood diluted out almost to the point of non-existance. Since traditional gypsies, the Rom and Travelers, are secretive, what we are seeing on this show are living a different life from the traditional, and I think qualify more as rednecks than either.

    Did you see the British version? It was a completely different program and concentrated more on the problems Rom face than on the outrageous actions. In this one, Mellie is the star because she is a sort of Traveler Snookie.

    Good eye, Kthxy! I was wondering about the lineage too. And nobody was at the wedding because 1) it wasn’t held in the Village and was technically and outsider, not a Traveller, wedding. 2) The bride and groom are not Travelers. Any connection, I believe, is tangential.

13. 13
    Pollyanna
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    Thanks everyone for all the comments! The whole part in Murphy’s Village seemed so staged. Not that the West Virginia part isn’t, but with the Irish Travelers they tried to make it seem like there was a lot more drama than there actually was. The one member of Bill’s family that we saw was his dad. I was really hoping for the angry mother in law. We all have one, why wouldn’t she if she is such an outsider?

14. 14
    kthxbai
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    @Pollyanna Unless I missed her, we didn’t see Bill’s mom. She IS a Traveler. That married a non Traveler. Bill’s father. That we did see giving him the Rolex.

    They kind of implied that Bill and his family live in Murphy’s Village. But I don’t know if any of them do. I’m guessing they might live close by.

    Because even though Bill would count as having Traveler blood from his mom, he also counts as the child of a mixer and the child of a non Traveler.

    Rom and Traveler mixing is 1 thing. That’s something they had to do over time for gene pool reasons. But for the 1s keeping old ways, mixing with gorja is another story.

    Your Gypsy blood might as well be running down the street as in your veins. Because it will not even get you in the yard. Much less in the door.

    You might as well not even have that Gypsy blood.

15. 15
    Chicken Lips
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    Time out from reading to enjoy some poetry!

    Woman
    Wo-man
    Wooooooo-man
    It was love not just sex
    Is she Mrs. X?
    I had to run for my life!

    Awesome Mike Myers shout out!

16. 16
    Chicken Lips
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    I’m with LadySC on this one – while these people may be descended from Romani Gypsies or Irish Travellers, they have turned full on hick/hillbilly and their sole purpose is to be as gaudy, ostentatious and tacky as they can. This was the only episode I’ve watched of the American version so maybe they aren’t all like that. I watched the UK version and they were gaudy and tacky, but they weren’t forcing it on the rest of the world – they were being themselves without acting like over the top caricatures of themselves *ahem, Mellie, ahem*.

    I’m told that there are gypsies in my family (from Hungary), so maybe that’s why I look so good in my bediamonded bra. I look like crap in the bedazzled one – that’s probably why they bediamonded their bras.

    Anyhoo – I think that they can only get that one WV family on because other groups are too ashamed of them.

17. 17
    Pollyanna
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Chicken Lips – thank you! I love that movie so much and I couldn’t resist:)

18. 18
    Whestet
    Posted May 31, 2012 at 9:54 pm

    That bride doesn’t have a chance of being accepted, she had the baby out of wedlock and per an article I read she isn’t Catholic and will have to convert then get remarried in the church. But, interesting fact from the article: The producers made her get a dress from that dressmaker and they paid for it, she already had a dress from someone else!

19. 19
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 1, 2012 at 3:54 am

    I love the way we approach an issue (presented by a controversial show like this, T&T, or Eden etc) from different directions and reach the same conclusion. MBFGW was a success, so the producers decided to hi us with one of our own.

    The trouble is the MBFGW was nearly a documentary, and this is an almost complete fake. The British version was heartbreaking in some places, the man being beaten and shot by rival clans, and, as LadySC mentioned the razing of the homes. They were largely social issues with a bit o’ flash for interest.

    The MBFAGW show is just that. A show. Without the social aspect, it’s all about hilljills/billys acting out. The only ones the producers could find to be exploited are not “mainstream” American “gypsies” because they are too smart to be exploited.

20. 20
    Gypsy
    Posted June 1, 2012 at 9:06 am

    I used to play the violin AND have a horse, just sayin’.

21. 21
    Anne
    Posted June 1, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    Bill is not an traveler, he was not raised a traveler and him and Tamara apparently just did that show for the money. TLC should check there backgrounds and stuff before they put people on there calling themselves Irish Travelers when they are not. By the way I way I don’t know why anyone would want to call themselves a traveler anyway, just for money and attention I guess. If Bill and Tamara where honestly trying to be accepted into that community they would not be going on TV airing there business. That episode of My Big Fat Gypsy wedding actually looked like a Saturday Night Live Skit.

22. 22
    TV Junkie
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Tamara..the poor dear ~looked just like Dolores Umbridge in a wedding gown~ and her husband is hot~ don’t get it at all!!!!

23. 23
    TV Junkie
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 10:52 am

    MELLIE = why first cousins should not marry~even if they are Gypsies or Gypsys

24. 24
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 11:29 am

    Gypsy, and you know you are…

    I couldn’t play in the sandbox.

    AND a horse? I bow to your awesomeness.

25. 25
    kthxbai
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    @Anne LOL I saw a news story where TLC was bragging about how Murphy’s Village was the Holy Grail. They were so proud of themselves for their awesome get!

    So you’re right they didn’t check jackshit. On here people take an interest. But if you poke around it looks like most of the USA viewers don’t care that much.

    Like @snowshoecat said, the UK and USA shows are so different. I guess partly to appeal to different viewers? Some people are saying the US show’s educational for them because they thought Gypsies were made up. Like vampires and fairies on True Blood.

    Anyway I bet Bill’s always known he’ll never be accepted. Since his dad’s not a Traveler. So if TLC’s willing to give him $ because his mom is 1 he might as well get it. Which in a way isn’t that much different from some Gypsy ways that came from not being accepted by the main stream societies in Europe for all those yrs down to today.

    @Whestet I bet they always pay for the dresses. In UK too. Which is how come they’re so exaggerated the girls can hardly walk. Some of them didn’t even measure doors 1st!

26. 26
    maryedith
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    The other episodes I’ve seen of the American version of this show have been more informative than this one, and these people do seem to be more than just “rednecks.” But it’s weird; each episode almost feels as if it’s been produced by different people. Sometimes they tell you that Romany girls have to be virgins when they marry and sometimes you see communities “accepting” pregnant gorja brides just because they have big wedding dresses. There are Christmas decorations in the background of each episode so they must have all been filmed at the same time — how about some continuity? Why not just openly that one renegade family instead of making weddings and parties the focus of each episode? Why do they pretend that all these people randomly call Sondra Celli and fly up to Boston on their own dime to try on her dresses? So many questions — so much fascination!

27. 27
    maryedith
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    “just openly FOLLOW that one renegade family” . Sorry.

28. 28
    kthxbai
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 3:51 am

    @maryedith I think it’s back to TLC having to take what they can get. In the UK there were more people willing to compromise. And just blur out the groom’s face.

    In the US it looks like the only 1s that signed releases are sort of break away groups like in W VA. Or that little transitional bunch in Douglasville. Trying to have a foot in 2 worlds. But neither world wants them because of their other foot.

    The Murphy’s Village 1 was the worst though. It was deceptive on purpose. They didn’t even say Bill’s dad’s not a Traveler. I went back over it and I’m still not sure if they showed even 1 person that actually lives in MV.

    They had such an ideal chance to tell a real Murphy’s Village story!

    About how gorja ways and Traveler ways decided Bill’s whole life. Not to mention his son. Since they count blood through the mother, Jackson won’t be considered as having a drop of Traveler blood.

    Instead we got that rubbish about the gorja girl’s parties. Getting all excited because Travelers were driving by! Even the dresses were lame ass and mediocre. We didn’t even get our dose of that !

    A bedazzled chupete in a baby’s mouth might’ve been reality gold 10 yrs ago. But even then it was electroplate.

    TLC might as well have made an extended version of those youtubes of gorjas “driving by” Murphy’s Village. Explaining how having a little statue of a saint in the yard is an exotic and mystical Gypsy custom. That you’ll see nowhere on earth but Murphy’s Village. People that couldn’t tell the Virgencita from Kwan Yen on a pictures only multiple choice test.

    Much less know Sara la Kali or even the vocabulary word of syncretization if they dropped out of the sky and did a VictAng from Dance Moms Miami uglyfoot duet on their head!

    Sorry for the long rant. But the more I think about it the more annoyed I get. 1 of the worst episodes of anything in Reality Show history.

    When it could’ve been 1 of the best in whole TV history! And they’re out giving interviews bragging about it.

29. 29
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 4:38 am

    Kthxy, I was soooooo exited when you had seen the trailer (pun noticed, but not intended) and wrote giving a heads-up on Murphy’s Village. Then the real epi. Do you think that TLC had been scammed and decided to scam us a bit?

    Thinking about it I came to the conclusion that maybe the network contacted someone about the controversial upcoming wedding, and researchers had done just enough homework to think they had a real coup– a look into the real thing.

    Whether or not they ever found out that they had been had, they passes the “goods” on to us. Most people are exactly the way you described the drive-by filming. They wouldn’t know the dif.

    Your description, by the way, is a stitch! I caught those references to the BVM statues as goddesses or something (not going back to check). The hillbillies have never been outside of their conservative Born-Again communities, and have probably never met a Catholic. And wouldn’t like one if they did. These people are not the most open-minded individuals.

    I’m getting verbose here. Ah well. In the station’s capitalization on its ever more lurid reputation, tonight’s epi is being touted as “the episode you’ve been waiting for.” it seems that Mellie gets into a cat fight.

    I’ll be there.

30. 30
    maryedith
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    I was interested to see the statues of Our Lady of Guadeloupe and thought it was odd that Irish Travellers would favor that incarnation of the BVM. They must just like the gaudiness because I’ll bet anything they aren’t too partial to Latinos.

31. 31
    kthxbai
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    @snowshoecat LOL That would make the best “The Making Of” story ever!

    I might be just too grouchy about it. But I was thinking it happened just the opposite!

    I think TLC started off asking non Travelers there for advice about doing a reality show in Murphy’s Village.

    Once the laughter died down enough to talk, somebody said “well you know there’s this 1 girl that was going with a fella supposed to have a mama come from there. See if maybe he’ll talk to you.”

    Which we know he did. For a check plus a free wedding and bonus jewelry party. With dresses designed by Sondra Celli. Which is a name I bet Tamara and Bill heard for the 1st time from a TLC mouth.

    When they couldn’t get any Travelers to so much as twitch the curtains when they went around knocking every blessed door in Murphy’s Village sign releases, they decided to make the story about how Tamara’s only chance of getting accepted was if the parties had enough crystals.

    Since Bill’s just half Traveler, I’d be surprised if the people in MV even knew he had a girlfriend. We don’t know if he or his mom even live there.
    Either way, Bill marrying a gorja wouldn’t be a controversial wedding.
    Controversial would be if he’d ever thought about asking to marry a Traveler girl!

    You got me to thinking though. We know TLC didn’t tell us about his daddy, etc. Much less what that meant. 1 of the many things we don’t know is if anybody told TLC any of it!

    If they did get played, it wasn’t by Travelers. All they did was the same thing they always do when strangers knock the door. And some of them might’ve taken a short trip out of Murphy’s Village to drive by a house where they heard a TV show was being made.

    The 1s doing the playing would have to be Bill, his daddy, the Tamara family and other non Travelers. For example if their local Murphy’s Village technical consultants with solid driving by experience were hired straight off of youtube.

    Then we’d not only have an awesome “The Making Of MBFGW” episode. But also a sociology story of gorjas taking up at least 1 Traveler way —keeping to themselves in the face of outsiders!

    BTW I’m way more verbose than you. But this show’s 1 of those times where verbose is the topic’s fault for being so confusing.

    @maryedith I’m just guessing but it seems like for Rom people it might be whichever Virgen Morena is popular and easy to get where they live. Like if you go to Florida you’ll see more del Cobre etc. And some places Travelers are liable as not to have Sra de Lourdes. And or some other popular saint. Same as non Gypsies. Specially younger generations might not even be tracing back to Sara la Kali.

    I’m sorry for not getting to gaudiness and Gypsies vs different groups right now. But I’m giving everybody bad carpal tunnel. And other verboseness related illnesses. Plus we’ve all got to go pick out viewing costumes and put extra eyeliner on because tonight’s episode is Fight Night!

32. 32
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    I like your theory, kthxy. Although I still hold to my idea that TLC got played and then passed the scam along, it makes more sense for them to be stonewalled by the Travelers and then played by the Gorjas. Poetic justice, isn’t it? Sondra Celli certainly loves the show.

    I was thinking that we sure didn’t find out too much about Bill’s family, did we? That would be true to form.

    All set for Fight Night with the incomparable Mellie. Klass all the way.

    Hubbycat came into the room as I was typing away, opened his mouth as if to say something, then turned away, shaking his head.

33. 33
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Just started tonight’s epi and it sounds like trouble is brewing. One person I would NOT cross is Nettie.

    Yikes. She scares me.

34. 34
    stickymittens
    Posted June 4, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    One thing that made me just fall out laughing was when Cody proposed to Danielle – after giving it SO much thought, LOL! – and she gave one of the most unenthuiastic “yes” responses I’ve ever seen! And I do hate to be cruel – but do all of the Romani gypsy boys have giant open car door ears? And do the Rumney gypsy women really not get it that people think they’re trash because of the way they dress? I mean, come ON. They look and move like hoochie mamas. Bling is one thing, all that shimmying and shaking is quite another.

    Snowshoecat, agreed on getting on Nettie’s bad side! And what a mouth on all those girls! Although, their best grammar seems to be when they’re swearing and calling their relatives vile and profane names. Horrifying. I can only assume that this is one small, trashy segment of what I’m sure is an ethnic group with plenty of fine people among its members. TV loves the folks who are over the top, right?

35. 35
    labowner
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    Stickymittens one thing I noticed is the inbred look of a lot of the men and women in both Europe and America. What was that one off scammer in California?

36. 36
    labowner
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    Okay Shyanne Stanley is already divorced and little miss princess ended up on the missing children list in 2010. Me thinks we are getting played by the gypsies.

    Mellie is a twice divorced exotic dancer who is getting her own show with her sisters.

37. 37
    fancyface
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    I reaaaallllyyyyy hope Mellie gets her own show! That bitch is cray-cray & I love every minute of it! I can’t wait for the cap for the newest epi. Those bitches are out of their minds! I didn’t get why they flipped the script on that girl so fast because of a rumor, but it was clear that they didn’t really like her in the 1st place. I am LOVING cousin ass whoop! She beat the hell out of Mellie, Mellie pounded her face for a while, & then she manhandled Mellie again to make sure she knew that just because she got the best of her when she was trying to protect her boobs doesn’t mean she wasn’t capable of beating the hell out of her. lol!

    ahhhh…good times!

38. 38
    labowner
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    Notice Shyanne’s last name was Stanley as well as Nettie and company? Any chances these inbred freaks are related?

39. 39
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    Oh Fancyfeast, you are a true connoisseur of all that is good fun about reality tv. When the epi began I said that Nettie scared the hell out of me and I wouldn’t want to cross her. Well, I wasn’t counting on her sending out the heavy artillery. Mellie!

    Exactly what the bride had done in the way of trash talking her future mother-in-law was never elaborated upon– not to my satisfaction. Looks like both sides dug their heels in and everything went downhill. Not smart.

    Some wedding, wasn’t it? I never heard of anybody ready to beat up the bride. Wow. Klas-say! Doesn’t do much for that fancy dress that Sondra’s team slaved over.

    We have been having some discussion about the authenticity of the people involved in tins programs, and I can’t wait until

40. 40
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    Didn’t get to finish!

    Can’t wait for Polly’s recap to dig into this one! Hoping others caught what I missed.

41. 41
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    Yikes! Labowner, I missed your comment! Dish, dish, dish!! How did you find all this about Lady Mellie?

    I think that TLC is dipping into the shallow end of the gene pool for this show. As we mentioned before, true travelers and Rom are very secretive. And I’ll bet the ones we have seen his season are indeed related.

    Played? Ya think?

    What are you tninking Polly?

42. 42
    fancyface
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    @snowshoecat…IKR? Who does that? I’m going to the wedding just to beat the hell out of the bride??? Umm..NO!!! That’s not okay!

    What about her angry videographer act? Have you ever seen someone look so angry while videotaping something? She was GLOWERING at them as she shot the wedding on her Iphone. LOL…I was laughing my ass off. She was snapping pictures afterwards with the biggest scowl on her face! I don’t know why that made me laugh so much but I couldn’t stop watching her face while she was taking pictures.

    And I also had the same feeling when comparing the 2 shows. While MBFGY is also like watching a train wreck on many levels, it’s a true look inside of that culture where as the American version is basically all the trashy reality shows rolled up in one that happen to throw out the word Gypsy every now and then. Seriously, they have girls running away with their boyfriends just so their parents would allow them to get married because even the assumption that a girl has been ‘compromised’ will ‘ruin’ her in the gypsy community. But here, the brides are knocked up before marriage, marring anybody they damn well please, and throwing their ‘gypsy-ness’ in the locals face. The other ones, while proud of their culture, didn’t use it to intentionally set them apart. They just want to be accepted. These hot messes just want to be the shiznit lol.

    And the Gypsy Janelle would never have been allowed to get away with talking to Barb..I mean her mom like that on MBFGW. Seriously…who else felt like they were watching Janelle & her mom Barb from teen mom during that epi? LOL. I couldn’t stop making comparisons during the show. It was UNCANNING!

43. 43
    Pollyanna
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    Hey everyone! I just finished the recap and submitted it, so it should be up by tomorrow! I hope I did this train wreck justice:)

    Part of me hates Mellie, but part of me can’t stop watching her, so I kind of hope she does get her own show. Iwouldntwantto run into her or Nettie in a dark alley!

44. 44
    kthxbai
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    ROFL! That W VA bunch could qualify to be on Bad Girls Club! Or Real Housewives!

    @snowshoecat I guess from TLC’s point of view they’re not doing a documentary. They wanted people that would put on these ginormous dresses and act up for cameras.

    And if some of them or their relatives used to be connected to any Rom or Traveller groups so much the better.

    So I can’t call them being played exactly. It’s not like TV networks don’t have fact checkers and research depts.

    Plus people can be closed off. But nobody can really be all that secretive any more in this day and age.

    Which means anybody that wants to can find out where their local Gypsies are. What they can’t do is make their local Gypsies come to the door. Much less answer questions about their history and ways.

    But this show’s not even about all that. It’s just about people that are willing to sign up for a reality show and act trashy. To entertain us!

    Next week somebody’s getting a light up dress! Finally! It’s taken them till episode 5! Which if you’ve been comparing this to the UK show, pretty much says it all.

45. 45
    maryedith
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    I’m skerred of Nettie too but I think there was something really off about that bride. The way she was yelling at her mother made me feel like I was watching an episode of Intervention. Did anyone else think she was maybe a serious user and drugs may have been the tie that binds in this marriage’s case? Whenever the focus was on Mellie this show felt less authentic, didn’t it?

46. 46
    fancyface
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 9:19 pm

    @maryedith…that girl (why can’t I remember her name lol) was definitely high as hell during some of those scenes. (and her drugged out hubby too) That’s one of the things that caused me to say she reminded me of Janelle from teen mom 2. The yelling at her mom, the calling the police, & the fact that her mom had custody of her child coupled to her resemblance of her had me seeing Janelle instead of her. When she was talking about him (her baby) being handicapped, I got the feeling it may have been a drug related birth that caused his defects, whatever they may be.

    And Nettie, you DO NOT cross your future mother in law & Mellie, I’m going to jump up and beat her ass when they ask if any one objects, crazypants scare me too. I wouldn’t want to run into them in a dark alley UNLESS I had cousin whoop ass with me Because, while Mellie did pound on her, it was only after she dropped her guard to pull up her dress & once she got back up, she slung her like a rag doll again into the building and beat the shit out of her. LOL…epic!

47. 47
    maryedith
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    I loved the rough justice of the gypsy onlookers. They let Cousin Whoop-ass (nice one, fancyface) go in for seconds after pulling Mellie off her the first time because (I guess) they figured CW hadn’t got a fair chance the first go-round. And my FAVORITE line of the whole season? The upset groom saying: “There’s a time and a place for this, and this ain’t it!” My son said, “He must mean it’s ok at the baby shower or something.”

48. 48
    fancyface
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    Mary I am literally laughing my ass off! Tell your son I said never change! I love it!

49. 49
    Whestet
    Posted June 6, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    Wonder what Tanning Mom would say about the tannin bed in the toddler’s room? Did any one notice the sisters of the grooms names were Snookie and Pookie?

50. 50
    kthxbai
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 12:24 am

    @Whestet I thought 1 of them was called Nookie. Which I’d only ever heard as an old timey slang word for sex.
    Not Gypsy, just trashy. Like if somebody said “he’s going to see that girl and try to get some nookie”

51. 51
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 3:57 am

    Not to rush you Polly, but I have my knees together waiting for the ‘cap!

52. 52
    labowner
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 8:58 am

    Snowshoe she did an interview with a newspaper. Twice divorced is Mellie and Shyanne is getting divorced because, IMHO, when she was listed as a runaway in 2010 that is when she ran away and lived with another gypsy man, thus why Michael dumped her for not being “pure”. So she plays this whole “never been kissed” crap yet she lived with someone. I don’t buy it Shyanne. Snowshoe I am not sure if that article still contains a comment from someone claiming the Stanley’s are murderers and TLC did not do a great background search on this family. Couldn’t locate anything about them being involved in murders, but Stanley is a popular name.

    http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-06-03/news/32012276_1_gypsies-reality-show-romanichals

    Snowshoe I am not sure if that article still contains a comment from someone claiming the Stanley’s are murderers and TLC did not do a great background search on this family. Couldn’t locate anything about them being involved in murders, but Stanley is a popular name.

    I believe these two families – Shyanne’s and Nettie’s are playing TLC to earn cash and unfortunately they are continuing the stereotypes about gypsies being scam artists.

    Pollyanna can’t wait for the your next recap of this white trash train wreck.

    Anyone think Baby Pat is gay or very effeminate?

53. 53
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Thank you, LabO!!!

    Not at all surprised that the Stanleys are playing TLC. Someone said no, they weren’t, but I wonder. It would serve TlC right for serving such large portions of schlock (that we enthusiastically watch). But played or not, TLC cashes in big time.

    Sheyanne’s wedding took me in hook, line, and sinker. She was so beautiful and he was such a cutie, and they seemed like the fairy tale couple I wanted to believe in. I was hoping we would see how things were working out for them.

    It’s the perpetuation of the negative stereotypes that bothers me the most. Every culture has its bad apples, but the world has preconceptions about the Rom that starts them off wrong in the first place. They don’t stand a chance when they are portrayed like they are.

    Had lunch with my bestie who teaches cultural geography, and she agrees that they are being misrepresented by a dysfunctional, even a criminal minority. Had a great discussion, and she was interested in the Gasm.

    Yeah, Pat Baby gives off a feminine vibe, and he even mentioned cross dressing. But there is something rather sweet about him.

    On to read the article, and thank you for sending!

54. 54
    labowner
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    My pleasure to help Snowshoe.

55. 55
    snowshoecat
    Posted June 7, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    *sigh*

56. 56
    Julie
    Posted June 10, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    I am wondering if there is a family tree on these people. We love this show and believe that there are travelers in both sides of our family, with my husbands great grandmother supposedly buried in a traveler cemetery in Goshen, Indiana.

57. 57
    Real_Irish_Traveler
    Posted June 11, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    The only real traveler at that party was the groom bill. And he’s half traveler at that. TLC was the ones that lied at said it was real ppl from MV. In reality none of us would so much as talk to a tape recorder because media slice and dice footage or whatever to make the way they want it. We would never fall victim to the idiodicy that is TLC.
    We are secretive because ppl make fun of us and judge us when they don’t even know us and that is sad. I just wish ppl actually understood our side. I guess they never will.

58. 58
    Smarlo
    Posted June 21, 2012 at 7:59 pm

    This epi seemed more like the Wild and Wonderful Whites than anyything else!

59. 59
    lacey
    Posted July 2, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    I Love the way the gypsys and the way they dress and dance and would love to be one i really wanna know how they stay so skinny ??? Any gypsys on here wanna chat

60. 60
    fancyface
    Posted July 2, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    @Lacey…Slutty parking lot grinding, running from the muskers, & beating the hell out of people regularly probably helps with keeping the weight off. Maybe you could try that?? I wouldn’t recommend it though

    *She’s not pregnant in the face, so I’ll just hit her in the face*

61. 61
    Ann
    Posted August 23, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    TLC was unable to get much footage in Murphy’s Village. There were no travelers on the episode, except the neigbor. The people at the wedding were not travelers, but after a tough time filming, the producer decided that nobody would know the difference. Just like any media these days, if you don’t have a story, make one up. Let them have there culture.

62. 62
    Redneck
    Posted October 12, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    The reason no one was there was because it’s a secret society. Hell I live a couple miles from Murphy’s village. They don’t socialize with “us” and we don’t socialize with “them.” But anyway, us the southern rednecks as most of you prefer to call us well…Most of us think they are trashy, imbred, ignorant and theives. As far as me…I’ve had no dealings with them but would love to so that I can make that call myself. But I do have to say most of their arrests in our local redneck paper comes from their need to travel up NORTH to rip off a YANK!! Hence..TRAVELERS oh yeah did any of you see the epsisode about Murphy’s Village a few years on back 20/20? Well, I reckon I’d betta go, take care, Cindy

63. 63
    natschultz
    Posted January 18, 2013 at 12:05 am

    Uggh! I just saw this \Irish Traveller\ episode (TLC repeat) and was so astonished at how NOT like ANY Irish Traveller community it is that I googled it and found out that it was in fact a GYPSY FRAUD!

    Sorry, but Irish Travellers, while definite scam artists by trade, are still IRISH CATHOLIC – NOT HOOKER GYPSIES!!! They dress NORMAL – would NEVER even dream of wearing that garish explosion from a pageant factory trash dress!

    And that \jewelery party?\ ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HELLO! TLC deliberately turned a legitimate Catholic Baptism party into some Gypsy farce! Baby Jackson was wearing a gypsyfied Baptism suit. And Tamara looked like a ballet dancer on crack! I was utterly horrified!

    As for the wedding – that dress was beyond a gypsy joke, and in a newspaper article about the show Tamara admitted that she already owned a normal wedding gown for their originally-planned CATHOLIC WEDDING IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH!

    Sorry, but yes, Irish Traveller weddings ARE big festive events – just like ANY Irish Catholic wedding reception – AFTER the legitimate wedding ceremony held in the Catholic Church. Dude, there is no way in HELL that an Irish Traveller would accept a fake NON-Catholic \wedding.\ The Catholic Church does not recognize ANY \wedding\ performed outside the Church (Catholic or Eastern Orthodox)! My family is not Irish Traveller, but they sure are traditionalist Catholic, and even considering marrying a non-Catholic or non-Eastern Orthodox Christian means you will be DIS-OWNED!

    I would never trust an Irish Traveller, but this TLC episode is simply the most INSULTING, DEGRADING MOCKERY I have EVER seen in my life!

    As for Gypsies, this is also a big joke. My grandmother is from Eastern Europe (Eastern Orthodox), and one thing she always said while we were growing up was \Beware of the gypsies – they steal and will curse you to Hell.\ My first trip abroad was to Italy, and we were strongly warned by all of our tour guides to \Beware of the Gypsies!\ I thought it was funny. But then, in a market in Verona, we saw Gypsies!!! They were very dark-skinned women (darker than the Italians) dressed in outfits that can best be described as a cross between Indian dresses and Russian old lady \Babushka\ type outfits. They did NOT look like hookers AT ALL!!! Their dresses were layers of fabric (like Indians), but more muted colors and fabrics, with head coverings like Eastern European old ladies. One had a little girl who stole a peach and I took a picture of her eating it. She was really cute, but I was SO tempted to grab her and hand her over to the police to protect her (I didn’t).

    Anyway, I have no idea if all these shows about \American Gypsies\ who come off as white trash hooker mobsters is legit, but I can assure you that if so, they are FAR REMOVED from actual European Gypsies!

    But, REAL Irish Travellers are VERY IRISH CATHOLIC, and NORMAL LOOKING.

    Both Gypsies and Travellers are definitely CON ARTISTS who cannot be trusted. But, at least Travellers will not put a curse on you!

64. 64
    Oppan Rumney style
    Posted February 1, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    natschultz=completely racist