32 replies to this topic

[SleepyJean]

I just watched the first episode of this show, and it isn't at all what I expected. I really enjoyed it, and I hope more people start watching.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Thelma Madine, Gypsy Wedding Dressmaker Extraordinaire has hired 10 gypsy interns. She plans to teach them dressmaking. After 6 months, the two best interns will be offered full time jobs, and hopefully the others will have developed a skill they can use to find work elsewhere. These are paid interns and the money is coming out of Thelma's pocket. (Although I stopped feeling bad about that once I got a load of the giant house she lives in!)

Most of the gypsy girls are completely unprepared for this. They're immature, they don't know how to act, they're disrespectful to Thelma's staff, they get angry at the drop of a hat, and they struggle with the most basic of tasks. I felt bad for one girl who struggled with pattern measurements because the math is too difficult. But then she turned into a total brat about it. (And it appears she will be self-appointed head of the Mean Girls clique. In the first episode, she got a bunch of girls to gang up on another girl and start sticking her with pins.) Meanwhile, Thelma's staff has to try to train these girls, on top of the regular work they have to do every day. They aren't happy about it.

I'm fascinated by this. Thelma is making a lot of sacrifices to make this internship program work. But I'll tell you, after the first episode, I don't feel too hopeful for her. As the narrator noted, most of the girls have no intellectual curiosity whatsoever and lack self discipline. Some of them can barely focus long enough for a five minute conversation. But there are a couple of gypsy girls who seem like they could make it. I'll be interested to see how this situation unfolds.

[chainey]

Thank you for the heads up. I just watched it over on the TLC site.

[NiteNicole]

I can't get over how rude most of these girls are. It would be exhausting to be that defensive all the time.

[Ginandtonic]

I didn't even know this show existed, I'll set my DVR, it's sounds good.

[technorebel]

Having watched My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, I'm watching this for the sheer horror of it. I'm not sure if Thelma Madine is a hopeless optimist, a martyr, or just plain stupid. Most of these girls are just godawful juvenile delinquents that no one in their right mind would let into their home or place of business.

Bridget seems like the only reasonably bright and well behaved one so far. Of course, her "book learning" makes her an outcast with the other little gremlins. So they gang up on her and stick straight pins into her. Haha, it was only a joke, they say. Thelma should've called the police on them, but I doubt if Bridget would tell the police what happened. She told the camera she'd get killed if she talked about it.

I used to believe all the bs about how the poor Travelers were so discriminated against. After seeing shows like this one, I can see why. Most folks don't want to live around the criminally stupid and violent.

[FinePoint]

These rude little bitches. Thelma is a much kinder and more patient soul than I am, because lack of opportunity or not, that blonde chick that stuck the other girl with a pin would have gotten sacked on the spot and not given a four-day time-out. Thelma even said someone's getting sacked today, but I guess not really. And the way her mother stood up for her really made me mad. Call me cold-hearted but I was not moved that she also lied about her age. Oh, but she's so scared, poor little thing. She really wants this opportunity. If she wanted the opportunity, she wouldn't be bullying other people and attacking them with pins. I personally would have made no phone call to her probation officer and declared that I would be picketing the courts demanding that she receive this opportunity.

The other one that needs to get sacked right now IMO with no benefit of delaying with strikes is that Margaret. I realize these girls are not taught manners and typical decent behaviour at home, and that they're not exposed to "country folk" too much, but I completely believe that they damn well know better, even though so little is expected of them, so no excuses from me.

Absolutely pathetic that they can't even tell time. FFS.

And all the screeching in horror and cringing under the table when the sewing teacher said the word 'virgin.' Like she said, they go around saying the F word, but the word virgin makes them all blush. WTH.

ETA - Pretty rich coming from these little snots that the sewing teacher is the one who has a bad attitude. Oh, my word.

Edited by FinePoint, Oct 19, 2012 @ 1:55 AM.

[yian]

This show is showing the other side, and finally exposing why the travellers are "discriminated." The girls are rude, mean and bullies. They don't even seem like they want to better themselves. I hope Bridgette isn't targeted, because of this show.

Edited by yian, Oct 19, 2012 @ 3:10 PM.

[Indy1]

Oooh, I didn't know about this show! I'm going to have to add it to the DVR list. I like the UK gypsy shows much better than the American version.

[technorebel]

And with all their appalling behaviour, what does Thelma do? Take them all out for a party! You know, they've been working so hard and all. I wonder if Thelma has had a sudden rash of disappearing items from her shop.

I also thought Thelma was so wrong to talk about Bridget wearing a modest skirt instead of the hooker-wear the other girls had on. She said, "it widens the chasm between her and the other girls" as if that's a bad thing. I think poor little Bridget should keep on making distance from the other bunch. Come join us in the outside world, girl. You'd like it.

Thelma already had to take a week off work from the stress of dealing with these miscreants. How will she make it to the six month mark?

[wellwhaddyaknow]

So many things I found about this program fascinating. I hope hope hope that it will not end up being fake, a la Breaking Amish. I don't understand why Thelma would have 1)such a long competition 2)a competition among already unstable people 3)so many at once. I think she would have been better off in all ways - for her staff as well as herself - if she had just gambled on 2 or 3 girls, and saw if they made progress in, say, a month. The girls were close to feral, in my view, and, while I applaud Thelma's kindness toward them, I hope she had some kind of expert teaching her how to psychologically help them. I dunno. But I'll keep watching!

[yslchyc]

I don't feel too sorry for Thelma as I assume she has been paid to do the show - more than enough to compensate her for whatever wages she is paying as well as probably the renovation of her new larger headquarters.

That said, the gypsy girls really aren't all that different from non-gypsies in the US who are functionally illiterate and have grown up without any idea of how to get or keep a job. There are job programs that work with them but they have to learn the most basic skills just in terms of how to function in a work environment and a lot of them (just like the girls) have difficulty understanding how to take orders.

[DoctorK]

The girls were close to feral

You hit the nail on the head. Most of these "girls" are worthless ignorant low life trash with no chance of ever moving into "mainstream" productive society.

Edited by DoctorK, Oct 19, 2012 @ 10:05 PM.

[Ginandtonic]

I finally got around to watching the first two episodes. Thelma is insane. These girls really have no clue about anything, & taking direction doesn’t seem to be their strong point. When they had to design the Moulin Rouge based costume, I kept wondering how girls who don’t know how to read or do any math would possibly have a clue what the Moulin Rouge was, I really don’t believe that they designed it. And what’s the deal with everybody’s eyebrows? Someone needs to confiscate everyone’s eyebrow pencils because nobody seems to understand the word subtle.

I don’t know what to think about Bridget, she’s obviously more educated than the others & doesn’t really fit in with them, but in a way, she also seems more sheltered. I guess we’ll find out what happens with her.

What was with all the screaming every time the teacher said virgin? They come to work with tons of skin showing, but the word virgin shocks the hell out of them.

I really have no idea what Thelma thought was going to happen, she worked with these girls for years making their gowns, how could she think they would be good at this?, and them she stays home & makes her staff deal with them, don't see any way this is going to end well.

[yian]

Yeah, I don't know which is better or is it which is worse, having the girls drop out of school at 11, so they have no clue what the outside world is like, or girls like Bridget, who finished high-school, was a good student, but isn't allowed to progress her education. So she lives her life everyday, knowing what she is missing.

You could see that they all isolated her, because she was different from them. The ring leader was the Margaret trouble maker. She is jealous of Bridget, so she turned the others against her in typical mean girl behavior. I wonder what kind of flack Bridget and her family are getting for reporting the pin incidence. They shouldn't have shown the call, and just made it seem like Thelma stumbled upon the surveillance video by accident.

Also, it seems these girls have no intentions of learning anything, how can teenagers not know how to add and subtract, even when given a calculator. And, listening to Thelma's phone calls, discussing non nonchalantly husbands, brothers and fathers being in jail, who do you "belong to" was eye opening.

[SleepyJean]

Most of these "girls" are worthless ignorant low life trash

I was about to say "Wait a minute. They aren't trashy. Their behavior is trashy. It's not their fault they were raised that way." And then I realized that's PC bullshit.

I wonder what kind of flack Bridget and her family are getting for reporting the pin incidence.

Since the gypsies Thelma associates with seem to enjoy getting loud and obnoxious over just about anything, I'm sure it was quite a bit. I suspect if Bridget made it all the way through school, her whole family is already seen as a little "different."

[BlueSkies]

The caption under Bridget says "English Traveler", and we learned from MBFGW that they are much more assimilated into British culture than Irish Travelers.

[GrrlPower]

So many things I found about this program fascinating. I hope hope hope that it will not end up being fake, a la Breaking Amish. I don't understand why Thelma would have 1)such a long competition 2)a competition among already unstable people 3)so many at once.

I watched this show when it aired in the UK - it's not bullshit like that Faking Amish. Thelma is doing this partially for fame and partially b/c the Traveler community is so small and she is earning favor with the community. Everyone is related to everyone so these girls and their families are her clients. It is actually weird for her clientele to be majority gypsy and for her not to employ any gypsies.

Don't feel sorry for her - she's not doing this out of the kindness of her heart, she's building her reputation amongst her clientele.

[Ginandtonic]

Thelma is doing this partially for fame and partially b/c the Traveler community is so small and she is earning favor with the community.

But does this really get her favor with the community? I've been wondering about that because as far as I can tell, Gypsy daughters don't have careers, they stay at home cleaning until they marry very young & go clean their own homes. I got the impression that Gypsies don't approve of their daughters working, so is this really a good idea to gain favor with them?

[yslchyc]

But does this really get her favor with the community? I've been wondering about that because as far as I can tell, Gypsy daughters don't have careers, they stay at home cleaning until they marry very young & go clean their own homes. I got the impression that Gypsies don't approve of their daughters working, so is this really a good idea to gain favor with them?

This is an "entertainment" program and ALL of the participants were paid to perform in the show. I assume the girls (and their families) did so because of the pay from the show as well as the opportunity to be on television. The girls have always been happy to be on camera - it's the men who never show their faces.

Thelma isn't out of pocket because she is getting paid to do the show. It's not an act of altruism on her part so she would have been well compensated for her services and probably also received a location fee that was more than enough to cover all the expenses of "remodeling" her new headquarters.

[onewally]

Thelma Nadine, if her motives are as pure as she says, is a woman with a big heart and I admire her for wanting to help the traveller girls. But just taking off for a week? Leaving her shop employees to deal with those girls?

There are too many of them-if she'd chosen just 5 or 6, maybe just 4 days or even 3 days a week, she'd have been better off. She needs a whole staff of psychologists, behavioral therapists, and school teachers (and maybe a couple of security officers) to deal with that crew. The way they treat other people is just abominable. "Feral' is an apt description for them.

I'm so sorry that the girls are so unappreciative and uncognizant of the opportunity they've been given, probably the only chance they'll ever have in their lives to better themselves. They are inattentive and bored out of their skulls with the whole project.

Edited by onewally, Oct 24, 2012 @ 5:02 AM.

[GrrlPower]

The lack of education in the UK Traveler community is absolutely sad. I know some US reclusive/religiously conservative communities pull their girls out of school around 8th grade to keep them from learning sex education or be exposed to their peers who are talking about sex - but that's not the case here. Half of the girls on this show couldn't tell time or do their ABCs, let alone read and write full sentences - so they clearly did not attend elementary school. I wonder if females are kept uneducated in order to control them, b/c it certainly isn't for religious/moral reasons.

[BlueSkies]

I wonder if females are kept uneducated in order to control them, b/c it certainly isn't for religious/moral reasons.

The males also do not receive any more education than the females, and probably skip school more often than the girls. Education, knowledge, makes a person's world grow bigger, elders are scared the youth would leave the culture.

Thelma isn't out of pocket because she is getting paid to do the show. It's not an act of altruism on her part so she would have been well compensated for her services and probably also received a location fee that was more than enough to cover all the expenses of "remodeling" her new headquarters.

Bridget, the English Traveler, dropped out of college to do this show. She said she had wanted to get into the bridal business and thought this might be a way to get to know the industry. Would be funny if this backfired on Thelma and Bridget succeeded and took away some clientele from Thelma.

[Ty]

Has this show been pulled? It's not on the schedule any more. Or was it just those two episodes?

Edited by Ty, Oct 26, 2012 @ 4:10 PM.

[BlueSkies]

Wonder what happened? There were 6 episodes.

[Ty]

I was thinking it was for legal reasons, like the police investigating the assault, but it has already aired in the UK, right?

[GrrlPower]

I was thinking it was for legal reasons, like the police investigating the assault, but it has already aired in the UK, right?

Yeah, the full series aired in the UK and I doubt kids sticking eachother with pins would warrant an investigation, let alone have the power to shut down production.

[Ginandtonic]

I was wondering if my DVR screwed up, but I guess not. I sent TLC an email asking them what happened to the show. Maybe they'll actually reply.

[divatothemax]

Please tell me it'll be back next week! This hot mess of a show is riveting to me. I must see what happens in the end.

[yian]

You can watch the UK version online. The UK version is even more extreme, in showing the girls wild behavior.

[Ginandtonic]

Well, TLC replied to my email & the answer is totally worthless:

For programming and schedule information, please visit our website at
www.discovery.com. Our schedules are published for the current and
following month. If you are not able to locate the programming you are
looking for, we recommend checking back periodically to see if it has been
added to the current schedule.

Fuck them for being so helpful.