It's Like Watching a Car Crash, I Can't Look Away...

It's a marathon of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TLC. My husband and his parents are sitting around the living room catching up on the magazines they trade every visit and I can't unglue my eyes from the TV. It doesn't matter that I've already seen every episode, I must watch it.

Not only is the culture complete unlike anything I've ever seen, but the fact that the whole series is based on over the top weddings? I'm sold.

Things that make this show a trainwreck:

1. Everyone dresses slutty from about the age of 8 and up. Spray tans, bleached hair, tiny clothes that don't cover anything, over the top make up, and it's all OK because all the men know that they are good Catholic girls who won't do anything until their wedding night...at the ripe old age of 17. If you didn't know any better, between the way they dress and the way they dance, "stripper" would be the first word to pop into you head. And it's even more disturbing when the first thing you think is stripper when the girl is only 8 years old.
2. The wedding dresses weigh more than the brides. Most of the time, the teenage brides can't fit through doorways, into cars, and have to waddle down the aisle. The girls usually end up with horrible looking welts and worn spots on their torsos from supporting the hoop skirts and boning.
3. The culture is incredibly antiquated. Most girls are taken out of school before the age of 12 to help run the house. Starting at the age of 15, they start hunting a husband by dolling themselves up and heading to every wedding they can. Although, they go to events with the intention of meeting someone, they can't act interested and it would be unheard of to make the first move. Once they have managed to land a husband, their lives become about keeping their trailers clean. 

 

 I really don't know how they can afford their lifestyles, but somehow they make it work.

I'm really looking forward to the American version of this show. I can't say I've ever really heard of gypsies in the US but I guess they've got to be here somewhere, right?