My Big Fat Gypsy Fortune: Revealed... how the travelling communities REALLY pay for those lavish weddings

From the Daily Mail

Ever since the first bride appeared in an over-sized crystal-embellished dress, viewers of Channel 4's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding have been wondering exactly where the Travelling community finds the funds to pay for them.

Now, their questions are to be answered in a new documentary, My Big Fat Gypsy Fortune, which reveals the secrets of the Traveller economy and explains how the system has produced some of the very poorest people in society as well as some of the richest.

The show, which goes out on Sunday night, follows two very different members of the Traveller community, starting with 15-year-old Romany Gypsy, Alfie Best, whose father, also called Alfie, is worth more than £100 million.

Despite his wealth, Alfie has already left school on the grounds that 'a man has to make his own way in the world' and has become a door-to-door paint salesman, albeit with the help of a chauffeur.

At the other end of the income scale is fellow Romany and former X-Factor wannabe George Webb, who lives in a tiny caravan and has to 'graft' for every penny he gets.

Webb, who made the news for all the wrong reasons when he was given 200 hours of community service after admitting five counts of fraud in 2011, has, like Alfie, turned to 'hawking' or selling door-to-door to keep himself going.

Despite making heavy weather of teaching 10 Gypsy apprentices to create her spectacular wedding gowns in her own spin-off show, Thelma's Gypsy Girls, dressmaker Thelma Madine also appears on the show to explain why gypsies are being unfairly maligned.

'This misconception about all Travellers being on the dole is the biggest load of c*** I've ever heard,' says the straight-talking Scouser.

'All these men are self employed. They don't work for anybody else. Even if they're going round getting scrap and doing things like that... jobs that we probably don't want to do!'

I think this gets up people's noses as well because we've become lazy in our society. We sit there and wait for someone to say: "here's a job".

'They get up of their bums and go and look for that work.'

My Big Fat Gypsy Fortune also meets CassyAnne, who spends her time blinging up household goods and selling them on, and her husband Bill, whose dream is to breed dogs to take part in the gypsy pastime of 'lamping', or catching rabbits with dogs.

Last but not least is Irish Traveller Larry, who is planning a wedding for his eldest daughter Margaret.

Like the stars of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Larry is planning a lavish bash for Margaret, complete with eight bridesmaids, 300 guests and a huge white dress.

None of this will come cheap, but Larry is determined that his daughter has nothing but the best and says that Travellers have a 'secret way' of financing their larger-than-life nuptials.

So what exactly is this secret? You'll have to wait until Sunday night to find out!