‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ Twins Dead in Apparent Suicide
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Bill and Joe Smith, who appeared on Channel 4’s “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” in the U.K., have been found dead in Sevenoaks, Kent, according to numerous reports. They were 32.
A spokeswoman said in a statement to Mirror Online that “Kent Police was called at 11.34am on Saturday after the bodies of two men were discovered in Dibden Lane, Sevenoaks. Enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the deaths are ongoing but they are not currently being treated as suspicious.” The Sun reported that they were found in a tree near a farm shortly before noon on Saturday.
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An inquest into the deaths will likely be held in 2020.
TLC Network, which aired “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” in the U.S., responded to the news of the Smiths’ passing on social media, writing that “our hearts go out to the family and friends of siblings Bill and Joe Smith at this difficult time,” along with the phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of siblings Bill and Joe Smith at this difficult time.
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text 741-741 to speak with a trained counselor right away.
— TLC Network (@TLC) December 29, 2019
The Smiths appeared in the third series of “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” and were described as Romani gypsys who worked as landscape gardeners. One episode followed them during a gardening shift, where they discussed the travelling lifestyle and marriage, while another documented their holiday trip to Tenerife.
Tributes to the pair poured in online following news of their deaths.
Paddy Doherty, who won Season 8 of “Celebrity Big Brother” and also appeared on “Gypsy Wedding,” paid tribute in a video posted to Facebook, calling them “angels.”
“Two good looking boys, God bless their souls,” he said. “That’s a terrible, terrible tragedy. There’s always worse than yourself…Pray for the boys’ family, the boys’ mother and father, help them be strong and get through this.”
Kristina Delaney, Bill Smith’s partner, also posted on Facebook. “You always see stuff like this but you just never think it’ll happen to you,” she wrote. “Joe I tried telling you our phone calls many times I said to you just wait for time to heal you. I wish I could have done more for you both I do may you both get the best beds in heaven. Bill please please please be happy now I’m just persuading myself your happier.”
“My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” originally titled “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings,” first aired on the U.K.’s Channel 4 broadcast network in 2010 and on TLC in the U.S. in 2011. It followed the lives of Irish Travellers and Romani gypsys, the former of which is recognized as a distinct ethnic group under U.K. law, and ended its run in 2015.
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