See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC Published: 22:16 BST, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 22:16 BST, 27 July 2026
Secret Lives Of Gypsy Wives (Channel 4)Two stars out of five Trewley Precious has a talent for parting punters with their cash. Brimming with confidence and hungry for success, the 26-year-old influencer from Essex reckons she could sell chips to the Arabs.'Sand,' says mum Tina, who has none of her daughter's self-esteem but double the brains. The phrase, she explains, is, 'Selling sand to the Arabs.''Miss TP', as Trewley likes to call herself, looks aghast, as though Tina has come out with something racist on camera.You can see her logic: sand might be foreign, but chips are definitely British.'Can you say that?' she demands. Tina just rolls her eyes.Though Trewley's family home is on the 'PKE' or Percy King Estate, in a 1970s council house, they count themselves part of the travelling community. Their father Sid was a traveller: he died three years ago, though Tina thinks he may have been reincarnated as a stray ginger cat.Anyway, that explains why their reality show is called Secret Lives Of The Gypsy Wives.There's nothing secret about their lives, of course. Trewley Precious Sunshine Temple Wass, to use her full name, is a brass-plated attention-seeker, from the tips of her false lashes to the fluffy toes of her pink mules. Mum Tina has none of her daughter's self-esteem but double the brains, writes Christopher StevensShe is also not anybody's wife, and there's no sign of a boyfriend — she told one interviewer she's been celibate since she was 19.The formulaic title tells you this six-part series began as a spin-off from reality TV's dual obsession with travellers (in shows such as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) and women living under the thumb of their menfolk (Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives, for instance). Broken brand of the week: Violent sex, drug abuse and non-stop swearing — Disney is stretching its remit with the serial killer drama Furious, starring Emmy Rossum as an FBI agent. Either that or the House of Mouse has no idea what it is or who its audience is any more. Trewley is under nobody's thumb. But she adores gypsy glam, the sort of cheap and flashy camp that was once Bet Lynch's trademark on Coronation Street. Swathed in fake fur, with her peroxide topknot twisted up in curlers, she paints her lips in what looks like red Formica.Looking this 'boujie' comes at a cost, unless you know a trick or two. Pitching her brand to a make-up company, her business manager at her elbow, Trewley describes her vision of creating a range of lashes for 'all the council estate b*tches . . . you know, the ones that robbed up Superdrug at least one point in their lives'.I think she means shoplifters, not till-robbers, but either way this form of female empowerment appears to have Ch4's backing.The manufacturer loves it too, and agrees to name its new collection of fake lashes after Trewley's sisters: Ruby Ann, Honey Peaches and Pearly Girl.Chatting to camera in a greasy spoon cafe with plastic tablecloths, all four girls seem happy to talk politics when nudged by the producers. Perhaps they could send some of their beauty products to Clacton by-election candidate Nigel Farage.But maybe not. He might feel he's copying Eyelashes Andy.
