Lucedale got big attention last week when a reality show aired featuring cast members at a wedding at Anderson Oaks Venue.
Film crews from “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” landed in Lucedale in mid-February to shoot the wedding of the main celebrity of the show’s niece. The episode aired Sept. 3. “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” features Whitney Way Thore, a 40-year-old overweight, single, female from North Carolina. The bride is Jaime Daughdrill, Whitney’s newly discovered niece from Saraland, Ala.
Melissa Anderson, owner of Anderson Oaks Venue, said she received an email from a Hollywood producer prior to the wedding. “At first I thought it was a scam,” she said. “But it was real and turned out to be a really cool experience.” The producer was seeking permission to film an episode of the show during Daughdrill’s wedding and reception. Anderson and all wedding guests had to sign waivers. “A lot of people from George County regularly watch the show, and I began getting messages from locals last week saying they had seen the one set in Lucedale.”
Whitney’s show centers around her weight and her life. Tears well in her eyes frequently as she struggles with relationships, the loss of her mother and what she believes is her mid-life crisis. The primary cast includes her father, Glenn Thore, her older brother, Hunter Thore, and friends of family members. The episode set in Lucedale is the show’s 159th and is titled “Higher Love.”
It airs as the ninth episode of season 12 and is produced by The Learning Channel. It can be found easily through an internet search. The show’s Facebook page can be found as “My Big Fat Fabulous Life.” The page describes Whitney as “an average girl from a small town in North Carolina trying to find her way in a world that judges people by their size.” The Instagram site is under the star’s name and can be found “@whitneywaythore.”
The episode filmed at Anderson Oaks highlighted the marriage of Jaime Daughdrill and Heath Horton. Part of the drama surrounding the event is the fact that Whitney’s father had a child out of wedlock prior to his marriage to her mother. He reunited with his long-lost daughter about a year prior to his newly-found granddaughter’s wedding.
After Glenn’s sister submitted her DNA profile on an ancestry website, Glenn discovered he had a long-lost daughter named Angie Burdett of Saraland. He had dated Angie’s birth mother prior to marrying Whitney’s and Hunter’s mother, who passed away a couple of years ago. She died before Glenn found Angie. They all became, or have tried to become, one big happy family. However, additional drama surrounds that relationship ordeal in some of the episodes.
All were invited to the wedding and were included in family photographs. However, when it was time to take the family picture, Glenn was nowhere to be found, which stirred a little drama from the reality show star. While Glenn proclaimed he didn’t want to miss a single moment of the wedding, he happened to be in the bathroom when it was picture-taking time. The photographer was on a strict schedule trying to get all of the requested photos captured before the wedding began. Plus, it was extremely cold that weekend in Lucedale, and the bridal party was freezing in their bare-shouldered attire while waiting on Glenn’s arrival for the photograph.
Whitney demonstrated her dramatic personality about what a “disaster” the day would be if Glenn missed the photo opportunity. Therefore, she went on a search to find him and save the day. The scene indicates Whitney feared if Glenn missed the photo, her new niece would cut him out of the family he had just found. Therefore, Whitney was thankful when he turned up for the photograph just in the nick of time. Whitney sported her sensitive side during the taping in which she stated “seeing my dad included in all of this makes me so emotional.”
Both Whitney and her brother Hunter are still single and part of the drama involves Glenn witnessing a granddaughter getting married before his children. He was not in contact with Angie when she married.
“My Big Fat Fabulous Life” premiered Jan. 13, 2015 as an American reality television series. The series chronicles the life of Whitney, a woman who weighed 380 pounds at the beginning of the series. Her weight is partially attributed to polycystic ovary syndrome. Whitney lives in Greensboro, North Carolina and became popular when a local radio station there posted her “Fat Girl Dancing” videos garnering eight million views on YouTube. She had loved to dance prior to gaining 230 pounds with the disease, and her doctor encouraged her to pursue that passion again. Current episodes reference Whitney’s plan to travel to Spain to celebrate her birthday and her infatuation with Flamenco dancing.
The show gave both Lucedale and Anderson Oaks nice shout-outs. Jaime and Heath married underneath the ancient oaks on the back lawn of the venue. Tailored decorations adorned the interior of the setting as well as the back patio that features Anderson Oaks massive, signature fireplace.
And Lucedale became a little part of something big and fabulous.
