IT does not matter how large she is, never refer to a woman as “big” and expect to get away with it. It is not a compliment and, in most cases, will get you in trouble. Yet Angela Raiola ( pictured) does not seem to mind one bit.
The reality TV star (Mob Wives) is known as Big Ang and when you see her, she looks the part. From the permanent pout that is probably a result of a love for Botox to the huge shoulders, there is nothing small about Big Ang.
She seems to be okay with being called “Big Ang” and perhaps this is as a result of her mob background.
Believing the Mob Wives gig was not shining enough light on her, Big Ang has come up with her own reality show, Big Ang. Coming to Vuzu from tomorrow, the programme sees the rest of the mob wives out of the picture and all we concentrate on is Ang and her private and business lives.
As the owner of a bar, Drunken Monkey, in New York City, there are many tales the reality star can tell. It is possibly going to be a refreshing show because of the bar setting, but don’t get too comfortable with that environment because Big Ang comes and goes as she pleases. When she does leave, the cameras follow her so a fair amount of the show is shot outside the Drunken Monkey.
Big Ang got her gig on Mob Wives not because she was some mobster’s wife, but because she is the niece of notorious mob boss Salvatore Lombardi. Her star shone brighter than the other women of Mob Wives and the show’s producers went to her with the idea of Big Ang.
Now that she is in the driving seat of her own show, we know the lady with the big personality will show a side of herself we thought we knew, but did not see in Mob Wives.
Her story is much like that of NeNe Leakes’ of The Housewives of Atlanta. After being the loudest of the Southern women, Leakes’ ghetto persona made her a favourite with reality TV fans, so much so she’s been getting TV roles, commercials and book deals. She is now a superstar and Donald Trump even had her star on Celebrity Apprentice. Even with the Trump stamp, she managed to mess it up by walking off the show after having an argument with a fellow contes- tant. This was a first on Celebrity Apprentice. Undeterred, she still got her part on Glee and hasn’t looked back since.
Meanwhile, we wait to see just how far Big Ang will propel Raiola because we all know she is not planning to do the show for ever.
Reality TV is just a huge resumé builder that springboards people into real artistic jobs (cough).
• Big Ang airs from tomorrow at 10pm on Vuzu (DStv channel 116).