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Danielle Cabral finally did what Jennifer Aydin and Teresa Giudice hoped she would do during the May 16 season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey — she told Melissa Gorga the rumor that’s been going around about her. You know — the one about Melissa allegedly cheating on Joe Gorga. But Melissa wasn’t shocked to hear it. In fact, she basically expected someone to bring it up on camera at some point because six months prior, Luis Ruelas and Teresa called Joe over to their house to share the rumor with him behind Melissa’s back.
At the time, Luis and Teresa told Joe that Melissa was cheating on him with multiple men and they wanted him to know so he wasn’t blindsided if and when any rumors surfaced. Joe said that after he left that super awkward meetup, his niece, Gia Giudice, called him and suggested that he leave Melissa. According to Joe, Gia told him that he could “do better”. But he didn’t believe any of the cheating accusations. Instead, he felt as though his family was trying to hurt him however they could.
S13 FINALE PREVIEW – Danielle Cabral Tells Jennifer Aydin She Has to Reveal All to Melissa Gorga! #RHONJ pic.twitter.com/2IPkAvq3Kz
— Jack?? (@RHONJ_OBSESSED) May 10, 2023
Still, Joe and Melissa chose not to bring up the issue on camera since Luis’ reach-out to Joe happened before production started on season 13 and they didn’t want to cause more issues for the family. But now that the rumor was exposed by Danielle, and in turn, Teresa and Jennifer, they felt the need to share their side of the story.
Melissa was actually in the midst of telling Danielle what had happened six months earlier, when Margaret Josephs entered the ring. As you’ll recall, everyone is at Dolores’ for an Irish Prohibition party. Margaret heard her name and wanted to know why she was being brought up during the heated conversation. Danielle told Margaret that she should be blamed for starting the rumor, as Margaret’s former friend Laura, said she learned the cheating news from Margaret, but Melissa knew better than that. It seemed obvious that Teresa and Jennifer were the ones who wanted the rumor out there since they were the ones who talked to Laura and shared the information with Danielle.
So when Teresa joined the conversation, Melissa called her a “loser”. And instead of addressing the main topic at hand, and revealing whether or not she was involved, Teresa focused on that and only that. Immediately after being called a loser, she turned to Dolores Catania and asked, “Did you see what Melissa just did?” Unfortunately for Teresa, she couldn’t get anyone to write off Melissa in that moment, so she stormed off like a child huffing and puffing.
Melissa tried confronting Teresa by following her into the kitchen, but nothing really came of it. Teresa said she didn’t want to give Melissa the attention she was seeking, but the partygoers outside could tell something wild was happening, so they jumped inside to figure things out. And when Luis heard that Melissa called Teresa a “loser”, his eyes bugged out, his face turned red, and he told the camera he’s “winning” before realizing he’s the fiance of Teresa and not a star of the show. So he quickly pointed his finger at Teresa and told the camera she’s winning. But winning at what? We’re confused.
Next time on the #RHONJ S13 finale!! ?? pic.twitter.com/mRnpOks1f0
— Jack?? (@RHONJ_OBSESSED) May 10, 2023
But that’s not all — things quickly escalated from there. Margaret screamed at Danielle and called her “desperate”. She also yelled at Jennifer and threw out another dig about Bill cheating on her, which resulted in Jennifer screaming bloody murder from across the room. Jennifer said Bill is innocent because his mistress “threw herself at him” (umm…). Basically, everyone had to be dragged out of the party and everyone left at odds with each other. And Luis said something about a man named Bo Dietl knowing things about Joe, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
The next day, everyone tried wrapping their minds around what had happened. Jennifer went to Teresa’s to console her, while Dolores called Melissa to see how she was doing. Teresa acted like she was a victim, telling Jennifer that she was “shaking” while lighting candles before her arrival. She also said she never brought up the rumor or asked anyone to reveal it on camera because she “knew” it would be pinned on her. As for Melissa — well, she told Dolores that she’s “done” with Teresa and she and Joe wouldn’t be attending her wedding. She also told Dolores that she could pass that message to Teresa since Dolores was also heading over to Teresa’s to join her and Jennifer for an afternoon chat.
At Teresa’s, Luis jumped into the conversation (as he’s been doing lately), and defended Teresa by saying he was the one who reached out to Joe about the rumor six months prior. He said Teresa didn’t want to tell Joe, so he did it as a favor to Joe because Joe “didn’t deserve” to have it blow up in his face. Sure, Jan. Anyway, it was during this conversation that Luis also told Dolores that he hired a private investigator (Bo Dietl), who also happens to be one of his “best friends”, to do digging on everyone in the cast, and he now knows things about everyone. “There’s so much more,” Luis said. Then, when a producer asked Teresa what other information she knows, she said, “I don’t know anything.” She’s probably just holding it for season 14 and then having Danielle divulge the information to the group because let’s be real — that’s always been her MO.
Even Dolores was confused by Luis’ admission. In her own private confessional, she said, “I don’t understand why he’s talking with a private investigator. I don’t understand [it]”.
Back in the room, Teresa said she’s “so done” with Melissa and Joe and she’s cutting them out of her life — “like I did with my cousin Kathy [Wakile],” she told Jennifer, as thought that was something to be proud about. And now, she just wants to focus on her wedding.
Want more drama? New episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey air Tuesdays at 8pm on Bravo.
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