RHONJ Recap: Drama Unveiled

This week’s RHONJ recap episode focuses on Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda shopping for Melissa and Joe Gorga’s luau party at their shore house in Tom’s River, NJ. The RHONJ recap highlights the excitement and preparations for this extravagant event.

As the ladies discuss their weekend plans at the shore, Rachel asks Danielle about her intense conversation with Joe at the charity softball game. Danielle explains it was an emotional chat about feuding with a sibling. Joe told her to never give up trying to reconcile with her brother which is advice Rachel supports. Despite being appreciative of the advice, Danielle says she has to protect herself, hinting that her situation is a little different than Joe and Teresa Giudice’s sibling drama. However, Danielle believes there is hope for Teresa and Joe’s relationship.    

The conversation shifts to Jennifer Aydin and Teresa’s warning about Margaret Josephs being a better friend than an enemy. The ladies aren’t sure what to believe, but Danielle admits she’s wary of Margaret, especially after hearing that her best friend Laura Lee Jensen says she keeps an arsenal of dirt on all the ladies to use whenever she wants – point in case exposing Bill Aydin’s affair last season.

Next up, Teresa and Jennifer meet up to get gifts for Teresa’s bridal party. Before the conversation switches to the group’s weekend down the shore, Teresa says she wants to wear classic diamond studs for her wedding, which Jennifer shuts down, saying she can be simple every other day but not on her wedding. As for going down the shore, Teresa admits she’s hurt Joe and Melissa didn’t invite her and Louie to stay at their shore house. Jennifer points out that it’s another instance of them siding with Margaret over Teresa. The OG Housewife agrees, adding that she doesn’t understand how they are mad Melissa’s family isn’t invited to her wedding when they won’t even invite her and Louie to stay at their shore house. Both agree that Margaret must have dirt on both Joe and Melissa.

The ladies and their hubby’s all get ready to head to the shore.

At the Aydins’ house, Bill and Jennifer discuss their recent therapy session as they pack. Jennifer notes how Bill was silent for most of the session. Bill insists he was quiet to avoid saying “hurtful and inconsiderate things.” However, Jennifer isn’t buying it and explains that she and Bill don’t talk enough. Instead, they skirt around the issues and pretend everything is fine when it is clearly not.

The group finally arrives at the shore with Jennifer showing off her and Bill’s new townhouse down the shore, which is next to the boardwalk. Teresa and Danielle are staying with Jen and Bill. Melissa and Joe, on the other hand, will be hosting Margaret and Joe and Jackie and Evan Goldschenider, while Jen Fessler and Dolores Catania will be staying with Rachel Fuda at her shore house.

As everyone gets settled, Margaret tells Melissa that Teresa invited Marge Sr to her wedding at the charity softball game. This news shocks Melissa since her mom isn’t even invited to the wedding. Back at the Aydin’s, Teresa reveals that she’s never stayed overnight at Joe and Melissa’s shore house, noting that Gia asked to stay there once, and Melissa said ‘No.’ Danielle and Jennifer are gobsmacked by Teresa’s claim. Then at Casa Gorga, the group starts discussing Joe’s conversation with Danielle at the softball game. Joe says the rift has to be over more than just Instagram,,and Jackie agrees, saying she think Danielle is leaving out a huge piece of the puzzle. Everyone agrees with Jackie’s claim that Danielle is holding back on information about the feud that will make her look bad.

It’s finally time for Melissa and Joe’s luau party, and everyone is ready to party. As the party starts, the shots start flowing, which means the shade will start flying very soon. The drama starts with Marge peppering Rachel to learn if Teresa really warned the newbies about her. Rachel confirms it’s true, leading Marge to make it known she will have to address that will Teresa.

Rachel then spills that when shopping with Danielle, the mom of two claimed that she heard Marge is locked and ready with her arsenal of dirt on everyone. Marge denies the claim and insists she’s not judgmental like Danielle, Teresa, and Jennifer claim.

Turns out there’s also more fun drama brewing between the men. Joe shares his plans to initiate John Fuda into the group with Frank Catania and Louie. The Grow With Gorga founder says he has to get John back after he brought Depends to guys’ night. So what does Joe have in store for John? Wax. Hopefully, he just plans to wax his chest or something and not a more private party – but you never know with these guys!

Meanwhile, Marge is still talking about Teresa and Jennifer’s outlandish claims that she has an arsenal of tea on all the ladies, yet now she’s bringing Melissa into the conversation. Melissa clearly has no clue what an arsenal is, and Marge teases that Melissa and Teresa are more alike than they know.

The shots are flowing, and Teresa finally moseyed over to where Marge, Jen F, Jackie, and Rachel are hanging out to get a drink. The ladies are chatting when Jen F says she’s still waiting for Rachel’s not-so-nice side to come out, saying that so far, she’s only acted like a “sweet little angel.” Teresa agrees with Jen F, but Jackie insists they would have already seen that side of Rachel if that was the case. Marge takes the opportunity to question Teresa about her warning to the newbies. Teresa says she doesn’t recall saying anything negative about Marge. She goes on to accuse Rachel of trying to start drama between her and Marge; however, Rachel insists that’s not the case and that she’s “straight up. No BS.” Rachel claims that she’s just telling Margaret what Teresa said however,, Teresa insists she just gave them a heads up that if you get Marge’s bad side she’s “ruthless.” This upsets Marge, who then accuses Teresa of “undermining her character.” Teresa then insists that her reconciliation with Marge is “genuine”; she notes that “if anyone pushed the wrong button on any of us, we would fight back.”

There’s a break in the drama when the group watches the hula dancers. A wasted Bill joins the dancers, which Marge is embarrassed by, but it’s actually cute and fun. Dolores and Frank have a conversation, and Frank says he’s upset Dolores isn’t staying at his shore house. He also thinks Paulie needs to be better at hanging with the guys and him. Dolores says she doesn’t feel bad for Frank because he’s got Brittany and admits Paulie was supposed to come down the shore which is why she didn’t stay at Frank’s house because it would have been strange for her man.

Teresa and Louie tell some of the ladies (Marge, Jen F, Rachel, and Dolores) they are excited about the wedding, which is four weeks away. Jen F brings up the fact that earlier, they talked with Melissa about her mom not being invited to the wedding, which Jen F thinks has to be an “oversight.” Teresa makes it clear that’s not an oversight, stating they have a “history,” and she will leave it at that.

As for the history, Teresa explains in her confessional:

“I guess I’ll be honest, what happened 10 years ago is I got busy, and I guess they got jealous. [Melissa]’s mother and sisters were writing stuff about me on social media. I know my mother would never write about anybody on social media, so I always just kept my distance after that. You know, I respected them. I’m the type like, I’ll forgive, but I never forget.”

Jen F says she thinks this snub may cause a bigger wedge between Teresa, Joe, and Melissa. Teresa says if she invited Melissa’s mom, she’d have to invite her sisters too, and so on. However, Dolores and Marge don’t agree with Marge noting that “in Joe’s eyes, Donna Marco is part of the family.” Louie chimes in, revealing that he spoke to Melissa’s mom today and apologized for her not being invited to the wedding. This news shocks Teresa, but she sees that Louie is coming from a good place but admits she wishes Joe just came to her with his concerns instead of creating drama. The rest of the ladies think Louie’s move is a little odd, but he explains that he doesn’t have a 10-20 year history with the Marco family like Teresa does.

Meanwhile, in Joe Gorga’s world, he’s getting ready to initiate John into the group as he goes to heat up the wax. Yikes.  The guys are wasted, like slurring so badly. Joe can barely put a sentence together when he announces his plans to wax John’s chest. John takes the waxing like a champ but gets to the point where he has had enough torture.

If that wasn’t enough chaos, Jackie approaches a very drunk Jen A. asking what it would take for her to truly mend fences with Margaret. She claims that Marge was hurt that Jennifer continues to bad mouth her despite them making up at last year’s reunion. Jennifer says making up doesn’t mean they are “besties” and that Marge “did something that was really hurtful” to her and her children. She goes on to explain that her youngest daughter Olivia has suffered severe trauma because of Margaret’s unearthing Bill’s affair. Jackie explains that she understands where Jen is coming from because her daughter was worried she and Evan were going to split when unfounded infidelity claims about Evan came out two seasons ago. Jennifer, who is again super drunk, then starts opening up to Jackie about her and Bill’s marriage issues. Not good. Thankfully, Jackie seems to have empathy for Jennifer’s pain.

The drama never ends in Jersey. The party and the drinking are still going strong. Jennifer A joes with Dolores and Danielle that she’s going to go finger-bang Bill’s butthole. Not an image I need to picture. Hopefully, Jen was just joking but to each their own. Then Danielle overhears Jackie talking shit about her to Melissa, Marge, Jen F, and some of the other ladies. Jackie says she sees that Danielle can be fun but notes she feels there’s a nasty side to the RHONJ newbie.

The demoted Housewife says Danielle is lying about the story about why she doesn’t speak to her brother. Jackie claims Danielle is hiding something she doesn’t want to reveal the truth because it will make her look bad, and Marge agrees that it’s more than “stupid, petty, Instagram” posts. Teresa notes that Italians hold grudges, while Melissa adds that the whole thing is “sad.”

Danielle is growing more and more upset hearing her name being dropped by Jackie and Marge. Instead of throwing fists, Danielle walks away to chat with her husband on the dock. The mom of two says she feels like it’s high school all over again. As they chat, Melissa and Joe approach the couple to see how they are doing. Danielle explains why she’s upset and encourages them to discuss their issues with her directly.

Melissa decides to stir the pot by telling Danielle that the group feels they are missing something when it comes to the fallout with her brother. Danielle says she is pissed and that all she wants to do is rage on the ladies right now. She admits she doesn’t like her character being questioned. Instead of approaching the ladies, Danielle decides to leave the party, telling Teresa and Jennifer, she’s “done” with the “catty bullsh-t.” The hot-tempered side of Danielle really comes out. I’m getting some old-school Teresa vibes from her in this instance – love it!

The episode ends with Danielle telling Teresa and Jennifer that she’s not someone the other ladies want to mess with, and you can tell by the look on Tre and Jen’s faces that they believe her.

 The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm on Bravo.

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