At the beginning of The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 14, Jenn Fessler pulled a Dolores Catania and became friends with both sides of the divided cast.
Despite her years-long friendship with Margaret Josephs, she became friendly with her enemies Jennifer Aydin, Teresa Giudice, and Jackie Goldschneider.
After filming wrapped, Jenn strongly implied that she was no longer Team Teresa and Jennifer, leading to questions about why their friendship imploded.
The common consensus was that Margaret urged her to pick a side, but Jenn has now set the record straight.
In a new sneak peek of the Off the Rails special that Bravo is airing instead of a reunion, the 54-year-old revealed that she distanced herself after allegations went public that the pair were leaking information to bloggers.
It makes sense that she would want to have a breather if she could no longer trust the people she thought were her friends, but if she followed that logic, she probably shouldn’t be speaking to any of her fellow cast members.
Jenn Fessler is done with Teresa and Jennifer
Over the years, it’s become abundantly clear that certain cast members communicate with bloggers, sharing stories to then bring up on camera.
It’s a broader issue with this particular iteration of the Real Housewives franchise, and the only way to nip that in the bud is to have producers bake it into the stars’ contracts that this conduct is unacceptable.
One very telling aspect of the latest footage of the alternative reunion is that Melissa Gorga and Margaret are making the people on their team pick sides.
Earlier in the clip, we see Dolores popping in to check in with them because she’s spending the day filming with Teresa and Jennifer.
Picking sides feeds into a bigger problem with this particular entry in the franchise, which is why producers and Bravo are considering a reboot.
The cast is the reason for the reboot
If people don’t film with each other, there’s no show, and this season was cut short very early into filming without so much as a cast trip, so it’s obvious the cast dynamic is quickly killing the show.
The sad part is that Jenn could have been a great cast member because she was initially unafraid to play both sides.
Now that she’s picked the other side, there’s no real reason for her to remain on the show.
There should be plenty more drama when the full episode premieres on Bravo, but thus far, it looks like people will be accused without being able to defend themselves because the filming takes place across two rooms.
Where’s the fun in that?
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo on Sundays at 8/7c. Stream Seasons 1-14 on Peacock.