Arts & Entertainment
Real Housewives Rapture: "It's Done" Between Teresa and Everyone
Did Teresa conspire to out Melissa's past?

This week’s “Real Housewives of New Jersey” featured an alleged setup and a whole lot of intrigue as details from the past and present were revealed.
Last week, Angleo, a mysterious worker at a hair salon Teresa had never been to before told Teresa that her sister-in-law Melissa “danced” (i.e. stripped) for him many years ago at a gentlemen’s club in Elizabeth.
Giudice said she did not want to hear it and left the room, while friend and Posche owner Kim DePaola — Kim D. — pumped Angelo for more information. For some reason, Angelo was also at Kim’s fashion show later that night, and came up to Melissa Gorga to say hello.
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“I know I know him but I don’t know where he’s from,” Gorga said.
Giudice looked very uncomfortable.
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When Gorga got up to go to the bathroom, Giudice followed and asked Gorga if she knew who that man was. She then revealed to her sister-in-law what Angelo had said to her earlier that day. Gorga said she was a bartender there for a week and that she hated it.
“I did nothing wrong: I’m not ashamed of it. Technically it’s not a strip club, it’s a bikini bar,” Gorga said. “I mean, of course, the old men, you’d give them a drink and they’d say 'Here’s a $100 bill.' It was stupid not to work there.”
As the conversation continued, Melissa said she does not want to confront the man, but began to get irritated that Teresa had even entertained the idea.
“So you just believe him? You get your heart like that over something some stranger says?” she said. “Maybe we should just call your brother.”
"Now my brother’s going to get mad at me," Giudice said.
“Well, if he does, he does, you never should have entertained this,” Melissa said. “You have three nieces and nephews at home.”
Meanwhile, back at the table, Jacqueline Laurita began to get strange text messages from an unnamed mutual friend.
“[They said] that something is going to happen tonight, that I’m not the target, and not to leave,” Laurita said.
Later, she revealed that said friend was standing by Angelo as he talked about embarrassing Melissa that night, and that Teresa was standing next to him at the time.
Instead of doing anything to prevent a meltdown, she continued to text this friend and also Caroline and Lauren Manzo, who were sitting next to her.
“It’s pretty obvious to me that something went down [that] everybody’s in on it but me,” said Kathy Wakile, who is sitting next to them.“And you know what? I’ll keep it that way.”
Angelo, who until now has only said hello to Melissa, said: “Anyway, [someone] calls me up and says something like Kim and Teresa want to blow the whistle on her."
This is the first truly damning piece of evidence that Teresa may have set up this “big reveal,” but none of the housewives heard it.
Instead, Teresa exited the bathroom looking for Angelo, but was told by Kim that he had left.
“I know Kim D’s not a fan of Melissa. I think now she’s loving every minute,” Giudice said, indicating there was in fact a setup going on. “I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t want to get in the middle because then I look like the bad guy.”
Giudice sat back down with Kathy Wakile at the table and said she was looking for someone who was “talking sh**” about Melissa.
“If someone is telling the truth, they don’t just disappear,” Wakile said.
After talking to husband Joe and telling him he did not have to come talk to Angelo for her, Melissa also returned to the table. Kim D joined them to apologize for Angelo, but Gorga told her to “take a walk.”
“I can’t help but think that Kim D was a huge part of this,” she said. “And … does Teresa mean to tell me that she had no idea that this was going on?”
For some reason, Manzo decided to show Gorga the texts Laurita had been getting, despite her daughter telling her not to.
“Nothing’s adding up,” Laurita said. "All I can think of is Teresa knew something was going on and she’s involved in this.”
All of the housewives except Giudice went outside to discuss. Gorga finally filled Wakile in on exactly what had been said and indicated that her sister-in-law was involved.
“All of the negative things that come my way are coming from Teresa,” she said.
Just when it seemed they might get away with just embarrassment and resentment, Joe Giudice and Rich Wakile showed up — though Rich is uncharacteristically quiet the entire time.
Laurita talked to the Gorgas and said she believed Teresa set them up.
“Why when we’re in such a good spot and everything is where we always wanted it to be?” Gorga said. “Why? Because it’s that important to take me down. Buckle up bitches. Here we go.”
While Melissa confronted Teresa again, Joe got into a shouting match with Kim D, telling her to “go snort another line” and indicating that he would hit her if she weren’t a woman.
“You are nothing; I play with the big boys so don’t f*** with me,” Kim D replied.
Eventually, the Gorgas are coaxed into a car, although Joe seemed frustrated he had not yet gotten to hit anyone. He asked Jacqueline if Teresa set it up, and she said she would send him the text messages she had gotten indicating that was the case.
“It’s just another notch on the belt,” Joe Gorga said. “I’m fed up. I just can’t anymore. A person who can try to hurt you so bad doesn’t love you; they don’t, it’s impossible. I’ve got closure. I just have to move on with my life.”
Giudice, who had been “hiding” in the club for quite some time, confronted Jacqueline about the accusation that she set the whole thing up.
“Obviously, there’s someone trying to set me up and maybe you’re involved,” she shouted.
Manzo seemed pleased. “Jacqueline finally has her 'aha' moment,” she said. “She’s looking Teresa square in the eye and Teresa is saying maybe it was you Jacqueline; it wasn’t me, with her audience around pointing her finger in the most evil of ways. There’s no denying who this person is now, is there?”
“How dare you?” Laurita said. “You’re disgusting. You’re scum. I am completely done.”
As they drove away, Joe Gorga shouted out the window at Teresa that he could not believe she hung out with Kim D, despite Melissa telling him just to shout “Shame on you.” Teresa approached the car and said she wanted to confront Angelo with Melissa, because she was not going to fight with some guy alone.
“At my Christmas party, I threw out a lawyer that I don’t even know, an older woman and a mother, for you!” he said, recalling an event from Season 3.
They drove off, and still the drama and mudslinging continued.
“It just blows my freaking mind how 'J' works. Chris [Laurita] has told my husband he met Jacqueline as a stripper,” Giudice said. “Maybe she got involved because she has some guilty conscience.”
It was then revealed that the Season 3 reunion was filmed just twelve hours after all of this happened, explaining why Laurita could not attend.
“She just felt she couldn’t come here today and look at Teresa,” Manzo said in the show that aired a year ago.
More clips from the reunion show are played while each cast member reflected on where they currently stood in relation to Teresa.
“She’s invisible to me. I hope I never see her again,” Manzo said.
The other cast mates said similar things.
“Right after the fashion show, my brother sent a text to me [that said] ‘You’re dead to me,’” Giudice said. “Really? Because of what Jacqueline said? And you know what: I don’t even want to cry, because I f***ing hate him. It’s done.”
Perhaps some questions will be answered at the three part reunion that begins next week.
All of the housewives have indicated it is incredibly emotional and explosive.On Sunday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live” Bravo producer Andy Cohen said he barely got out alive.
The show airs Sundays at 10 on Bravo.
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