RHONJ Alum Claims New Cast Member Bought Her Way On to Show

Bravo Pictured: (l-r) Rachel Fuda, Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Teresa Giudice, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral

When “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” makes its season 13 debut on February 7, 2023, fans will be introduced to several new cast members.

Newcomers Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda will be main cast members in the upcoming season, while Jennifer Fessler has joined the Bravo reality show as a “friend of” the Housewives, according to Entertainment Weekly.

But a former RHONJ “friend” claims that one of the newbies bought her way onto the cast.

Here’s what you need to know:

RHONJ Friend Kim DePaola Said Rachel Fuda Bought Her Way onto the Show

Kim DePaola, aka Kim D., appeared on 25 episodes of RJONJ show from 2010 to 2018, per IMDb. She used to be friends with Teresa Giudice and still runs in the same circles as some of her former co-stars.

During a December 31, 2022 interview on the “Behind the Velvet Rope With David Yontef” podcast, Kim D. alleged that new RHONJ star Rachel Fuda provided free tile to Joe and Melissa Gorga when they were building their custom New Jersey mansion earlier this year — and that it helped her get on the show.

“Fuda is the tile place in Elmwood Park [New Jersey]. It’s been there forever,” Kim told Yontef. She added that when Rachel Fuda met her husband, John, she was eyeing the Fuda name because “Fuda Tile is very like echelon in Elmwood Park.”

Kim revealed that Fuda was at first friends with Brittany Mattessich, who is the current girlfriend of RHONJ regular Frank Catania.

“They were good friends,” Kim said. “Brittany brings [Fuda] around, she’s in Franklin Lakes. … She wants to be on the show desperately. She makes friends with Melissa, approaches Melissa and Joe and said, ‘Listen, I will give you all free tile for your house. … The whole house for free if you try to get me on the show.’ All free title. All granite. All tile. That is a lot of money, honey. A lot of money. Kitchen. Bathrooms. The whole house. Everything. Foyers.”

“She gets her interview, she gets on the show, she drops Brittany like a stale crust of bread,” Kim added. “And she dropped all her friends in Franklin Lakes and she stuck right up Melissa’s a**. That’s where she is. That’s where she’ll stay.”

Kim D. claimed on Yontef’s podcast that she has friends who know Fuda and they were “spilling their guts” about the tile story during a  Christmas Eve gathering.  She also described Fuda as ”determined.”

“This girl was determined. She was another one who was determined to step it up, step it up with the Fuda guy…to a Fuda to Brittany. To Melissa to a Housewife,” she said.

Kim also said that while she doesn’t personally “care” how Fuda got on RHONJ, she doesn’t like that she reportedly dropped her friends for Gorga. “I don’t like that she threw her friends away because all of a sudden she’s with Melissa Gorga, who they’re just using each other,” Kim said. “So it’s not a real friendship. Here we go with another fake s***.”

Kim did note that Fuda still had to be interviewed like any other potential Housewife, but that “a little nudge of the free s***” helped to get Gorga to push for her to join the show.

Heavy has reached out to Gorga’s rep for comment.

Rachel Fuda is Involved in the Family Tile Business & is Close Friends With Melissa Gorga

On her Bravo bio, Fuda is described as working full-time for her husband’s business, Valet King. But it is noted that she is also “heavily involved in John’s family’s company, Fuda Tile.” The company’s website states that Fuda Tile has been in business for more than 50 years and has multiple showroom locations in the New Jersey tri-state area.

According to Bravo, Fuda and Melissa Gorga met after their sons (Fuda’s stepson, Jaiden, and Gorga’s son, Gino) became friends at school.

The Fudas and Gorgas have also been photographed out to dinner together.

As for her new role as a Real Housewife, Fuda posted her official cast picture with the caption, “Super excited for this next chapter & to officially be a part of The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast! It’s been a wild ride- Can’t wait to see what season 13 brings!”

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