Heavy/Peacock Teresa Giudice, Dolores Catania.
Dolores Catania said “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” cast members still wanted to tape a reunion following their doomed season finale luncheon filmed at Rails Steakhouse.
In an interview with Out magazine in August 2024, Catania confirmed that the cast was ready to face off in a reunion setting with Bravo host Andy Cohen.
“They wanted to sit,” Catania said. “They had their dresses ready. I had never seen this group so excited to go to the reunion because it was going to be World War III. It was going to be hand-to-hand combat. Yeah, that’s what it was. They were like, ‘I got my dress. I’m ready to go.’ It was that way. And then I think it was a decision that [producers] had to make. ”
In June, People magazine confirmed that the RHONJ cast would not sit down for a reunion for the first time in the show’s 14-season history.
Another source told Page Six on June 1, “The women were notified by production this week that a traditional reunion wasn’t happening this season amid the divisive state of the show.”
In addition to Catania, the cast for the 14th season of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” included Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral, and Rachel Fuda, with Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler appearing as “friends.”
The Cast Returned to Rails For a Watch Party Instead of a Reunion
The season 14 finale taped at Rails included a physical altercation between Cabral and Aydin and a shouting match between estranged sisters-in-law Giudice and Gorga. Fessler actually walked out of the scene. The luncheon ended with Josephs dropping a bombshell announcement about Goldschneider’s secret meeting with the ex-wife of Giudice’s husband. By the end of the disastrous get-together, a dejected Catania sat alone at the table at the Towaco, New Jersey restaurant.
With no hope for a resolution among the cast members, producers opted to have the cast film a watch party, once again at Rails, in lieu of a traditional reunion. The RHONJ taping took place on July 15, 2024, and will air on Sunday, August 11 on Bravo, according to Variety.
An insider told People magazine that the divided cast watched the finale episode in two separate rooms and issued commentary on it. While it was a low-drama event, there was “at least one major revelation” that stunned cast members in both rooms, the outlet reported.
In a sneak peek clip released by Bravo, Giudice’s room for the screening included her pals Aydin, Goldscheider, and Catania, while the other room housed Gorga, Josephs, Cabral, Fuda, and Fessler.
Catania reportedly opted to dip in and out of both rooms. She admitted to Out that the watch party format was less stressful than a reunion. “The different rooms kind of worked out. It did,” she told the outlet.
Cohen was not present for the taping.
Andy Cohen Said the Decision to Scrap the Reunion Was Made After Producers Watched the Finale
PeacockA scene from the RHONJ season 14 finale.
Cohen previously said there was no need to have a “Real Housewives of New Jersey” reunion. During a June appearance on Sirius XM’s “Reality Checked” with Kiki Monique, the Bravo host teased, “The finale is kind of the finale and the reunion all in one” and promised the season would feel “complete” after viewers watched it. Cohen noted that producers would try to figure out a way to wrap up the season without “a conventional reunion.”
In an August episode of his Sirius XM show “Andy Cohen Live,” Cohen said the decision to scrap the reunion came after producers saw what took place in the finale.
“We all came to the decision about the reunion separately after we saw it,” he said. “Given the conversations we were having with all of the women who were so mired in ‘This one’s doing that on social media and this one’s doing this.’ And it just like, oh my God this is the most unfixable group in every direction.”
Cohen added, “You want there to be resolution and there was never going to be any resolution on any level about any of these issues. So we all just came to that separately when we saw the episode.”
Bravo has not confirmed the future of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” In June, Cohen appeared on the “Jeff Lewis Has Issues” podcast, where he stated that the long-running reality show can’t continue with such a divided cast. “When the stars don’t want to be in the same galaxy, that’s not sustainable,” he said. Cohen also hinted that a full reboot of the show is “an option.”
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Dolores Catania Says RHONJ Cast Still Wanted Season 14 Reunion After Finale Fight