RHONJ Reunion Show – Part 1

I checked the Atlantic City skyline, and yes, the Borgata Hotel, Casino, & Spa is still standing after being the site of Bravo TV’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion show.

Teresa, Jacqueline, Caroline, and Danielle all managed to sit in the same area together with host, Andy Cohen, to tape what has now become The Real Housewives’ series infamous reunion show. Everything started off civil, with Cohen complimenting Caroline on how great she looks (she’s down 25 pounds and did it by controlling her food portions). He even somehow managed to allow his mouth to form the words to say congratulations to Danielle on her song and even said, “I didn’t kow you can sing.”  She can’t, Andy, but I guess you had to say something nice before everyone started to rip into her.

The ladies get asked a question about MTV’s show, Jersey Shore, and only Teresa admits to having watched some of the show, but said she’s not into it because the castmates have sex too soon with people they just meet while filiming the show.  She then makes a quick jab at Danielle by saying she thinks Danielle can relate to the show then (clearly a reference to the sex tape of Danielle being marketed and her numerous confirmed and alleged male partners).  The two ladies go at it right away with the back-and-forth banter, anger, and finger pointing.  I checked my clock and the show hadn’t even reached the 10 minute mark by this point.

After the first blowup settles down, the topic turns towards Danielle’s misuse of the word “woman” when it should be “women”. This has bugged me for some time, but she blames her accent and says she really is saying “women”.  I don’t know what kind of accent she has, but she clearly isn’t saying the right word. 

Teresa states the obvious, saying that Dina left the show because of Danielle, and we learn the reason behind all the high emotions at the Season 1 reunion show.  At that taping, Caroline became very upset because of something Danielle did to Dina and no one came right out and said what it was.  We have since learned that Danielle apparently tried to have Dina’s daughter, Lexi, taken away from her.  Apparently, Danielle contacted Dina’s ex-husband and said that Dina falsified his name on the show’s legal documents that allowed for Lexi to be filmed for the show.  That’s what the big blowup was about back then, but it was nothing compared to what was getting ready to go down.

Attention is then focused on Danielle not acknowledging Jacqueline’s baby when he was born because the two had been close at one time.  Danielle then says something about whether Teresa acknowledged her own nephew and Teresa EXPLODES.  She jumps off the couch and goes right in front of Danielle, screaming at the top of her lungs.  Danielle gets up to go into another room.  Teresa is still trying to go after her, and Andy tries to hold her back.  He ends up getting tossed down like a ragdoll. Remember, this is the same lady who overturned a huge dinner table and tossed another man aside who tried to calm her down, so she’s one strong cookie.  Teresa starts hurling pillows at Danielle, who has now retreated to another room and is being calmed by her “people” which include a hair and make-up person, and her female partner, Lori Michaels.  Oh yeah, Danielle has a female lover now, didn’t you know?  It’s not surprising because men are probably trying to avoid her like the plague.

After some reassuring that Teresa is not going to toss her back to Wayne, NJ, Danielle comes back out and Andy attempts to peacefully continue the interviews.  Caroline states that she doesn’t see a light in Danielle’s girls’ eyes, and Jacqueline says that the girls cry at school because other children tease them about their mother and her issues involving what they see on the show.  Danielle doesn’t think there is anything wrong with her girls and still praises herself as a great mother.  I would love to see where her two daughters are in 10 years.  Hopefully they have not spent countless hours on a therapist’s couch, however maybe that’s what they’ll need after being raised by their not-so-sane mother.

Clips are shown of Teresa’s spending habits on the show, which obviously led into talking about her family’s money problems, bankruptcy filing, and rumors of her house being in foreclosure.  Teresa admits she didn’t have a clue as to how much debt they were in because Joe didn’t let her know.  She said she’s not mad at him for that and loves him even more for not trying to worry her.  I don’t know if she really feels this way or was it just a front for the cameras, but I would be livid if my husband was leading me to believe we could afford our lifestyle, and then turn around and say we’re $10 million in debt and my belongings have to be auctioned off.  I’m surprised she didn’t toss Joe like she did the table.

Danielle, however, is the topic of much of the show and the conversation goes from her rumored romantic involvement with Danny, to her sex tape that is on the internet that many believe was filmed by a third party.  She defended her behavior at The Brownstone the night of the benefit dinner for the sick child, and the other housewives claim she didn’t even give any money like she said she did.  She said she went door-to-door collecting “commitments” in the amount of $6,000 for the family of the sick child.  So basically, people said they would give her money, but nobody really did.  If she’s as fabulous as she claims she is, why didn’t she just write a personal check for that amount instead of having to go solicit funds?  I really think this woman is flat broke, and I want her fifteen minutes of fame to be up so she can stop getting publicity checks and go and get a real job like the rest of us.

I love how Caroline tells Danielle off in a way that is so calm, yet she’s chopping the woman to shreds with her words.  The best line of the night came from Caroline who said to Danielle, “Do not sit here and make a fool of me ’cause I’m sitting here looking at the fool.”  I love it!

Part two of the reunion will air next Monday night at 9 p.m., and I will have a front row seat right in front of my television with a bowl of popcorn because tv doesn’t get much more entertaining than this.

Photo: Bravo TV

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