Multiple husbands confronted Louie over claims he hired a private eye to investigate them and launch a "smear campaign," Teresa stormed out, before the finale wrapped up with no clear path forward.
The reunion for "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" came to a chaotic end on Tuesday night as Andy Cohen struggled to make any headway with the women, their husbands and the drama that's plagued them all season.
As the House Husbands joined their wives on stage for Part 3 of the reunion, focus almost instantly reverted back to the feud between Teresa Giudice and her other half Louie Ruelas with Joe and Melissa Gorga. The four have been at war all season, as family tensions between Teresa, her brother and her sister-in-law escalated amid wedding planning. The season-long rift included botched business deals, cheating allegations and the Gorgas ultimately deciding to skip Teresa's wedding altogether.
But first, Louie addressed one of the less controversial but more "WTF" moments of the season: his claims that he wore Teresa's dead father's pajamas as a way to make her and her daughters "feel safe." He claimed that proclamation "came out wrong," explaining that he wore some sweatpants he found in a bag of clothes meant for her late dad, before telling Joe he went into this season hoping to "have a relationship" and true connection with Gorga.
"I want to believe you, I do. But every time I believe you, you screw me," Joe replied, before lamenting how much he missed how "humble" Teresa was when she first got out of prison. "She was the best ... we talked every day, I loved that," he added, before Teresa said they only spoke so often at the time because they were filming the show. She then said the reunion would be "the last time I'm going to speak to my brother," upsetting Joe.
As Teresa called Melissa a "gaslighting bitch," Cohen interjected to say, "You guys aren't getting anywhere." It's not the only time he or one of the cast members would say something along those lines.
Andy tried to get Frank and Dolores Catania to explain why their son Frankie was no longer working for Louie. While Frank and Joe made it seem like something shady was going on, Dolores tried to keep the peace -- saying she was "thankful" Louie gave him a job while adding she didn't want to bring their son into "this cess pit" of a reunion. Louie didn't say a word, before Cohen said the whole situation "begs a lot more questions."
Before he could ask any of them, however, Rachel Fuda's husband John interrupted with one of his own. "How come Louie and Teresa decided to bring my kid's mother into this? Why did you guys have me investigated?" he asked. The Fudas previously claimed Louie went looking for her adopted son's birth mother, who has since come out of the woodwork from prison claiming John was preventing her from seeing the child.
"I never had you investigated," Louie said, but John wasn't buying it. He said he was friends with the subcontractors used by Bo Dietl, the private investigator Ruelas claimed he had look into everyone on the cast during the season and they confirmed his suspicions. He also said a number used to contact his ex in prison was traced by to Dietl, before Rachel said she thought Dietl was even trailing them after they spotted him next to them at dinner.
Louie continued to deny ever employing Dietl, despite saying the complete opposite multiple times on camera. When asked to explain his proclamations about having intel on everyone, he said he was speaking out of anger.
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View StoryAs all this was going on, Andy interrupted to say that production had just been alerted there was a "security person" hired by Louie wanting to come upstairs. Ruelas said he didn't hire him, but claimed Dietl actually sent one after he and Teresa started getting death threats. Ruelas also claimed that he's only been working with Dietl on another harassment case, before accusing Margaret Josephs of speaking with the alleged harasser ... claims she then denied.
Louie was then asked whether he hired Dietl to orchestrate a "slander campaign" against Frank and Joe -- which he also denied -- before Andy attempted to break down the pizza oven mess between Louie, Teresa, Joe and Melissa. Cohen didn't get very far though, as they all started shouting over one another; eventually he even scolded Teresa, exclaiming, "Let him talk! You've been doing this all day!"
"You know what you are? You're a woman abuser, that's what you are. that's why I don't respect you," Gorga then flung at Louie, who denied any and all allegations of abuse. "You are going to meet your match one day ... in due time, you're going to regret this," Ruelas then told him, as Teresa claimed her husband "treats me f---ing amazing."
As the shouting match continued, Andy quipped, "Can we do something old fashioned and pretend I'm the host?" ... before asking Joe whether he has any regrets when it comes to skipping his sister's wedding. He did not, citing both Pizzagate and his claims they tried to say Melissa was cheating on him with multiple men. Louie and Teresa defended themselves, saying they weren't spreading cheating gossip, but were only trying to warn Joe what was being said so he could get ahead of it.
Cohen then brought up Joe and Melissa's claims that Teresa's daughter, Gia, said that Joe could "do better" than his current wife. While Gia wasn't there in person, she was contacted over the phone and denied every saying such a thing. Upset that her brother was allegedly lying about her own daughter, Teresa stormed out -- screaming, "You should be ashamed of yourself!" at Joe.
Backstage, she was livid. "He lies about my daughter? I don't want to go out there anymore and see him. He better not follow me," she shouted, "I don't want to make up with him, I want this over, I am done with him." On stage, however, Melissa expressed shock that Teresa -- in her mind -- was "literally having her child lie right now on national TV" about Joe's claims.
"We have never suffered like this. we've never had private investigators, smear campaigns. I think because there's so much out on him, he'd like to have a folder on everyone else," said Melissa, before Andy then went backstage to try and smooth things over. As he spoke with them, Cohen said they can't "keep re-litigating" the same issues over and over again, before telling them it was time to "go out there and finish this." When asked what Louie thought about all the allegations being thrown his way, he simply said, "They have to build this narrative, it's sad."
As they made their way back to the stage, Cohen apologized for yelling at Teresa, saying he was "just so frustrated." She seemed to accept the apology, getting flustered as she tried to say how frustrating the whole reunion was for her as well.
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View Story"Guys, listen, it's obvious we're not going to resolve anything. I want to just see if there's anything else, Teresa, you and Joe want to say to each other before I sent the husbands away," Cohen said to Giudice and Gorga once they got back on the stage. Teresa, for her part, simply said she was "heartbroken."
"You know what, Teresa, I will never say never. You are my only sister. I am not happy with you. I am upset with you. I will always love you," Joe told her. "If you got in a car accident tomorrow, I'm running by your side in that hospital. If you're sick, I will pick you up if something happened."
"Louie, you are who you are. You know the best thing to do? Forget about me, I will forget about you. That's it," he then told Ruelas. "Be the man and I'll be happy. Do your thing, leave me alone."
Before the men left, Frank asked Louie to assure them he wouldn't investigate them further. Though he quadrupled down on his claim he never did, he shook Frank's hand and promised he wouldn't, before then shaking Joe's hand and telling him, "I wish you well." He also went up to the Fudas and told Rachel she was a "Really good mother," before telling John, again, he never investigated him.
"If you want to be my friend, you will admit to it because I know you did it. Apologize like a man. If you're gonna come to me and apologize, f---ing own it," John shot back, before calling him both a "con man" and a "snake."
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View StoryWith that, the men went backstage and it was time for closing thoughts on the season. Dolores agreed with Andy by saying nothing got resolved between Teresa, Joe and their other halves. She felt they all just needed to "part ways" and spend a little time apart going forward.
Though Cohen said it seemed Teresa and Melissa found a way to "coexist" this season despite everything going on between them, Giudice said she was civil because she hoped to keep the peace ahead of her wedding. "I tried everything, I bent over backwards and she kept denying me every single time," added Teresa. Melissa, meanwhile, said she could "definitely feel the hate" coming from her sister-in-law, who she felt she could never please.
"I do love you no matter what you think, I worry about you and I'll go with the flow with whatever the family decides to do," she concluded.
The episode ended with an Irish whisky toast and some pizza, as Andy exclaimed, "What a wild ride."
See you next season!