To the toxic fans that have ruined my once-favorite Bravo series, The Real Housewives of New Jersey:
Congratulations on destroying the show that has so clearly become your lifeblood. In being so desperate to not only support your favorite stars on RHONJ, but also insert yourself into the drama in whatever way you possibly can, you have ensured that the series as it currently stands will cease to exist. No matter which side of the fence you have fallen on over the years, time’s up. This cast that you so love to throw your support behind, or troll online, is done. And you’ve got no one else to blame but yourselves.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be too surprised, and maybe I’m being a little too harsh. Of course, the blame shouldn’t lie entirely at your feet. After all, you were just fans. You have been vicious and toxic while often remaining anonymous, but still, you are just fans. You are a sad but understandable product of social media. “Keyboard warriors,” some might say. Brave only when behind a screen, but fickle enough to pose for a photo with any of the cast members if you accidentally on purpose bump into them at an event.
It is the Real Housewives who afforded you that privilege—of finally becoming a part of your favorite reality show—that allowed the foundations to really crumble. Sharing early access screeners to episodes ahead of their airing so you could get a hit tweet post on X and build up a social media following before planting stories to be released at certain times in a bid to ensure they could be discussed while cameras were up must have been quite the intricate operation. Honestly, it puts Reality Von Tease to shame.
Toxic Real Housewives of New Jersey fans became a part of the show they claimed to love, by allegedly leaking stories on behalf of castmates
Purported evidence from a reformed toxic fan has been spreading like wildfire. Both Teresa Giudice and Jennifer Aydin are accused of speaking with fan accounts and engaging to the point of encouraging smear campaigns across the internet. Teresa batted the accusations away on a recent Watch What Happens Live appearance, while Jennifer seemingly took some accountability, saying she had learned a lesson. Pressed on what that lesson was, however, she immediately reverted to deflection. That seems to be the RHONJ way.
Cue the Teresa and Jennifer stans, who will say Melissa Gorga and Margaret Josephs have also spoken to bloggers in their time. One prominent Melissa fan was at an Envy fashion show, and Margaret is accused of getting her hands on one of those damn pizza ovens that Luis Ruelas supposedly “screwed” Joe Gorga over. So, they’re just as bad, right? Wrong.
Spoiler alert: These things are not the same. They’re not even in the same realm. So, Melissa had a fan at an Envy fashion show. So, Marge tried to throw shade by getting her hand on a limited-edition pizza oven that never made it to the shelves. How can anybody seriously compare this to castmates trying to step into the shoes of production? It is a delusion of the highest level.
The end of a toxic RHONJ era
Now, as the RHONJ Season 14 finale looms, the curtain is about to fall—not just on the show but on the oxygen that has allowed such vitriol to fester online for the past few seasons. Because even when some lighthearted and incredibly petty shade is thrown by way of sending a batch of funeral flowers to mourn a “loss of dignity” between castmates, you toxic fans find a way to turn it into something much darker. No, it wasn’t a threat. Even Danielle ‘Is Bye a Threat?’ Staub wouldn’t claim such a thing.
The Bravo Gods have had their hand forced on this one. Now, we’re All About The Reboot. And no, we’re not paid by Housewives to write stories. The Reality Tea staff would be sunning it up in the Seychelles with Captain Jason by now if that were the case. We just have a broad church of writers with different opinions.
We’ll happily show all of our DMs, where our biggest crime is cheekily asking Andy Cohen to leak a story to us because he revealed he’s never been a leaker in his latest book release. Can you say the same?
Here’s to you, for ruining a once-beloved franchise.
With anger, disgust, and a little bit of pity,
Daniel Falconer
Managing Editor
