The highly-anticipated finale also drops a Jackie Goldschneider bombshell that changes everything Teresa Giudice thought she knew about Margaret Josephs throughout the season, leading to a massive showdown.
It didn’t take long for things to go off the rails during Sunday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 14 finale.
During Sunday’s highly-anticipated episode, Jackie Goldschneider was seemingly revealed to be the one behind everything that Teresa Giudice tried to pin on Margaret Josephs throughout the season, in a “last supper” dinner organized by Dolores Catania at Rails Steakhouse — the scene of another RHONJ blowout meal.
While tensions were already high before the group got to the restaurant, the arguing kicked off right away between Jennifer Aydin and Danielle Cabral, who went tit for tat about about the latter’s charity event, which spun into a back-and-forth about money.
Jennifer claimed that Danielle was jealous of her life and mansion, while Danielle insisted that Jennifer’s huge house was “empty” in terms of the things that matter.
Jennifer then proceeded to make a dig at Nate Cabral’s chest after Danielle’s husband had gynecomastia surgery to remove breast tissue, prompting Danielle to respond by throwing something at Jennifer, and chaos ensued.
The sisters-in-law went at it next, with Teresa calling Melissa Gorga a “whore” and Melissa saying that Teresa was “white trash,” telling the RHONJ OG that the women in the group learn their bad behavior from her.
While all hope of reconciliation between Teresa and Melissa has long been lost, Teresa was quick to move on from this fight, setting her sights on her real target: Margaret. The women argued about timelines as it pertained to Teresa’s husband, Louie Ruelas, and his ex-girlfriend. They both insisted that the other had engaged in a smear campaign, before Teresa yelled, “You’re a disgusting human being with no soul.”
That’s when last season’s pre-reunion meeting at Margaret’s house came up. Jackie insisted that the get-together was “all of us showing up to decide how to destroy Louie,” despite what she had previously said.
Margaret was still Teresa’s target, as the latter woman yelled, “You’re full of s–t, that’s why you married the f–king plumber, you disgusting pig.”
While Rachel Fuda attempted to come to Margaret’s defense, igniting her own issues between Teresa and Rachel’s husband John, the real bomb was dropped when Margaret revealed that it was Jackie, not her, who invited Louie’s ex into the fray.
Teresa didn’t believe the claim, however, and Jackie denied it, too. Margaret had receipts, though, as she claimed to have screenshots showing many phone calls between Louie’s ex and Jackie dating back to 2021.
“I met with her,” Jackie eventually admitted to Teresa. “We hated each other. You went after my husband. And I was scared to tell you because I didn’t want to f–k this up, but I’m glad you know because I was always nervous that you were going to find out.”
Margaret, feeling vindicated, pounced on Jackie, reiterated to the group that it was Jackie, not her, who was behind all the drama with Louie all along. Jackie responded by telling Margaret to “shut the f–k up.”
“No!” Margaret shouted. “You let it come on me!”
In a confessional, Jackie explained her behavior, and owned up to what she did.
“Listen, it was February of 2021. That season opened with me and Teresa [at odds]. And the whole world was weighing in on whether or not my husband was cheating on me,” Jackie said of her husband, Evan Goldschneider. “Teresa and Jennifer were calling people, trying to get information on my husband, trying to get pictures of women, and here comes this woman saying, ‘Hey, I got something for you to put in your pocket.'”
“So, if Teresa was to say to me, ‘Well, your husband did this…’ I could say, ‘Well, your husband did this,'” she added. “That’s the game. That’s the game we were playing.”
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Despite Jackie’s confession, Teresa seemed unmoved, and almost okay with Jackie’s actions.
“I’m not surprised that Jackie talked to this person,” Teresa said in a confessional. “I get why she did it, because she thinks I was trying to hurt her with the Evan rumor, which I was — swear on my kids — I was not trying to hurt her.”
The admission came as a shock, though, to the rest of the women, with Jennifer predicting that while Teresa wasn’t showing it, she’ll be upset eventually.
“I feel like Teresa is giving a pass to Jackie because she doesn’t want to give Margaret the satisfaction that it worked,” Jennifer told the cameras. “But Teresa’s also known to have delayed reaction, so when these things process and settle, I don’t know how okay with this Teresa’s going to be.”
Melissa expressed upset over how the meeting went, calling it a “complete failure” in a confessional.
Dolores, meanwhile, agreed in a confessional of her own, stating, “Everybody cuts so deep, like, it’s toxic. I look at this sit-down like a death.”
In lieu of a traditional reunion, one final episode of this season will be airing next Sunday, which will feature the women watching back the explosive finale and adding behind-the-scenes commentary.
As far as the future of the series, Bravo exec Andy Cohen has said the network is toying with the idea of rebooting and re-casting the franchise following this toxic season.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey can be streamed in its entirety on Peacock.