Andy Cohen is setting the record straight about his suggestion that there could be “all fresh faces” on the upcoming 15th season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
After Andy, 56, spoke of “big changes” and revealed he was “rebooting the show” on Monday’s episode of his radio show, seemingly confirming that the current cast, Teresa Giudice, 52, Melissa Gorga, 45, Dolores Catania, 53, Margaret Josephs, 57, Jennifer Aydin, 47, Danielle Cabral, 38, Rachel Fuda, 33, Jackie Goldschneider, 47, and Jennifer Fessler, 54, would be fired, he returned to his series to clarify his statements.
“We had a caller the other day who called in about the Jersey Housewives and I was just riffing and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ You know, she had not heard that we are, you know, gonna reimagine the show in some way and I was just, I’m like, ‘Yeah, well, we’re rebooting it. That’s why. We got it,’ and she was kind of yammering on about Teresa and this and I go, ‘Yeah, well, you know what? Who knows? Maybe it’ll be all fresh faces,’” Andy recalled on the July 31 episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
According to Andy, he was surprised to see his comments making headlines as he’s discussed a potential reboot on the show “85 times.”
“I’m like, ‘Wait, this is not new news,’ and I was also not definitively saying it’s going to be all fresh faces. I was like, ‘Maybe all fresh faces, maybe not,’” he explained. “I mean … It’s just so weird. Sometimes it makes me think there’s not that much to write about, you know?”
Following Andy’s initial comments on Monday, an insider spoke to PEOPLE, confirming that when it comes to season 15, “Nothing has been decided yet.”
During another recent episode of Andy Cohen Live, Andy admitted to growing frustrated with the ongoing leaks about the series.
“I love the bloggers. They support the show. What I don’t like is — and it seems like it’s happened with Jersey in … a way that is unlike any other franchise — what I don’t like [is] the amount of leaks,” he admitted to listeners in July, signaling accusations made against Teresa and Jennifer Aydin.
“There’s a lot of screenshots coming out from a lot of the castmates, and I think Teresa’s lawyer is somehow involved,” he said. “There are elements to the engagement with bloggers that … have seemed to have added to the toxicity of the show and what this show is supposed to be about. [It’s] about a group of friends and wives and moms and sisters. And when it gets into all of this other mishegoss, that’s when … we kind of lose the plot, and I think that’s partially where we are in New Jersey, which is why we need to figure out a new direction.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 concludes with the finale episode on Sunday, August 4, at 8/7c on Bravo.