Melissa Gorga revealed what her Real Housewives of New Jersey producers don’t like while appearing on Tamra Judge and Teddi Mellencamp‘s podcast on Friday.
In addition to offering an update on where she stands with Jackie Goldschneider, 47, noting what upset her most about their feud and sharing why she believes Jackie switched sides, Melissa, 45, shared her thoughts on potentially being fired from the show and shaded the alternate reunion as pointless.
“That was always frowned upon by the producers. It was always, ‘Pick a side,’” Melissa shared on the August 22 episode of In the Twot Seat of cast members being neutral. “All of the sudden, they love it from [Dolores Catania]. [But] they needed someone to do that in Jersey.”
Amid filming on season 14, Melissa and Jackie suffered a falling out. And, in the months since, they haven’t spoken.
As Melissa noted, their last run-in was at one of Jackie’s book signings.
“I haven’t spoken to Jackie since … I went to her book signing during filming … I did the right thing, even after she came to my housewarming party,” she shared.
As for what annoyed her most about the situation, Melissa shaded Jackie as “desperate” for going against Margaret Josephs, 57, and attempting to make her friendship with Teresa Giudice, 53, an issue between them.
“In every scene she was in with me, she was going hard for Margaret … I would approach her and I would say to her, ‘What are you doing Jackie? This is out of left field. Margaret always rallied for you,’” Melissa recalled. “[Margaret] would remind me, I have text messages from Margaret, uh-oh, screenshots, saying, ‘Invite Jackie. Don’t forget about Jackie. Let’s call Jackie, Keep her at dinner.’ Because she knows that Jackie was so sensitive about it because Jackie would always call her.”
“Her and I were close too. We always had each other’s backs, Jackie and I, but what pissed me off the most was that in every single scene — and they didn’t show us having this conversation but we had it — she would say to me, ‘You’re just mad Melissa. You’re just mad because now I’m friends with your sister-in-law.’ And I would say, ‘I’m not mad. Stop trying to make me mad. I’m not mad.’”
“She was so annoyed and mad that I wasn’t mad because she wanted that to be the thing,” Melissa added.
When Melissa was then asked why Jackie switched sides amongst the RHONJ cast, Melissa made it clear that she didn’t take Jackie’s friendship with Teresa seriously, saying, point blank, “She hates her. Sorry. It’s so obvious.”
Looking to the future of the show, Melissa confirmed she’s prepared to make an exit.
“Because of all the rumors that are out there, I am fully prepared for anything. I think I would realize that [Teresa] and I are two extremely different characters … So if Bravo decides to go that route and kind of the darker, whatever it is, route, then I need to say, ‘That is not a show that I want to be on anyway,’ which it truly isn’t,” she stated. “I do want to be on [RHONJ]. I do not want to be on that toxic sh*t so as long as she is there and that whole thing would come back, I wouldn’t find it as a loss.”
“And I also want to say, I’ve had a 14-year run. These things do have an end. You can’t do it forever,” she continued. “So, do I want to come back? Do I hope that they do something a little fresh and new? Of course. I hope that there’s some changes and I don’t know that I’ll be a part of them. I don’t think anybody knows but if they chose that route, I don’t want to be on it anyway. So I feel like it’s a good time to say, ‘It’s time.’”
Also on the podcast, Melissa reflected on the alternative reunion, which saw her and her cast members at a watch party for the finale episode.
“Everyone [hated it]. I actually thought it was pointless. It did nothing,” she stated. “I watched it live and I was like, … I didn’t want to keep seeing the finale again. We already saw that. It was trial and error.”