The cast of “Real Housewives of New Jersey”.
Dolores Catania says she always expected to be fired from “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and was “grateful” every time she got the call to come back.
The Paterson, New Jersey native spoke out. on Jason Tartick’s podcast, “Trading Secrets,” in August 2024 to explain why she’s always prepared for a pink slip. “I don’t know the fate of the show,” Catania told Tartick amid the tumultuous RHONJ 14th season. “But you never know from year to year whether you’re going to get re-applied.”
She also admitted that every year she prepares herself to be fired from the Bravo reality show.
“Every year I tell myself that I’m going to get fired so if I get a job, I’m going to be excited,” Catania explains. “I call my friends, my closest people every year and say, ‘I’m leaving, I’m not coming back.’ For eight years, I’ve said, ‘I’m leaving.’ Since the first year, it’s been, ‘I’m not coming back, great, thanks, I’m leaving.’ So, you know, I never take it for granted but again, I’m always prepared for the day when you don’t come back.”
“Every year is a new year,” she added of her fate on the show.
Catania joined the cast of RHONJ starting in season 7 in 2016. In addition to Catania, season 14 also featured Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral, and Rachel Fuda. Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler appeared as “friends” of the cast.
Dolores Catania Wants the Entire Cast to Return for Season 15
CongratulationsThe cast of RHONJ.
Catania admits that no one can be a Real Housewife forever. On August 16, 2024, the episode of Sirius XM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” “Everyone has an expiration date as a housewife, it’s not something that lasts forever,” she said.
“I’m very realistic,” she added. “I don’t like to set myself up for a fall, and every year I tell myself it’s over, I’m not getting called back, no matter what the season looks like.”
Catania, however, isn’t ready to call it quits on her Jersey Housewife journey. “I want my cast to be together. I want everyone to be together,” she told Lewis, adding that the cast had a great time when they went on a girls’ trip to Ireland during season 13. “We had such a great time. We bonded,” she said of the trip, which took place during happier times for the group.
Catania seems to still be holding out hope that a miracle could happen for season 15. She told Tartick that “divine intervention” needs to happen regarding the casting. In her interview with Lewis, she added, “It’s not over until it’s over. I love my job. We’re still a cast… until we hear something different, which we haven’t heard. We just hear that they don’t know.”
It’s possible the entire cast of RHONJ could be replaced.
CongratulationsRHONJ’s Rachel Fuda, Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Teresa Giudice, Jennifer Aydin and Danielle Cabral.
Tensions between the RHONJ cast members during season 14 got so high that they didn’t film their traditional reunion. Instead, they held a viewing party filmed at Rails Steakhouse.
In an interview with Out magazine In August 2024, Catania said the cast was ready to face off in a reunion hosted by Andy Cohen and were disappointed that they didn’t get that opportunity.
The viewing party may be the last time fans will see this version of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” cast. Speaking on her Sirius XM show “Andy Cohen Live” In April, Cohen said it would not be a “sustainable universe” with “two sides on the show”.
In the July 29, 2024 episode of his radio show, Cohen bluntly told the caller that “big changes” were afoot in Jersey. “We’re rebooting the show,” the seemingly frustrated Bravo producer said. “We’re going to do something different, we’ll see what we do. We’ll see. I don’t know. Maybe just new faces. We’ll see.”