Jenn Fessler and the rest of The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast still don’t have clarity on what their future holds with the show. RHONJ is currently on pause as per the producers at Bravo. The “friend of” the cast joined the show in Season 13 and recalled a time when she was ready to walk away.
The Season 14 finale was so volatile and toxic that the cast couldn’t even film the reunion together. So it’s no wonder why their future has yet to be confirmed. And it’s ironic that Jenn was ready to quit the toxicity, but still hopes for an invite back for another season.
The incident was not included in the RHONY season
Jenn appeared on the Perfectly Twisted podcast with host Nicole Eggert earlier this month. She recalled a fight with a co-star that had her walking out. In the end, a producer talked her out of quitting.
“When I started [on the show] I got into it at one point with Jackie Goldschneider,” Jenn said. “It was very short-lived, and it didn’t even, it got lost on the editing floor. But I had this big fight with her. And when I left this party, I said to one of the producers, ‘I’m done, I quit, this is not for me. I don’t, this is not my energy. I don’t want this in my life you know, [expletive] this!’ And he’s like, ‘Really? Call me tomorrow and tell me the same thing.’”
Ultimately, the “adrenaline rush” Jenn got from filming had her returning to work despite the blowout. She called the show “very addictive.”
Jenn felt she needed a “Hunger Games mentality” while filming
It’s also very cut throat. Jenn compared filming RHONJ to a “Hunger Games mentality.” Survival is based on alliances, which are always shifting.
“It’s like ‘The Hunger Games.’ Like, you are thrown into this arena, and you try to make alliances just to stay alive. And then you make these alliances, but eventually, you’re gonna have to turn on each other, right?” she explained. “There’s this very competitive… and I am willing to bet that every single franchise feels that way. And if they say that they don’t they’re full of it.”
The competitive nature got to Jenn, especially when her status as a friend to the cast limited her participation. She admitted feeling “really, really jealous” at being left out of certain events.
“Even though I was a ‘friend of,’ I feel like I was a part of an ensemble, and I was as much a part as anyone else,” Jenn concluded. “It’s a very nerve-wracking thing. You want that camera time and you get very threatened when you don’t get it. And I think that’s probably true for everyone.”