Melissa Gorga shared new details on what Andy Cohen told her about the status of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
The Bravo reality show has been on “pause” for months following an extremely toxic 14th season. Cohen, who serves as a Real Housewives producer, confirmed on his Sirius XM show, “Andy Cohen Live” that there would be a rebrand for RHONJ for season 15. There has been talk of a full reboot or a partial cast shakeup.
Speaking on her “On Display” podcast on January 10, Gorga revealed she has seen Cohen several times and has asked him what’s going on with the show.
“I do ask him, I do,” Gorga told her podcast guest, Amanda Hirsch. “I’ve seen him. I’ve seen him a couple times, but you know the Bravo gods are, he very much so claims, that they are still figuring it out.”
“They were waiting until after the New Year to work on Jersey, so I think maybe their minds are getting together as we speak,“ she continued. “So a lot wasn’t being talked about, it wasn’t being talked about at all, actually, until after the New Year, so I think right now.”
“I do know it’s coming back,” she added of the show. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, they’re throwing out the Real Housewives of New Jersey.’ It’s coming back. I do think if they do a big cast shakeup, which Andy has said multiple times that is happening, I do think it calls for a little bit of a pause, because you don’t want it to just happen overnight, like all of a sudden there’s right three new girls …. Like you do need like a minute and a beat, and then and now we’re back and this is what it is. I agree with that.”
The 14th season of RHONJ featured Gorga, Teresa Giudice, Margaret Josephs, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral, and Rachel Fuda, and “friends” Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler.
Melissa Gorga Told Andy Cohen That ‘Timing Is Everything’
BravoAndy Cohen and Melissa Gorga/Bravo
Gorga has said she is at peace with whatever Bravo decides to do for RHONJ season 15. But she didn’t hide her annoyance over the situation.
During Gorga’s December 18 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen questioned the timing of the December 2024 launch of her new sprinkle cookie business. His comment was presumably made because the cookies launched amid the ongoing RHONJ pause. Gorga replied, “Timing is everything.”
“The best timing,” she added. “It all happens for a reason, I believe that. I think people miss Jersey. So, they are so excited by this.”
Cohen rolled his eyes as Gorga stuck out her tongue at him. “Alright,” he said.
While Gorga agrees with a pause, she does think waiting another full year is too long. After Cohen teased to Us Weekly that there may be no news about the 15th season of RHONJ show until 2026, Gorga told Entertainment Tonight that was too long to keep the cast in limbo. “Oh my God, why?” she asked. “That’s a really long time. Even if I’m a part of it or not a part, that’s a really long time.”
“We have to have news before then,” she added “I think he would lose everyone [if they were in limbo for that long]. Everyone would be like…unless they were fully recasting so need that much time to figure that out.”
Melissa Gorga Thinks There Will Be a Mix of Old & New Cast Members
BravoRachel Fuda, Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Teresa Giudice, Jennifer Aydin, and Danielle Cabral/Bravo
On her podcast, Gorga said she understands RHONJ will not return to Bravo in 2025, but she expressed hope that filming would at least start sometime this year so the new season would air in 2026.
“If I’m giving my honest opinion, I do think they are going to find they’re probably going to keep a few of us,” Gorga told Hirsch. “I’m not saying which ones. I don’t know but I do think they would probably keep a couple and they’re definitely going to recast a couple, so I feel like you’re going to get a little old and a little new in the new season.” Gorga clarified that her comments were not “fact” but just her feelings on it.
Gorga also confirmed that she knows some of the “new girls” that producers have interviewed for potential spots on the show. “I know they are casting right now,” she said. “I know people that they’re talking to, I know that they’re interviewing.”
