The Real Housewives of New Jersey are famous for their reunions. Now, 14 seasons in, the annual post-finale gathering of the Jersey castmembers has raised the stakes for what Bravo viewers have come to expect from the Andy Cohen-hosted gatherings. So, it’s no surprise that news of the current season canceling its reunion, for the first time ever, is making waves throughout the Bravo-verse.
Ever since the May 5 premiere, stars Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga and the rest of the cast once again found themselves to be the subject of viral gossip about cast division. Soon, reports followed that the reunion show had been nixed because animosity between the cast had reached a fever-pitch, and that a major cast shake-up was on the horizon.
On June 3, Real Housewives executive producer and Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen confirmed the reunion news, explaining that the finale functions as a season-ender.
“It is one of those classic Jersey finales that people will be talking about for a long time to come,” he said on Radio Andy’s Reality Checked. “When all of us producers saw the last cut of the finale, we all came to the decision separately, and then we talked. We all had the same thought, which is the finale is kind of the finale and the reunion all in one.”
Along with currently estranged sister-in-laws Giudice and Gorga, the cast includes Jennifer Aydin, Dolores Catania, Margaret Josephs, Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda, along with “friends” of the cast Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler.
“This final epic group encounter feels like the Last Supper and is just so Jersey,” Cohen added of the Real Housewives series that made flipping tables famous. “When you see it, I think that you’ll feel complete. I really do.”
He said that Bravo will be doing something else in place of the reunion, for a non-traditional ending. What that is exactly has yet to be announced.
Then, when speaking to his friend Anderson Cooper for a Storytellers panel during the 2024 Tribeca Festival on Wednesday, which The Hollywood Reporter attended, Cohen shut down recent reports around any major casting shake-ups, which have generally claimed that only half the cast would remain, or a reboot similar to Real Housewives of New York City (the only other franchise series to ever nix a reunion, which preceded the shake-up).
“There was a lot of casting news that was reported today. None of it is true,” he said. “We haven’t even started discussing casting for next season yet.”
When speaking to Entertainment Tonight ahead of the panel, he added, “Anything you read about what Jersey’s gonna be for next season for the next, I would say six months, is fake, so don’t believe it.”
Typically, the reunion would film around now, six weeks before the season ends and when production begins to lock down the next season. “You will understand when you see the finale why we’re not [doing a reunion],” he told Cooper.
When asked if RHONJ will go on forever, despite the current drama, Cohen replied, “I hope so.”
Adding, “We work very hard to keep the Housewives fresh and interesting. We pull people out sometimes, and we bring people back and, you know, it has become its own kind of self-generating ecosystem in a weird way. This Bravo world of people on camera — they are very dramatic people that we cast, and they live very dramatic lives. And we’re often just the most surprised by things that are happening in the field while we’re shooting.”
The news follows fellow Bravo hit Vanderpump Rules in taking their summer off and delaying production on season 12 after an equally divisive reunion, which will give the cast some time to live their lives before deciding if they want to return.
During the chat with Cooper, Cohen also assured the Bravo audience that BravoCon will return next year after taking a year off (“I hope it’s in Vegas, but I don’t know where it’s gonna be,” he said) and once again brushed off legal woes emanating from former Housewives.
“We keep doing exactly what we’re doing,” he said, “because the truth is the truth, and we are proud of how we conduct ourselves and how we produce these shows. And that’s it. We just keep going.”
Caitlin Huston contributed to this report.