Entertainment
6 Unspoken 'RHONJ' Rules Jackie Has Already Broken In Her First Season
Being a new Real Housewives Of Whatever cast member is fraught with peril. Yes, it’s just a reality show, but if this is something you want to continue for years and become a Ramona, Vicki, Teresa, or NeNe, well, you have to cause just the right amount of drama, while still being tolerable to the cast and everyone watching. It’s a hard balance to achieve and not everyone can do it. (See: Gina’s debut on RHOC, or RHOBH's Teddy) Jackie Goldschneider from Real Housewives Of New Jersey Season 9 is one of two brand-new cast members and she's still finding her footing. But in doing that, Jackie is breaking rules on RHONJ. Are they official, from a special Housewives handbook somewhere? No, of course not.
But even the unofficial rules are worth following if Jackie wants to make it in New Jersey.
One of the must-dos for new Housewives is learning how to read the room. The women on RHONJ are different than the women on RHOA, who are different than the women on RHONY. The women of RHOBH have different values and social mores than those of RHOC, even they are basically in the same geographical area. I don’t buy that Jackie doesn’t know what she’s stepping into on Real Housewives Of New Jersey every time she steps to Theresa, but perhaps she doesn’t care about getting a table flipped on her by the end of the season.
But just in case, here are some of the major mistakes she's taken on the road to joining Siggy somewhere alone in North Jersey, in the hopes that she can correct them soon.
Jackie Is Not Respecting Her Elders
Teresa Giudice is an OG member of the Real Housewives Of New Jersey cast, and she’s the first one that Jackie came for. If you want to last on a Real Housewives franchise, you can’t piss off the people who made the franchise what it was to begin with. You can’t step to Vicki or Bethenny, and you can’t step to Teresa without getting bounced.
Jackie Is Trying To Change The Conversation — Literally
The women of RHONJ curse a lot. It’s fine – so do I. But one of Jackie’s main gripes in her fight with Teresa is that Teresa used curse words in addressing her. Uh, you wouldn’t go to Japan and expect everyone to speak English, right? You have to assimilate. So, Jackie can’t be mad when Teresa uses her everyday way of speaking when speaking to her.
Jackie Is Alienating The Other Newbie
New Real Housewives cast members do well to stick with each other — there’s safety in numbers. Jackie may not have gotten that memo, because the second Housewife she opted to speak badly of was fellow newbie Jennifer, who is doing the right thing and getting in with Theresa and Dolores, which means that things might not end well for Jackie once this fight about the spoiled kids newspaper article really gets going.
Jackie Is Complicating Family Relationships
Melissa Gorga and Teresa are sisters-in-law, and their relationship takes enough effort as it is. They've been fighting forever and there's nothing anyone can do about it,
Jackie being friends with Melissa while she’s in a feud with Teresa is complicated because you can’t get in the middle of family, new friend or not.
Jackie Is Not Remorseful
If you do something bad (like yell at OG Teresa or write about someone's kids), you have to at least pretend to atone for your sins over lunch. If you’re not sorry, the group won’t let you back in. Nobody likes a Housewife who is too proud to beg over a salad.
Jackie Is Expecting To Be A Star
You have to start small on the Real Housewives. You ease your way into the group, and then you become a fan favorite. You can’t come out swinging! You can’t run with the big dogs right away. You learn the ropes, and then you exceed expectations.
Jackie’s first season of Real Housewives Of New Jersey has been nothing but drama so far, but it seems that’s how she likes it. This will be one hell of a reunion...if she can even make it that far.
