RHONJ Star Reveals She Tried to Quit Show

Jennifer Fessler revealed she tried to quit “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” shortly after being cast, but her resignation was short-lived.

During a January 2025 appearance on the “Perfectly Twisted” podcast, Fessler told host Nicole Eggert that she threatened to walk off after a fight with a co-star, but that a producer talked her out of it.

“When I started [on the show] I got into it at one point with Jackie Goldschneider,” Fessler shared. “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.’”

Fessler admitted that she didn’t follow through on her threat because being on the show is “very addictive” and is “an adrenaline rush” for her.

Fessler appeared as a “friend of“ on RHONJ seasons 13 and 14 of RHONJ.

Jenn Fessler Walked Out During Filming For Season 14

One of Fessler’s walk-offs was caught on camera. The season 14 finale, filmed at Rails Steakhouse in Towaco, New Jersey, ended with a physical altercation between Danielle Cabral and Jennifer Aydin. After Cabral broke a glass pitcher, estranged sisters-in-law Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga got into a shouting match.

Fessler, who had tried to mediate her feuding co-stars, left the restaurant in disgust. “I’m gonna go,” she said in the RHONJ finale episode, “When All is Said and Done.” “I can’t mediate this. You guys have gotten used to this level of disgusting. I’m not used to this. I don’t want to be around this. It’s [expletive] gross.”

In a confessional, Fessler explained, “In my world, you either smash glass or you break bread. They don’t really go together, right? Lunch is over. I‘ll take the mozzarella to go.”

It is unclear whether Fessler or any of the other cast members will be asked back for season 15. “RHONJ “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” is currently on “pause” by Bravo.

Jennifer Fessler Compared the ‘Real Housewives’ to ‘The Hunger Games’

Bravo

On Eggert’s podcast, Fessler noted that “Real Housewives” members need to have a “Hunger Games mentality” to survive. “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 noted. “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.”

Fessler admitted there is also a feeling of fighting for camera time and that she sometimes felt “really, really jealous” when she wasn’t called to film scenes with the rest of the cast.

“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,” she added. “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.”

In a September episode of her “Two Jersey Js” podcast, Fessler admitted she was “bent out of shape” when she was cast as a “friend of” instead of a main cast member on RHONJ.

Looking toward the possibility of not being asked back at all for season 15, she added, “If I picture a scenario where I get told ‘Listen, Jenn, we’re going on without you, you know, thank you for coming, and you know, see you never,’ that, I think that my ego would be very bruised. I think it’ll be an ego problem for me. That’s the biggest thing. And I think I can overcome that. Though, like, it’ll be a while of ‘How dare you?’ And ‘Was I not good enough?’ Or you know, Why me?’”