'RHONJ:' Giudice Called a 'Fraud' and a 'Disgrace'

This week, Teresa Giudice and Caroline Manzo got into a humongous fight about what had been bothering them both the whole season, especially the vacation featured in the past few episodes.

In last week’s episode, Giudice gave a toast during the crew’s last dinner in California which left out cousin Kathy Wakile. This week, Joe Gorga tried to ease the tension by suggesting everyone get into the hot tub.

“Joey Gorga’s here so I’m going to fix it!” he said.

“Like he needs an excuse to get naked,” Teresa said.

It almost seemed to be working, until Kathy told Teresa she did not want to leave California with any unresolved feelings. Instead of talking to Teresa about her own relationship, she deflected, instead trying to encourage Teresa to mend her friendship with Caroline. The conversation took place ten feet from where Caroline and Jacqueline were sitting, which lead to some awkwardness.

“Do they not realize they’re talking loud?” Jacqueline asked.

Teresa tried to tell Kathy that Caroline has made it very clear that she did not want to have a friendship.

“After this vacation, get her out of my face,” she said. “I feel bad for Kathy. She’s going nowhere fast.”

While Teresa went to change, Manzo started to gripe about Giudice in front of Jacqueline, Kathy, and Melissa.

“I look at her and I see ugly,” she said. “I see an ugly human being….”

The other women seemed uncomfortable with the tirade.

“I’ve gotten to a better place with Teresa and I don’t want to go backwards,” Manzo’s sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita said, “but Caroline has no desire to mend it. Do whatever you want to do just keep me out of it.”

Laurita pretended to fall asleep for the rest of the episode.

Melissa Gorga, Giudice’s sister-in-law, said “Every relationship has their petty things, but when you hold onto it, that’s when there’s an issue. Caroline should drop it and move on.”

Unfortunately, Caroline was now riled up, and she is determined to “say what I need to say to get rid of her once and for all.”

She asked Teresa to tell her exactly what she thinks of her. Teresa maintained that she loved her, her kids, and her husband. Caroline refused to believe her, asking her to “tell me that you hate me.” When Teresa continued to affirm that she loved her, Caroline said, “Don’t you dare lie to my face.”

The fight became very meta, as the argument again turned to the media, and whether Teresa was putting out negative articles about the other housewives.

“We’ve been through this a million, zillion times, come on,” Teresa said, again insisting that she does not get paid for the articles and had no control over what they said.

“I’m asked to put the truth out there,” she said.

Caroline also brought up the cookbook, an argument that has been going on since the last episode of season three. She claimed that Teresa intentionally put derogatory things about her and her family in the book, while Teresa insisted that she meant them all as jokes.

Lauren Manzo, upset that none of the other housewives will defend her mother, jumped in at one point to confront Giudice about the “lies” she put in her book.

“Jacqueline is pretending to sleep and my mother’s alone. So I need to bet there and stick up for her,” she said.

“I think you’re a liar, I think you’re a fraud, I think you’re a disgrace, I think all of those things about you,” Caroline said.

The men, sitting at a different table, began to have a discussion of their own. Joe Giudice, drunk as always but not nearly as verbally abusive, told the men “The only magazine we deal with is InTouch.”

When the other men pointed out that an article about Teresa having a baby boy was in InTouch, Giudice maintained that it was not that big of a deal.

“They do what they need to do to sell magazines,” he said. “I can’t help that my wife sells more magazines than any star out there.”

Chris Laurita said that Jacqueline had been offered $50,000 to write about Teresa and she refused to do it.

“You should have. You’re a moron!”

Later, when Teresa tries to call on her husband for support, he shouts “Caroline!” and the Manzo boys, Caroline’s husband Albert and sons Albie and Chris, begin to get ready for a fight.

“End it!” Joe said.

“Who’s not ending it?” Chris Manzo said. “My mother never publicized a thing, so who’s not ending it?”

Joe Giudice said Teresa was trying to compliment Manzo, while the Manzos insist that it was not complimentary. Giudice said she was trying to, but it might not have worked out.

“OK, then let the women do what they do and we are on to our own conversation!” Chris said.

“I didn’t want to the night to turn totally ugly,” Albert Manzo said. “My sons were there, my brother-in-law was there, it would have literally been four on one. Let the girls work it out.

In fact, Teresa did try to end it by walking away from the conversation, but is pulled back in when Caroline said “run away.”

Riled up by further accusations that she was putting out stories, Teresa grabbed Kathy’s face, saying “Look at me!”

“Nobody’s ever grabbed my face like that,” Wakile said. “You’re going to get burned, Tre. You’re not the only one from Paterson.”

Teresa was caught in some hypocrisy when she said a comment Rich Wakile made, which was published in the tabloids and which Kathy insisted was a joke, wasn’t a joke to her.

“And the cookbook wasn’t a joke to Caroline! Do you see that?” she asked.

After yet another issue is brought up at the men’s table about Giudice calling Laurita “shady” to a wine bottler (a conflict they resolved with kisses), Giudice was urged to get his wife out of the situation. He told her he had some business to take care of and that he had moved up their flight. She got really excited, saying she missed her girls so much, and ran off to pack.

Surprisingly, Joe and Melissa Gorga followed.

“My sister’s upset,” Joe said. “I don’t care what anyone says, I’m going to back my sister up and make sure she gets home safely.”

“I didn’t ask my brother to change my flights but it warmed my heart,” Teresa said.

Meanwhile, Caroline went into her room and cried.

“I walked into the room and just had a collapse, a breakdown,” she said. “I sat down by myself and I cried my [butt] off.”

As they pack, Giudice made it clear that she is not happy with Kathy. When her cousin tried to tell her what her intentions were and to express that she hoped their relationship would continue to improve, Giudice said, “Whatever.”

And somehow, Wakile and Gorga still believed that Manzo and Giudice would work it out. As previews for the rest of the season, Caroline and Teresa’s one-on-one interviews on Watch What Happens Live, and their personal blogs indicate, this is simply not the case.

The show returns on Sept. 9 at 10 with the return of former housewife, and Caroline’s estranged sister, Dina Manzo.