Andy Cohen is responding to speculation that The Real Housewives of New Jersey may undergo a reboot after season 14 concludes.
“There was a lot of play with that one and I think the answer is, I was talking to a cast member about this today,” Cohen, 56, said on the Monday, June 3, episode of SiriusXM’s Reality Checked with Kiki Monique. “We are gonna cross next season as that comes. Right now, we’re just kind of focusing on, ‘OK, well if we’re not doing a conventional reunion, what are we doing and what is something different that we could do?’”
Earlier this week, multiple sources confirmed to Us Weekly that viewers will not see a traditional reunion when new episodes wrap later this summer.
“The reunion is supposed to be about resolution and it’s clear there’s no resolving any issues between the women,” one source told Us. “There is no wrap-up in a bow and it’s not going to happen.”
While viewers may have a lot of questions now, Cohen assured fans that they will be satisfied by a finale that can be described as “classic Jersey.”
“The main thing is this will all make sense once you see the finale,” he shared with Kiki Monique. “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. It’s in the great tradition of absolute shocking, dramatic Jersey finales and they have this final epic group encounter, which is like, it feels like the Last Supper and is just so Jersey. And it’s shocking and it’s dramatic and it’s amazing TV. I’m telling you, when you see it, I think that you’ll feel complete.”
While a source close to the situation said nothing official about the show has been decided, Cohen pointed to other cities in the Real Housewives franchise benefiting from cast changes.
“I think Atlanta was a really good example of, we came out of that last season, and we knew, ‘OK, we want to do extensive casting and we want to just give this some time,’” he explained. “I’m so happy with what’s going on down in Atlanta right now. Some things take time, and we want to take a minute to figure things out. You know, there’s no point in rushing into something just to rush into something.”
Bravo previously confirmed that Brittany Eady, Kelli Ferrell and Angela Oakley were joining the show for season 16 alongside Shamea Morton Mwangi (who was upgraded to a full-time Housewife after previous guest appearances), Kenya Moore, Porsha Williams, Cynthia Bailey and Drew Sidora. Kandi Burruss, Sheree Whitfield, Sanya Richards-Ross and Marlo Hampton will not be returning.
Back in the Garden State, Season 14 of Real Housewives of New Jersey has seen a strong divide amongst the cast with some staying friends with Melissa Gorga while others aligning themselves with her sister-in-law Teresa Giudice.
While Rachel Fuda is close friends with Gorga, she acknowledged the division in a recent interview with Us Weekly.
“You have seven strangers — or enemies — that don’t really want to be around each other. In my mind, it doesn’t seem sustainable long-term,” she exclusively told Us in May. “This one won’t film with that one and this one won’t be in the same room as that one. It’s too crazy. I think there has to be some changes made.”
For Jenn Fessler, she can sense adjustments are coming as the season continues to play out this summer on Bravo. “Like every other person who’s a viewer, I think, things are changing,” she exclusively told Us on June 3. “I’m very well aware of the fact that things in Jersey are changing, things are shifting. The how’s of it, the whens, the whys? I don’t know.”
When asked whether filming the season 14 finale felt “final,” she replied, “Let’s hope so. I mean, final in a way that the finale’s over, I would never want to relive that again.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo Sundays at 8 p.m. ET with old episodes streaming now on Peacock.
