Why Teresa is the Queen of The Real Housewives of New Jersey

Teresa Giudice remains an irreplaceable housewife and queen of RHONJ. The Real Housewives of New Jersey has been airing on Bravo for 11 seasons now, and in that tumultuous time, we’ve seen our fair share of storylines.

Passion runs deep in the garden state cast, and the cast has almost entirely changed, but we’re gifted with one major consistency, the last original cast member.

Like most Real Housewives, Teresa has gone through enough change to cover a lifetime or two, but the mother of five has remained genuine through every step of the way.

In the world of reality television, your time in front of the cameras can come and go in the blink of an eye, but Teresa has mastered the platform over the course of a decade.

When being stubborn pays off

Teresa spent many of the early years of RHONJ on the outs with her castmates, often coming to reunions where she was in the hot seat. In those circumstances, there are housewives who wouldn’t bother to attend a reunion, and that’s not even considering the fact that Teresa’s own blood relatives were involved in said conflicts. Regardless, Teresa has come to each reunion even leading up to her sentencing, something that many wouldn’t have the courage to do.

Teresa has been viewed as the underdog, and as each housewife has come and gone, Teresa has stepped up to become the queen of the franchise. The original RHONJ cast member could have stepped away through her legal issues, or perhaps when her family exhibited hate and vitriolic behavior. Instead, she stuck around, fought for her spot while being true to herself, and she’s gained a lot of respect from viewers.

Regularly challenged by her castmates

You know you’ve made it as a housewife when someone comes on with the intent to be your rival. It’s become almost formulaic for newcomer housewives with a one-season tendency to pick the person viewed as the “top dog” and challenge their spot.

It usually involves finding fault in everything they say or questioning their intentions without any real conflict. On RHONJ, there were the twins, her sister-in-law, cousin, and now even super-fan turned enemy, Jackie who have thought they would get camera time from a fight.

Teresa has seemingly learned of the behavior, and by turning the season 11 premiere into a chance to get even with Jackie’s rookie-housewife antics from the year prior, she’s getting better and better.

While not-so-indirect Instagram poems with Dr. Seuss’s rhymes might feel like the right choice at the time, Jackie’s actions could be leading to a post-real housewife, one-sided feud.

Filming paused while she was away

Can you remember a time where production actually halted for a single cast member of the Bravo universe?

When Teresa was prepping to serve her 15-month sentence in 2015, Bravo actually held off filming, making the following season premiere her reunion with her family. The episode was entirely centered around her return, with a special about her now ex-husband and children being filmed while she was serving time.

At that point, she had already proven to carry the franchise, but the act itself was very telling. If there wasn’t a Real Housewives of New Jersey, there’s a good chance we would still have some way to watch the authenticity of the Giudice family, but it’s hard to imagine a future for RHONJ without Teresa.