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The former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice has been in the news quite a bit in 2025. This is due to his daughter, Gia Giudice, being open about wanting to find ways to get him back into the country following his prison stint. Now, he’s opening up about Teresa Giudice joining the show, how much she was paid, and if he wants to reconcile with her.

Joe, 53, appeared on RHONJ alongside Teresa, 53, for much of the show’s run, starting from the beginning. Sadly, the two announced their separation in 2019, and their divorce was finalized in 2020. It’s also worth noting that the end of their relationship came as he was deported to Italy after getting out of prison in March 2019. Joe now lives in The Bahamas. 

Joe was recently on an episode of Gia’s Casual Chaos podcast. During the episode, Gia asked Joe about Teresa’s start on RHONJ. He stated that much of it was “like a big blur” after they signed the contract. He then said of the show, “It was like, I think the first year, we had that big party in my great room. I think that show cost me $150,000 the first year.”

From there, they discussed what Teresa made during her first season on RHONJ. “We got paid nothing the first season,” Joe said. “I’ll even say it was like $25,000. I mean, it was ridiculous, but whatever.”

Later, Gia asked her dad if he regretted anything he said on the show. According to him, “Yeah. A few episodes, like the one up where we were at the vineyard or something. I called your mother something. I know it wasn’t very nice.”

He went on, “I mean, but that was just out of pure, you know, drinking wine, and enough was enough. You know what I mean? We were stuck there for like a week, I think, in this house, just drinking wine every day. I couldn’t even look at wine anymore. And I think it was Caroline’s birthday. And we were just getting ready to leave, too, I think the next day or two days before leaving.”

Joe was most likely referring to the time when he called Teresa his bi*** wife, as well as when he called her a c***. He stated that he doesn’t use the word and didn’t understand why he said it in that instance, beyond the wine. 

Elsewhere in the podcast, Gia asked Joe if he would ever consider getting back together with Teresa if things with Luis Ruelas didn’t work out.

He stated, “Well, listen, I’ll always be your mom’s friend, no matter what. You know what I mean? So it doesn’t matter.”

Joe then said, “I mean, I’ll always be the same with her, no matter what. But I don’t know. I mean, listen, you can never say never. I mean, but maybe if we’re still alive when we’re 90, I don’t know, we’ll see.”