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'Scammer mentality': 'RHONJ' viewers fume after Pizza Gate as they call out Joe Gorga over botched deal

'RHONJ' fans called Joe Gorga a 'scammer' after he claimed that Teresa Guidice and Luis Ruelas 'stole' his business idea

NEW JERSEY: Teresa Giudice blames Joe Gorga for her husband Luis Ruelas reportedly losing $250,000 in a botched business deal. But when Joe attempted to tell his side of the story, 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' fans found it difficult to agree with him.

Teresa's relationship with her brother Joe and sister-in-law Melissa Gorga has deteriorated since 'RHONJ's current Season 13 wrapped up filming in 2022. Fans received a glimpse of the dispute — which primarily comes from Joe and Melissa's decision to miss Teresa's August 2022 wedding to Luis — in the show's Season 13's trailer, which featured numerous arguments between family members, some of which turned violent. While everything will be disclosed as the new season continues, viewers have learned the truth behind the Giudice-Gorga family feud in the newest episode that aired on March 28, 2023. There were two sides to the story, as there always are, and it appears that fans have already picked a side.

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Teresa told her 'RHONJ' co-stars Jennifer Aydin and Bill Aydin in the newest episode about her troubled relationship with her sibling. She said she was "tired" of "protecting" him. In the episode, the 50-year-old said, "I'll be honest with you. There was a business dealing, and my fiance lost a quarter of a million dollars."

Teresa, who taped the scene before marrying Luis, later revealed in a confessional that Joe proposed the concept of a pizza oven to them. "So [Luis] was like, ‘OK,'" Teresa claimed during the confessional. "He put out 250K," she added.

Teresa informed her co-stars that she refused because she did not believe family "should get involved with business stuff." "Then [Luis] spoke to our attorney, and he [was] like, ‘Well, what percentage should I give Joey?'" she added. "I guess they came up with, I don’t know, five percent, so my brother went nuts – like, he wanted 50 percent," the reality star added. 

But because he "didn't want to" put in half the money upfront, she didn't think he earned half of the business. Since the deal fell through, Luis "took the loss."

Then, at Melissa and Joe's beach home, they told a similar tale to Margaret Josephs and Jackie Goldschneider but from their perspective. Joe stated that the unsuccessful business transaction was the source of much of his rage last season, but no one decided to discuss it publicly. He claimed he didn't want to "bury" Teresa, but now that she's talking about it, he felt compelled to share his account of events. "Luis screwed me with the pizza business," he said. "I told him it was my idea — [for] me and my sister" to "honor our father." Joe stated that Luis "loved" the concept and that they "ordered" some ovens.

Joe stated that Luis was adamant about investing his money, and he assumed they'd divide the company profits and get "50 percent" each. Soon after, Joe discovered that Teresa and her girls had done a private photo session for the company, ordered cartons, and began calling it "The Skinny Pizza or something like that." When he phoned Luis and Teresa to find out what was going on, Luis began giving him the "lip."

Teresa reportedly chastised him for not investing any money, and he claimed he was never provided the opportunity. He stated that Luis pressed on covering the early expenses. "It was my idea," Joe admitted, adding, "But they stole it from me," and the situation "became very ugly."

'Joe needs to work on how not to tell a lie'

Fans found Joe's confessions hard to believe as one wrote, "I immediately knew Joe was lying because Teresa would never change the name from Nonno’s pizza to Skinny girl pizza. She loved her father more than life. Joe needs to work on how not to tell a lie."

While calling Joe 'delusional', a viewer wrote, "Holy s**t!! Louie lost 250k because Joe Gorga wanted 50% of the pizza oven business yet he only put in ZERO MONEY!!!!!!!! #RHONJ JOE GORGA IS DELUSIONAL." Another person tweeted, "Teresa and Louie’s explanation was straighforward, cut and dry. Joe and Melissa explaining why they were wronged was just a lot of words and fake tears." Another person commented, "Joe Gorga is lying out of his a*s."

Calling this a "scammer mentality", a fan tweeted, "How did someone “screw” you in a business deal when you didn’t put any money in and you REFUSED to put any in after you were told to? Joe Gorga. You cannot gaslight us into believing your scammer mentality."

Recalling Joe's antics from prior seasons, a viewer wrote, "Joe has done some shady s**t when it comes to business. remember last season when the guy did everything for joes event? I mean literally invested his own money and got vendors for the event and then joe said he didn’t owe him a cent. not to mention his other shady sh*t."

Another person noted, "If the business people at the table don’t call Joe on this horse s**t story , then I feel sorry for anyone that does business with them because NONE OF THAT MADE SENSE." Calling out the Gorgas on all the fake crying, a fan wrote, "All this fake crying is a little much for me #RHONJ Melissa and Joe should just scream “we’re the victims, feel bad for us,” instead."

Catch new episodes of 'RHONJ' every Tuesday at 9 pm ET on Bravo.

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