Another day, another Real Housewives scandal. This time around we are focusing on RHONJ‘s Pizza Gate which came to light on Tuesday’s episode of the show.
On one side we have Joe and Melissa Gorga claiming that Teresa Giudice and Louie Ruelas “screwed” them over in a business deal gone wrong. Yet, we all know that the Gorgas have a problem with the truth.
According to Joe:
“I told [Louie], ‘It’s my idea, it’s me and my sister, and we’ll honor my father, we’ll call it Nonno’s Pizza.’ He loved it.[But Louie] screwed me in a second. My nephew got involved. Ordered these ovens, Louie puts the money in…I’m figuring I’m giving 50 percent to my sister, and he was getting 50 percent. And then my nephew comes over to my house and goes, ‘Did you see the boxes were ordered’ I go, ‘What boxes?’ He goes, ‘Your sister had a photoshoot with her and the girls, and they called it Skinny Pizza or something like that.'”
“When I find out, I call him and then Louie starts giving me some lip. My sister out of nowhere goes, ‘Did you put the f—ing money up?’ I do, ‘What? You think I couldn’t put $200,000 up?’ I go, ‘It was my f—king idea!’ It got very ugly. My sister was saying, ‘This is why you don’t do business with family!’ Bulls—. You can do business with anyone if you go in with the trust and you’re not looking to cheat somebody.”
Melissa then adds:
” I think she’s so selfish that she doesn’t wanna share. That’s what it comes down to. It’s the whole thing. I feel bad for [Joe]. I feel bad for everybody that it got to this point. We were like so hopeful for this new beginning with them. He was like ‘They stole it from me.’ It was very sad because I feel like this guy has no one.'”
Teresa’s side of the story sounds NOTHING like her brother’s version of events.
The RHONJ OG said:
“My brother came up with this idea for this pizza oven, he was like, ‘I want to do it with my sister,’ and Louie was like, ‘Ok.’ He put out $250k, but then he spoke to our attorney and was like, ‘OK, what percentage should I give Joey?’ And they came up with five percent, and my brother went nuts. He wanted 50 percent. And then I called my brother, I’m like, ‘He put out all the money, what are you doing? If you want half, you need to put half in.’ And he didn’t want to. My fiance lost a quarter of a million dollars.”
Then on the RHONJ: After Show, the RHONJ cast further discussed Pizza Gate.
According to both Melissa and Teresa, they all vowed to “never discuss” the business deal gone bad on the show.
However, both claim they “didn’t want” to make the other look “bad.”
“I didn’t want my brother to look bad in any way,” Teresa explains while Melissa, and her minion Margaret Josephs, claim “we all agreed we didn’t want to make Louie and Teresa look bad.”
Melissa says that “Pizza Gate was the beginning of the end. [It] was another secret we held for them. That was the beginning of Joe kind of looking at Louie sideways.”
She then says that “[Teresa said to Joe] ‘Don’t you ever tell anyone this story ever, ever, ever.’ And he didn’t. He wouldn’t let me tell it and I didn’t. Just like they told me not to tell anybody about the seating arrangements and I didn’t until I did. It’s like you’re constantly making me look like a bad guy.”
As for Teresa, she questioned why Joe is mad when Louie is the one who lost money on the deal.
“Why is my brother mad? He didn’t lose the money. Louie lost the money. If anything, Louie should be mad,” Teresa explained. “I told [Louie] not to do it. And he trusted my brother.”
So, what is the truth in this all? Well, let’s break it down for everyone.
Okay, so here’s the deal. Joe had an idea and came to Louie with it. He didn’t want to put up any money or do any of the paperwork yet expected Louie to give him 50% of the business. Again, Joe had Louie front ALL the money but wanted half the profit and ALL the credit.
If you don’t know, don’t listen to Jackie Goldschneider because she knows jack shit about Louie’s money or career, Louie is the co-founder of one of the largest marketing firms (founded in 2012) that recently went public. It’s a very successful business and Joe knew this.
Joe also knew about the pizza oven being named Skinny Italian, which most OG RHONJ fans know is the name of Teresa’s very first and super successful cooking book.
When Joe refused to invest actual money in the pizza oven business, Louie NEVER stole the idea. He didn’t run with the idea and do it himself since Joe didn’t have the funds. Instead, he lost $250k and this is exactly why Teresa said don’t do business with family because Joe Gorga wanted nothing to do with Louie and Teresa after this. He put money over family.
And let’s not forget who out of this family are the ones with all the lawsuits out there. Just some food for thought.
RHONJ airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm on Bravo.
Thoughts on this all? Who do you believe – Teresa/Louie or Joe/Melissa? Sound off below!
The RHONJ Pizza Gate scandal refers to a business deal gone wrong involving Joe and Melissa Gorga, Teresa Giudice, and Louie Ruelas. The Gorgas claim that Teresa and Louie “screwed” them over in the deal, while Teresa has a different version of events.
Joe Gorga had the idea for the pizza oven business and approached Louie Ruelas with it. However, Joe did not want to invest any money or do any paperwork, yet expected to receive 50% of the business. Louie ended up fronting all the money for the business.
Louie Ruelas, Teresa Giudice’s fiancé, lost $250,000 in the pizza oven business deal. Joe Gorga refused to invest any actual money in the business, leading to Louie’s financial loss.
