The house husbands joined the women during the dramatic conclusion of The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion on May 17, when Teresa Giudice‘s fiance, Luis Ruelas, finally revealed the truth about that controversial video. Luis had previously said he was trying to break up with his ex during the retreat in the video that circulated online at the beginning of the season. However, as Andy Cohen pointed out during the reunion, Teresa’s fiance was seen proposing to his ex in the video — so why did Luis say otherwise? Well, he explained, “I was in a relationship. It was toxic, and my business partner was going to this retreat. So I said, ‘Let’s go.’ We weren’t naked on the beach. We were wearing gym shorts because they kept sending us in and out of the ocean. Going in and out of the ocean, they made the men send intentions to their wives. I was a single guy, so I made this intention to this woman I was dating. I was trying to break up [with her], but I didn’t have the guts to do it. So when I went there, they made me commit to her, and basically [told me] to stop making excuses. So I committed to her [before leaving the retreat and eventually breaking up with her after] she gave me a prenup and asked for a million dollars to get married.”
Following the lengthy explanation, Margaret Josephs and Joe Gorga thanked Luis for finally revealing the truth and putting any rumors about the video to rest. Margaret also said that despite what Teresa may think, she was “trying to help” Luis “flip public opinion” by talking about the video on camera. All season long, she just wanted Luis to say what he said at the reunion. But Teresa didn’t fully agree. She said that Margaret should have approached her and told her Luis was doing a good job at explaining the situation, but Andy and Margaret both said Teresa wouldn’t have been “receptive” to that.
Even Luis said that Teresa never gave him “a chance to speak” about it out loud because she kept denying all the rumors and telling him to be quiet. He further said she can be “overwhelming” at times, and most people would probably agree.
Then, when Andy asked Luis if any of the rumors about him being abusive to exes were true, he said no. But instead of blaming the exes for starting these rumors, Teresa just kept blaming Margaret for putting a “light” on the rumors. Andy said there was already a “light” on them before Margaret brought them up — and Luis basically said Margaret was just doing her job by talking about issues on camera (thank you!) — but still, Teresa disagreed. She just wanted to see Margaret go down for all the drama she had to navigate through this season. Unfortunately, Luis revealed that he lost his job due to all the drama from the show, but he said he didn’t blame anyone from the cast for that setback in his personal life. He just asked for everyone to be more peaceful moving forward.
Teresa, however, had a hard time following that instruction. She kept digging at Margaret. But it was time for the husband to exit the stage, so Andy said goodbye to them and they all kissed their partners goodbye.
“If you love me, calm down,” Luis whispered to Teresa before begging her to promise him that. She did, but when she saw Luis start shaking hands with the other husbands — specifically, Margaret’s husband, Joe Benigno — Teresa took back that promise and started bugging out.
“Why do you even shake his hand?” she asked Luis, who told her, “Because I’m a gentleman. Thank you. Teresa, you have to stop.”
“Teresa just needs to let him talk,” Dolores Catania‘s ex Frank could be overheard saying in the background. Jennifer Aydin then told Teresa that Luis was just “trying to move it forward,” before he leaned in and whispered to Teresa: “You’re really making a mistake by the way you’re behaving right now.” But Teresa disagreed. She said she was acting appropriately after what Margaret and Joe both said about him on TV. Andy couldn’t believe that Luis was able to forgive Margaret, but Teresa wasn’t.
Then, when Teresa saw Margaret hug Luis and apologize to him for all the “negativity” that was being aimed at him, her blood boiled. Margaret told Luis that she only wants good things for him before the husbands finally exited the set.
Again, Teresa refused to forgive Margaret, so the reunion ended with them screaming at each other and nothing was settled.