The Real Housewives of New Jersey won’t be returning at its regularly scheduled time in 2025, and Dolores Catania is “a little mad” about it.
“We didn’t film last season, so we’re not coming back… we’re not going to be airing in January or February,” the 53-year-old reality star tells PEOPLE while discussing her recent Renuvion skin-tightening procedure on her knees. “Of course, I’d look forward to seeing my cast come back on the screen or even come back to film, but they made a mess. I’m a little mad that everybody couldn’t get it together. I really am.”
After a dramatic 14th season marked by deepening rifts among the cast, including Catania, Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin, Jackie Goldschneider, Jenn Fessler, Rachel Fuda and Danielle Cabral, production decided to cancel the reunion, only the second time Bravo has done so in the history of the Real Housewives franchise. Instead, the women were filmed separately in two groups, with the finale shown to everyone together.
“On my way to that finale, I spoke to a therapist and asked her for some tips on going in and speaking to the women. I wrote it down in the car ride on the way there. And no matter what I did on and off camera, nothing helped,” Catania recalls. “You could see I was defeated. I sat there and I knew you wouldn’t be seeing us for a while, I saw it coming.”
Catania believes the New Jersey cast has veered off course compared to other Real Housewives franchises. “We f—ing lost something along the way,” she says. “I’m looking at Salt Lake City and I’m looking at Beverly Hills and they fight, but they don’t go for the jugular. They’re not hitting below the belt. They agree to disagree and move on.”
In late July, executive producer Andy Cohen hinted on his SiriusXM radio show that season 15 could feature “all fresh faces,” an idea that Catania does not support. “I feel like we’re an ensemble and I can’t see anyone else but the people that I was with. It’s like a family. Can you see yourself with other people in your family?” the reality star says.
She adds, “We’ve traveled the world together, we’ve cried together, we fought together. You have to move on, otherwise, you’ll have no one in your life. Now we have no one. So what do you think? Do you think a full recast works? I’m not so sure.”
While Catania is concerned about the show’s future, she remains hopeful that the current cast will return for season 15—not just for themselves, but for the fans as well. “They’ve let us in their homes and we’ve been a part of their lives,” she says. “I don’t call them fans. I call them friends. They’re the reason that we came as far as we did.”
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And despite the challenges the cast faced in season 14, Catania believes they will make it work if they return. “I know I would. I think that given some time for things to cool down, maybe they would try to do that too,” she says. “It’s time to put egos aside. You don’t throw something like this away. We had great ratings. We did well—we just have to learn how to act. This is what life is. It’s about fighting and making up.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey can be streamed on Peacock.
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