The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast expressed concern for Teresa Giudice following the release of a bizarre video of her now-fiancé, Luis Ruelas, on Tuesday night’s premiere episode of season 12. And now, days later, one of the shirtless men featured in the video alongside Luis is speaking out.
In a new interview, Coach Kevin Voisin is revealing that the clip was made over five years ago, during a time when Luis was attending a Wake Up Warrior camp, and explaining what the video was made for.
“I can understand with no context. With no context, there’s a bunch of freaking dudes with their shirts off,” Kevin, who once worked as a coach at Wake Up Warrior, the program Luis joined before making the clip, told Us Weekly on February 3.
According to Kevin, the Wake Up Warrior camp focuses on men holding one another accountable. However, the clip Luis made was not “intended” to be shared. In fact, he said it is “extremely rare” for participants to record themselves.
“I don’t want to say it’s for public consumption [or act] like it’s something to hide, but it’s a very unique context and it’s like ‘What the f–k is happening?’” he admitted.
As RHONJ fans may have heard, the clip of Luis first surfaced in July 2021 and featured Teresa’s future husband trying to win back an ex.
“I’m coming home to see you, get engaged and bring our family together and finally get married and have a life together. I’ve been here for a week,” Luis said in the video. “I love our children and I hope you receive this message well. Thank you, I love you. Thank you for your time. I hope that this hits your heart… I love you. I’m sorry I made mistakes and held myself back and held my truth inside and worried about other people around me. … I’m sorry I put you through pain. Thank you for being patient with me and seeing the man that you saw in me.”
Although Kevin couldn’t confirm who the video was made for, an insider told Us Weekly that it was for Paula Sanchez, who Luis dated from 2011 until 2018, two years prior to the start of his romance with Teresa.
“What had happened was he hurt Paula and her daughter very badly, causing her to give the engagement ring back,” an insider revealed, claiming Luis returned home and re-proposed to her after completing the program.
Kevin went on to say that the exercise was part of a “physical crucible.”
“It is a hard event to finish. We exhaust you emotionally, mentally, spiritually every way possible in a bootcamp style event,” he shared. “It’s really men who really want to get in touch with their feelings and they want to express and do something about it and it’s powerful and I’m sure they do it imperfectly in ways that are not perfect and there’s a real power in that especially for people who are doing it for the first time.”
“A lot of time in the events what happens is guys have a really big moment, revelation or feeling. … That’s this powerful moment that takes over them. That was a very real capturing of what was being felt and realized in that moment,” he added.
As for the insider’s claim of it being made for Paula, which seems to fit the timeline, Kevin wasn’t sure.
“I have no context. I was sitting next to him. It was a really real moment for him,” he said about Luis. “He really wanted to change some sh-t. What is he apologizing for, I have no idea. I truly don’t know.”
“The purpose of the retreat is to open guys up to remember that it doesn’t matter how much money you have. Without your family you’re pretty much nothing,” Kevin continued. “It doesn’t matter how much success you have without your health, you’re really not going to go far. If you want to have a full spectrum in your life. It’s not enough to make money and have people respect you because you can buy that respect. You really got to do the work inside of your life to have it all.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 12 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.