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Dolores Catania reacted to the return of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and Margaret Josephs‘ exit from the series, on Thursday night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live.
As she also explained how she would react if Teresa Giudice, 53, and Melissa Gorga, 47, returned to fighting post-reunion, described each cast member of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, and opened up about her engagement and future wedding to Paul “Paulie” Connell, 51, Dolores admitted to holding out hope that RHONJ would one day resume filming.
“I hoped I’d see the day,” she shared on the March 26 episode of WWHL.
Earlier this week, as Bravo confirmed that just she, Teresa, and Melissa would be returning for season 15, Margaret, 58, announced she would be leaving the show.
“I think she gave it a lot of thought, and she’s at peace with it, and peace is the keyword here for her,” Dolores, 55, explained. “I spoke to her today. She sounds great. Margaret’s doing really well. She’s got a lot of other things going on, and I think she’s happy with her decision.”
As for her game plan for Melissa and Teresa if they start fighting again, Dolores said she’d be traditional with her approach.
“I’m gonna beat them both up if they start fighting again. I’m gonna take their heads as my father used to do when we used to fight as sisters and just slam our heads together,” she declared, noting that she had not yet spent time with the women together.
“But I think [the reconcilation is] sincere. I believe it. I do. I hope it lasts. And I’m here for it, and I support them,” she stated.
Moving on to RHORI, which premieres next Thursday, Dolores said she only knew Liz McGraw going into filming as a “friend of” for season one.
“I had met [Rosie DiMare] prior. But I was close with Liz, and you know what? They all welcomed me,” she confirmed. “[Alicia Carmody] said to me one day, ‘You’re one of us,’ and that’s all I needed to hear, and they really welcomed me like I was there forever.”
Admitting that Liz was her “doppelgänger,” Dolores confirmed that the two of them went to the same plastic surgeon before describing her friend as “loyal.”
“Dr. Karolak did our face, and [Dr.] Apa did our teeth. So we look alike, but we did before. So she’s fiercely loyal, like, fierce, but she’s savage when she gets mad. You don’t want to cross her, and I like that she’s tough,” Dolores revealed.
Continuing on to Alicia, Dolores revealed she was similar to Teresa.
“Alicia’s so funny. She reminds me a little bit of somebody we know. There’s some Alicia-isms. She’s tough, too,” she shared.
Then, after suggesting that Jo-Ellen Tiberi would be the series villain, stating that she could be “charismatic like any serial killer,” and revealing that Ashley Iaconetti was a “good girl,” Dolores applauded Kelsey Swanson for her honesty.
“She’s like, ‘I’m here. This is what I do. I got a boyfriend. He’s older. I like his money. I got a couple. If you don’t like it, I don’t really care,’” she explained.
Dolores also said that Rosie was “nosy” and described Rulla Nehme Pontarelli as a “good friend.”
“I’m close with Rulla. I like Rulla. She’s handled a lot of things with grace, and I want to see how everybody’s gonna take to her. Are they gonna feel sorry? Are they gonna be mad? I’m Team Rulla, but she handles things a lot differently than we do in New Jersey,” Dolores teased.
Later, on the WWHL: After Show, Dolores reflected on her engagement to Paulie, which happened at an Apple store.
“To be honest, it was the perfect place. I was so surprised, and it was sentimental cuz that’s where we met … so he wanted to take me back to the place that he knew me before all of this,” she explained. “We were supposed to go on a date, and both of our phones broke at the same time, so he was in there getting his phone fixed, and I went in there to get my phone fixed.”
As for whether they’d set a date, Dolores admitted that things kept “getting pushed back,” giving a nod to her daughter Gabby’s recent engagement.
“But we’ll think about it. Maybe we’ll just jump into it and do a big party for everybody,” she stated.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 15 is expected to go into production sometime this spring.