Things get ruff on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 13.
Margaret Josephs teased during a live taping of Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast that Teresa Giudice has a “new lapdog” — possibly replacing Jennifer Aydin — on the forthcoming installment of the Bravo reality show.
“There’s a new lapdog in town,” Josephs, 55, told me and my co-host, Danny Murphy, on stage Monday night at City Winery in New York City.
The Macbeth Collection founder was presumably referring to Danielle Cabral, a series rookie who is rumored to make her debut as a full-time “Housewife” when “RHONJ” returns next year.
Dave Allocca/StarPix
Dave Allocca/StarPix
“I hope it’s a rescue,” Murphy playfully responded, to which Josephs quipped back, “I think it is.”
“RHONJ” mainstay Jackie Goldschneider, who also participated in the event, then added, “She needs a bath!”
“We’re being shady. We’re kidding,” she said, to which her castmate and BFF echoed, “We’re joking! I’m totally joking.”
The “lapdog” remark came after Josephs and Goldschneider were asked about Aydin’s unremitting allegiance to Giudice.
Although Josephs and Goldschneider presently maintain amicable relationships with Giudice, 50, after feuding with the infamous table-flipper, they are notably closer with her sister-in-law and onscreen nemesis, Melissa Gorga.
The current dynamic is so tense that the “New Jersey” women had to be separated into two panels at BravoCon 2022 in October — Josephs, Goldschneider and Gorga, 43, in one and Giudice, Aydin, 45, and Dolores Catania in the other. (Catania, 51, is friendly with everyone despite the ongoing discord.)
Things took a turn for the worse after Aydin threw a drink at Gorga and her husband, Joe Gorga, during an explosive hotel lobby altercation.
Dave Allocca/StarPix
Dave Allocca/StarPix
Dave Allocca/StarPix
While Cabral, 37, has seemingly picked Giudice and Aydin’s side among the fractured cast, fellow rumored new “Housewife” Rachel Fuda and “friend of the Housewives” Jennifer Fessler are tight with Goldschneider and Josephs — and came out to support them at Monday night’s Page Six event.
During an audience Q&A, Fuda asked Josephs and Goldschneider what they look for in someone joining the franchise.
Dave Allocca/StarPix
Dave Allocca/StarPix
According to Josephs, it’s very simple: “Someone who likes to eat with me.”
Bravo has yet to announce a premiere date — or the official cast — for “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 13.
New episodes of Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” are released Thursdays.
