Teresa Giudice got a dose of reality on Thursday when she and husband Joe were sentenced to hard time for their federal fraud convictions, but fans of the Real Housewives of New Jersey also got a lesson on just how real the “reality” show is.
Teresa and her husband were both hit with jail time for concealing millions of dollars worth of assets. Joe was given 41 months while Teresa got a 15-month sentence.
But aside from their legal troubles, the Giudices may have seen their reality television empire come crashing down. The sentencing proceedings revealed that the Bravo reality show is not very real at all, and may in fact be orchestrating some of the over-the-top scenarios that make it so popular with fans.
During sentencing, lawyers for Joe and Teresa Giudice explained that the expensive furniture audiences see in their $3 million home were actually carefully selected by producers.
#GiudiceDay they listed $25k in furnishings 4 their $3mil home – attorney said bc furniture seen on TV was brought in by production #RHONJ
— All About The Tea (@AllAboutTheTea_) October 2, 2014
This is not the first revelation that the Real Housewives series is faked for the cameras. Last year, Radar Online leaked text messages from Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson showing that producers scripted her daughter’s wedding.
“Reality television almost certainly has got to be staged to a certain extent. The example of Vicki on, The Real Housewives of Orange County , that sort of is the poster child for the word ‘busted,’” entertainment journalist Brad Barton told Fox News .
Sentencing day for Joe and Teresa Giudice may have just produced another one of those “busted” moments. It’s also not the first time that Teresa has been caught between the lines of reality and “reality.” In the weeks before her sentencing Teresa was photographed holding a $2,000 purse while house hunting, which sources said was also planted by producers.
“Teresa was given a Valentino handbag by producers of the show to use for filming. They wanted her to look extremely wealthy while looking for a new house, especially because she was downsizing ,” a source told Radar Online .
Unfortunately, while the Real Housewives of New Jersey may be fake, the prison sentences for Joe and Teresa Giudice are all too real.
[Image via Bravo]
