The Real Housewives of New Jersey is in a most precarious state. We’ve suffered from the same cast for 873 years, and change is strictly forbidden in the bylaws of the Teresa/Melissa hierarchy. But a Trojan Horse has arrived to save the day.
A brash queen who’s not threatened by the strictly drawn team lines, with a sense of humor long lost on this humorless show, Jenn Fessler is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise tepid season. And she’s doing all that as a friend-of the Housewives. There may be little praise worth giving the slow-starting Season 14 thus far, as the status quo remains firmly intact, and both sides of the Teresa/Melissa chasm are making solid cases to be booted before Bravo gives the show a fresh set of paint next year.
But Jenn has existed on the periphery of this divide since she joined the show last season, managing to avoid the teams mentality that has doomed the franchise. That’s making her presence a lifeboat in this time of need, Jenn somehow becoming the best player on the show simply by filming with everyone involved. Jenn’s funny, fresh, doesn’t take herself too seriously, and can spar without seeming rehearsed.
She’s everything you’d want in a New Jersey Housewife. It’s interesting that Bravo introduced her alongside Rachel Fuda and Danielle Cabral , two full-time Housewives with noticeably less screen presence, and relegated Jenn to a life in the shadows. Is she too slay? Is she too effervescent? Does her presence set off the d.
