Amber Marchese Joins RHONJ As Teresa And Melissa Return
Just when fans thought there couldn’t possibly be any more news about the casting of The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 6, we get even more updates. This time around, it’s news of the identity of the third housewife as well as a few confirmations of returning wives.
“They have added three new women — twins Nicole and Teresa Napolitano and their friend, Amber Marchese,” an insider told In Touch Weekly.
Yesterday, we reported that Nicole and Teresa would be joining the cast, but all that was known at the time about Amber was her first name. Now, fans are getting to know more about the dynamic that is to come — and more about the twins.
“The show got really dark. They needed to bring in new faces to get back to some of the lighter drama that everyone loves from the Real Housewives franchise,” the insider explains. ”These twins will be sassy and you can bet it will turn into new girls vs. old girls drama.”
One main reason for the cast change has been the ratings slump since season 4. While over 3.4 million viewers on average tuned into the season 4 reunion special, there was just 2 million tuned into the second part of the season 5 reunion.
As for the twins, a source tells Faux Reality Entertainment, “Teresa Napolitano Aprea and her husband are well known in philanthropic circles in New Jersey. Nicole [Napolitano] owns a Diary Queen and is extremely successful. Teresa and Nicole are ’40ish’ and twins. Family is everything to these two and you won’t see the backstabbing that has become common place with Joe and Melissa Gorga.”
In a separate report, fans are learning that Teresa and Melissa are officially signed on to season 6. “There were basically no negotiations at all,” an insider revealed to Radar Online. “Teresa was desperate to keep money coming in and so she took the first thing that was offered to her.”
Production begins in a few weeks.