'RHONJ': Teresa Giudice Shares How Husband Joe Responded to News of Her Bodybuilding Competition

Teresa Giudice may have been ready to take to the stage in a thong for her first bodybuilding competition, but the Real Housewives of New Jersey star was still nervous telling her husband Joe about her new passion.

In Wednesday's all-new episode of the Bravo reality show, Teresa revealed that she had just let her husband Joe — currently serving out a 41-month prison sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud — in on what she was about to do days before the competition.

Earlier in the season, Teresa admitted she was nervous her husband would not approve of the bodybuilding, saying in the Season 9 premiere, "I don't care what anybody thinks: my husband or anyone. Sorry Joe!"

Later, she told her trainer, "Joe always said to me, 'You're not doing that,'" adding, "It's another year until he comes home so I was just like, 'I'm just doing it, I don't care what he says.'"

But in Wednesday's episode, she decided to let her secret spill.

"I've been on the fence whether or not I should tell Joe that I'm doing this bikini competition," she confessed. "I never know how he's going to react to things, but then a week ago, I did tell him about it. And he just said, 'I hope you win!'"

"I was kind of shocked," she added. "I was like, 'Oh, he is changing in there.'"

With her husband's confidence behind her, Teresa was ready to finally strut her stuff in a tiny bikini and deep fake tan after seven months of working out, staying away from alcohol and dieting to the extreme.

"I've worked out and practiced posing for over a thousand hours," she said. "I can't believe it boils down to two minutes on stage. … That's crazy to me."

In June, Teresa competed in the NPC South Jersey Bodybuilding Championships in Medford, New Jersey, where she placed third in the 40-plus bikini division for women.

It might have been a crazy journey, but Teresa said she wouldn't have done anything different heading up to the competition.

"This whole journey has completely changed me," she said after receiving her placement. "For the first time in my life, I got to do something just for me. I've never been this independent, and I love it."

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Photo credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images