‘RHONJ’ Alum Criticizes Teresa Giudice’s ‘Stiff’ Performance on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Not all of Teresa Giudice’s Real Housewives of New Jersey co-stars are rooting for her on Dancing With the Stars. Kim DePaola called her former Bravo castmate out as looking “stiff” after Giudice’s first dance with pro partner Pasha Pashkov landed her in the bottom two during last week’s DWTS premiere.

“I didn’t think she would be good, but my jaw dropped when I watched this,” DePaola said on Saturday’s episode of the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. “First of all, when he was leading her down the table, her neck was stiff like that. She could barely move on the dance floor. She was so stiff.” DePaola continued to drag Giudice, saying Pashkov “dragged” her around “like a ragdoll” and calling the RHONJ star’s performance “really the worst dance of the night.”

DePaola said she only felt like the judges saved Giudice over Jason Lewis and Peta Murgatroyd, who were sent packing after landing in the bottom two themselves because they felt like Giudice would attract more viewers throughout the season. However, DePaola said the Standing Strong author’s “bad dances” won’t win her many votes, doubling down by saying she “made a complete fool of herself” and was an “embarrassment.”

Giudice hasn’t responded to her former co-star’s digs but did make a nod to her RHONJ past in her first dance, where she artfully flipped a table as a nod to the iconic Housewives moment.  “At first I know I was like, I didn’t know if I wanted to do it,” Giudice told Entertainment Tonight of her hesitation to flip the table on DWTS. “[But then,] I’m like, ‘You know what? I know my fans are gonna love it.’”

“I did it for them,” she added of the fans. “And this time I did it with a smile on my face.” Pashkov credited the show’s creative team with the idea and said that he and his celebrity partner have been “having a blast” and “working hard” together. “I have an amazing partner and, yeah, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner,” Giudice gushed in return. Pashkov echoed, “Listen I think I have the best partner. We clicked from the very beginning, it’s super easy communication.” Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Disney+.