RHONJ Recap: Footage Shows Teresa Urging Danielle to Pull Margaret's Hair in Blowout Fight

UPDATED on 2/20/2020 at 6:28 a.m. PT:

Margaret reacted to the episode on Twitter, writing, "Well that was crazy.... I guess it wasn't a knee jerk reaction, it was after the fact and premeditated. 😳💋👧🏼"

Original Story...

We now know a little more about that shocking hair-pulling incident that took place on this season of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."

On Wednesday's new episode of the Bravo series, Danielle Staub told Melissa Gorga that it was the boutique owner who told her to pull Margaret Josephs' ponytail that day and that Teresa Giudice actually encouraged it.

While on the Jersey Shore (on separate trips), Melissa agreed to meet up with Danielle alone to chat. After Gorga tried explaining to Staub that the other girls don't want her around anymore because she's "violent," Danielle asked, "Does that include Teresa?"

"Teresa also knows that I'm here. Teresa does enjoy your company. I think you make her laugh, Danielle," Melissa replied. "But you know what? I don't think Teresa's in her right mind right now, let's be honest. ... Do you think you're the right person for her if you're gonna go and pull people's hair in her presence?"

Danielle sighed and said, "I think we'd all had a lot to drink. I was also influenced. I was done when I emptied Margaret's bag in the candle. I was finished. But then Steven told me I should go pull her hair."

"Steven, the owner of the boutique?" Gorga wondered. "Yeah," Staub said. "When Steven said do it, I hesitated, and then I looked at Teresa and she said, 'Yeah, do it.'"

"So you're saying Teresa told you to pull her hair?" a confused Melissa asked for clarification. "Yes," Danielle said confidently.

The show then aired previously unseen footage of Staub whispering to Giudice the day of the fight, "He wants me to pull her ponytail."

Perhaps half-kidding, Teresa replied, "Yeah, you should!" and jokingly nudged Danielle, who laughed and said, "No, I can't."

"Yes! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!" Teresa whispered in Danielle's face. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Earlier in the episode, while the group was at dinner, Jackie Goldschneider challenged everyone at the table to a beer-chugging contest. She ended up winning.

"You know how to suck a bottle, but you can't suck a dick?!" Jennifer Aydin hurled across the table. Jackie has told the girls in the past she rarely partakes in oral sex with her husband, but based on her facial expression after Jen's remark, she didn't appreciate the topic being brought up in front of all the husbands, including her own.

"I can't even with her. It's offensive," Margaret said in disbelief, as Jennifer told her to "relax" because "it was a joke."

"Jennifer, read the room! You've offended many people, and you did offend me this morning," Marge said, but Jen felt it was Margaret who was "always starting with" her.

Margaret brought up what happened when Teresa was expressing concerns over her finances last week. In the moment, Marge said she understood because she was going through legal issues of her own, but Jen cut her off and told her not to compare apples to oranges because at least Margaret had a partner to help her.

"You immediately were like, 'It's not the same,'" Margaret explained to Jennifer Wednesday night. "What was the point of saying that?"

"There's no intention. There's no backstory," Jen replied. That's when Melissa stepped in to help translate. "She looked at it like a record scratcher. They were having this sensitive moment, and you were like cutting her thing short," Gorga explained, as Dolores Catania defended Jennifer by saying she didn't do it "on purpose."

"I didn't mean to!" Jennifer said. "There was nothing behind it. There was no conspiracy theory against you and your moment. In fact, you actually said something that offended me."

That's when Jennifer brought up Margaret's comment about how she wouldn't understand financial struggles because she doesn't have a job.

"Well, do you work?" Marge asked Jen, whose husband, Bill, interjected, "Every mom works."

"I may not get paid for my job, but I work," Jennifer added, as Bill said, "It is a freaking profession."

"You don't work outside the home," Margaret reiterated, prompting Jennifer to fire back, "Bitch, I work a 14-hour day, honey! It doesn't end until my kids go to sleep, and then I'm off the clock. I don't know what type of mother you were, but I'm a very hands-on mother."

Everyone's eyes were as wide as can be, as it's well known that Margaret's had a strained relationship with her stepchildren since she cheated on their father. "You just insulted my mothering skills," Marge said. "You said you don't know what kind of mother I was."

"I don't. That's just a fact," Jen fired back. "Because of everything that you're going through now, everyone's supposed to feel bad and coddle your feelings?"

Melissa felt Jennifer was "going into extremely dangerous territory" by bringing up Marge's kids.

"I pull myself up by my bootstraps. Do I ever ask anybody to coddle my feelings?" Margaret said loudly, slowly starting to stand up. "A girl who f--king never worked a day in her life?!"

"Oh my God, why don't you sit down?!" Jennifer yelled, but Margaret did not oblige. She waved her finger in Jen's direction, still standing, and screeched, "The only achievement you've ever had is marrying someone rich! You're lucky he stays with you!" Cameras caught glimpses of Bill and Jackie, visibly horrified by the remark.

As Margaret summoned her husband, Joe, to leave with her, Jennifer shouted, "You need to stop taking things so seriously!" Marge tried to say something else but decided not to. That's when Jennifer screamed, "Fred Flinstone called! He wants his outfit back! Biotch!" Marge, who was wearing cheetah print, told Joe Jen was "classless" and "disgusting."

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo.

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