Reality TV News

Welcome to the world of reality TV, Melissa Gorga.

The sister-in-law of Teresa Giudice has been confirmed as a new cast member on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, as Bravo cameras are reportedly already filming her for season three of the show.

Make way for Melissa Gorga, Housewives. Try not to flip any tables on to her.

Gorga recently gave birth to a son and served as her husband's secretary when he owned a landscaping business. He's since moved on to real estate and she's a stay-at-home mother. The family resides in a $4 million mansion in Montville, NJ.

It's unclear what the rest of the RHONJ cast will look like next season. Danielle Staub has been fired, and the remaining ladies are haggling over new contracts.

Whose hair might Melissa pull out on the show? Who will spew venomous, scripted insults her way? Stay tuned.

The letter. Sammi found it. Then she read it. The Ronnie denied it. Then he was on the phone with another girl and they totally broke up for good. Or at least for the next 45 minutes.

So it goes on Jersey Shore.

First, some extraneous things to go over. Snooki and Emilio had it out over the phone. She seemed willing to give him another chance ... kinda, sorta. But in the end, it's over. Done.

Unlike Sammi, Snooki's breakups stick ... though even Sam may have had enough now.

The guys, meanwhile, devised a genius plan to extract a grenade and get their groove on with some hotter girls. Put her to bed. Act nice. Then return to bump and grind.

The centerpiece of last night's episode, though, was The Letter. The one penned by Snooki and JWoww to Sammi, regarding Ronnie and all his creepin' antics. Nasty stuff.

How did she react when the contents of the letter were revealed and the fit hit the shan? Continue our review (and see last night's Jersey Shore quotes) after the jump ...

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The BEST reality show in the history of television returns with a new season on September 16.

Sorry, just channeling Donald Trump there for a second.

But the real estate mogul really is bringing back The Apprentice for another run, as the latest version will return to its original, non-celebrity roots. The cast - 16 regular folks for the first time since April 2007 - was announced this week.

"The new edition will combine the realities of today's economic downturn with the grittiness, drama and excitement of the original series," says Trump. "Each of this season's 16 contestants has been hit hard by the economy and they are fighting back."

Get to know the participants below.

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Holy Big Brother episode! No sooner did the Brigade vote off one of its own than did Julie Chen drop grenade to end all grenades - the remaining six houseguests would hold a new HoH, PoV and eviction ceremony LIVE, right there and now! A week of BB in 45 minutes!

Only five cast members remain as of now. Who survived and who's out?

Did the semi-useless Meow-Meow skate by another week?

With Matt and Enzo on the block at the onset, Ragan figured out that the guys were in an alliance thanks to Enzo's comment that he and Hayden were going to split the votes for Lane and Matt the previous week - which, ironically, was not even true. They wanted Matt out.

Matt tried to use this as leverage, but was it too little, too late?

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"I went from a Meow Meow to a Penguin, man. I got no clothes, bro." - Enzo, to Britney

With all four members intact with only seven people left in the game, the Brigade alliance has been an undisputed success on Big Brother. Just the same, it started to fracture Sunday.

Now it looks like the diabolical super genius brains of the operation may be the casualty.

Confident that everything has gone as he orchestrated it, Matt is ultimately being done in by his own overconfidence. Sure, Brendon winning Power of Veto and taking himself off the block was not a foregone conclusion, but tonight's votes look to be.

Hayden and Lane decided early that they needed to make a power move and get Britney to back door Matt. Britney points out that Matt is on her side and Brendon is not, but the latter made it a moot point by winning PoV. Then Matt sealed his own fate.

By attempting to throw Ragan under the bus, Matt revealed his true colors to Britney and basically made her decision for her. As luck would have it, the house also assumed he pocketed the prizes from the PoV competition and tanked it. He's toast!

Herein lies the problem with being a diabolical super genius and winning too many competitions. Matt has turned himself into a target from the standpoint of ... well, everyone remaining. Just a week after looking like the odds-on favorite, too. Amazing.

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"Mean ... where I come from, if you do have a dream like that, you do NOT tell anybody about it!" - Lane, on Matt's nighttime visions of a shirtless Hayden

Last night's Big Brother episode was one of the least eventful of the season, but also the most entertaining. Little happened, and what did was fairly predictable, but the entertainment value exceeded expectations thanks to some of these off-the-wall characters.

From Ragan's multiple references to his gay drama queen status to Lane's enthusiastic take on ... well, anything, the Diary Room confessions alone would have made for a good episode. As for who Britney decided to put up on the block as Head of Household?

Brendon was a given, but Matt's caginess before dropping the Diamond PoV grenade last week may have spelled the end of the Brigade. It was inevitable at some point, with just seven house guests remaining, but the way it transpired was unexpected.

SCRATCHED OUT: Might the Meow-Meow Express be going astray?

Having basically admitted he was going to "whack" Matt, then trying to backtrack sketchily later, Enzo has lost the trust of his fellow alliance member. Matt hasn't yet turned his back on the Brigade, but he's not that sad to see Enzo on the block either.

Whether the fearsome foursome is splintering or already fractured is up for debate - as the best player in the game, Matt is keeping his options open. He's not throwing anyone under the bus ... entirely. He could have put Enzo up instead of Kathy.

Still, Hayden and Enzo are quasi-turning on Matt because he turned on them, or so they say. Matt hasn't really turned on anyone ... he's just seen their true colors and is the favorite, as he showed in talking Britney out of putting him up as the pawn.

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Brendon has to be wondering what the heck just happened.

Somehow he went a whole week as Head of Household and none of his three targets - Britney, Ragan or Matt - are sitting in the jury house right now. Brilliant.

You knew the Cubic Zirconia Diamond Power of Veto would be put into play by Matt, but that didn't make it any less awesome when he stuck it to Brenchel.

Having just been put up on the block, Matt pulling himself off at the last second must have really stung Brendon. We're on the fence on Matt, but we loved it.

The "diabolical genius" act can get old, his possessing the Diamond PoV was lucky, and the lie about his wife is really bad, but Matt is definitely in it to win it.

Kathy took the fall when Matt dropped the mother of all grenades.

Begrudgingly or unabashedly, you have to admit he's a favorite. Even the way he gauged his own allies' reactions to his nomination was reflective of his thinking.

Enzo told us in the Diary Room, and told Matt less directly, that he'd vote Matt out. Why didn't he and Hayden plan - or at least say they would plan - to split 1-1?

Puzzling move on their part, but Matt was all but history to them at the time anyway, so hindsight is 20-20 in a sense. Still, Matt would've been toast and knows it.

How will Matty treat his crew now? They did have to vote for someone, but did Enzo's remarks show the first signs of a fractured, or at least splintered Brigade?

Matt's choice to put up Kathy was a no-brainer, as we said after Wednesday's veto competiton. Eliminating her didn't change the game in the last. 5-0 vote. Done.

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Breaking up is hard to do for anyone. For Sammi and Ronnie on Jersey Shore, it's just not happening no matter what. Seriously, she will not drop this loser, period.

We would feel worse if she weren't so pathetic or were more likable. Her own friends seem conflicted regarding whether they should tell her, too. Not a good sign.

Ron's creepin' on random hoes has taken over this season, and Sammi is either oblivious, really pathetic, or both. But Snooki and J-Woww aren't standing for it.

The girls decide to pen an anonymous letter - so secretive that they write "breasts" instead of other terminology to mask their identities - containing the truth.

Will Sam open it? Will Ronnie ever sober up? We'll have to wait and see, but this guy has been a mess beyond belief so far. Just flat-out plastered every night!

At least he's not half-assing this thing ...

As usual, Sammi and Ronnie overshadow the good things about Jersey Shore.

Unfortunately, this story line is kind of played out (letter aside), and unless J-Woww steps in to fight Ronnie or Sammi grows a spine, we're getting a little tired of it.

The drama even overshadowed the other significant event of the night, which was Snooki's boyfriend Emilio cheating on her, or so it appears, back in New York City.

J-Woww tore him a new one on the phone and after a series of angry calls, a drunken gorilla juicehead was officially put in his place and our girl Snook is single again.

We think. Hard to say. All we know is that it was hilarious to watch, especially having already listened to this guy complain in real life that he got dumped for no reason.

Some other highlights from last night's installment of the MTV show ...

• The ice cream store, again, with Vinny and Pauly D mackin' customers.
• The Situation channeling Snooki and making a disaster out of dinner.
• Situation dropping more acronyms than we can follow (see below).

Follow the jump for tons of Jersey Shore quotes from last night ...

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"Are you the biggest bitch because you're gay?" - Rachel to Ragan

The concept of Pandora's Box either ruins the integrity of Big Brother (we know, we know) or makes the game even more compelling, depending on your point of view.

No one can refute that it really shakes things up, though.

For the second time in as many weeks, someone opened it. We'd love to see someone pass, saying, eh, I'm just not feeling this right now. What did Brendon discover?

Not what he was looking for, which was theme of the episode for him. Ragan, who Brendon nominated for eviction along with Lane, promptly snared the Power of Veto.

Ragan Fox (left) was the star Wednesday. Matt Hoffman should be tonight.

Did the producers choose this puzzle to give the professor an edge? Coincidence or not, he didn't just win, he flat-out dominated, securing his Saboteur check to boot.

Not a bad prize for some sketchy messages. Soon, though, Ragan was battling his nemesis - Rachel - in person, after Brendon opened Pandora's Box and unleashed her.

He thought he was getting a 24-hour vacation with her, but Big Brother punked him and they switched places. Brendon spent a nice day in a Malibu mansion ... alone.

Meanwhile, Rachel returned to wreak havoc on the houseguests who ousted her by a unanimous vote. No one was happy, but the fireworks with Ragan were epic.

Ragan was getting worked up even before the aforementioned, uneducated dig at his sexuality, and the rest of the cast could only watch in awe as he owned Rachel.

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Fox remains silent on the issue, but Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton has spoken out and confirmed what's been rumored for weeks:

Steven Tyler has signed on as a new judge on American Idol.

"The ink is dry on that," Hamilton told The Newark Star-Ledger this week. "Steven is someone who absolutely lives to be in front of an audience, and the people closest to him know how witty and entertaining he can be.... it is an opportunity for millions of people to see another side of Steven Tyler."

With auditions scheduled to begin next month, and season 10 set to air in January, American Idol still must answer the following questions:

• Will Kara DioGuardi remain on the show?
• Will there be three or four judges?
• Have diva-like demands really disqualified Jennifer Lopez as a candidate?
• Can a cap be placed on how many times Randy Jackson can say the word "pitchy" per show?
• Will the competition make a major change from last season and find a large group of interesting contestants?

TV Fanatic will keep readers apprised of all these developments and more.