Publisher Note: (NewzBreaker would like to welcome our newest Entertainment Writer, Susan Klatz Beal to the team. Susan brings years of writing experience with her.)

By Susan Klatz Beal

As popular as reality television is today, if you asked any expert, writer or other knowledgeable person, what makes the genre so popular, you’d probably get the silent treatment. No, they aren’t trying to be rude. It’s just so hard to try to explain, rationalize, or even justify a phenomenon that amounts to turning nobodies into celebrities, almost overnight, and making them very rich in the process. But to some, maybe that’s a small price to pay for the big bucks these wannabe celebrities earn for airing their laundry on national television.

It’s hard to understand how Teresa and Joe Giudice, cast members of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, could get caught up in everything from bankruptcy fraud to tax evasion. They had their day in court, and to their surprise, no doubt, they will both be serving time in federal prison. Teresa is going to start serving a 15-month sentence in a federal prison in January. After she serves her sentence, Joe starts serving his 41-month sentence, after which, he may be turned over to immigration authorities because he’s not an American citizen.

The couple did what any sensible couple would do following sentencing; the parted way with their lawyers. That’s what the couple says: a more accurate way to describe the parting would be that they FIRED their lawyers.

They told Andy Cohen in a post-sentencing interview, that their lawyers didn’t do their job. Presumably, if the lawyers HAD done their job, the couple wouldn’t have to think about spending any time in prison. Teresa blames her lawyers for her sentence. The couple was each fined over $400,000, but if there is any truth to an October 6, 2014 TMZ report, the $325,000 the couple was paid for the interview should pay off part of that fine. Bravo disputed the amount.

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