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After last week’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey incident where Luis Ruelas had a hot mic moment, he threw caution to the wind.

Now that the cameras caught how he really talks about Melissa and Joe Gorga, he had a choice to make: pretend like it was unusual, or double down.

On this week’s episode, Luis doubled down.

Luis called Joe “an animal,” insisting that he would not “lower himself” to the level of “f–king trash” like his brother-in-law.

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On The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13, Episode 14, Teresa Giudice and then-fiance Luis Ruelas sat down to finalize some wedding details. (Image Credit: Bravo)

During this episode, Teresa Giudice was in the midst of wedding planning.

Sitting outside just minutes before rain began, she chatted with Luis Ruelas about the finer points of seating arrangements.

Already, Joe and Melissa were coming up in conversation — and not in a fun way.

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During wedding planning, Luis Ruelas refers to “hoopla” that his future in-laws started. (Image Credit: Bravo)

At first, Luis referred to Joe and Melissa as having started “hoopla” regarding the wedding.

That’s some pretty mild language. Maybe the most famous instance of the word’s use is on Spongebob Squarepants.

But that jab was only the first. And it understated the strong feelings of resentment at play.

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Speaking to the confessional camera, Teresa Giudice says that the actual wedding planning is not stressing her out at all. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Teresa spoke to the confessional camera about how, unlike so many brides-to-be, she did not feel stressed about wedding planning.

(Often, wedding day stress relates to money and to it being a new experience. Teresa has married before, and she’s rich. That at least partially explains why the planning was so chill)

However, she noted that there were other things on her mind. Specifically, ongoing tensions with her brother and her sister-in-law.

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As Teresa Giudice and Luis Ruelas reach out to his mother, they marvel at how easy things are with his family. (Image Credit: Bravo)

During the planning, they made a phone call to Luis’ mother. She was very accommodating, insisting that she was fine with whatever plans they had.

Teresa marveled at the contrast between her interactions with Luis’ family and what things have been like with hers.

As the rain began to fall, they made their way into the house. Quickly, the conversation shifted from nuptials to feuds.

Taking shelter inside from the rain, Luis Ruelas asks his bride-to-be how things went with her sister-in-law. (Image Credit: Bravo)

As Luis tried to take stock of things, he asked how things had been going.

He asked, specifically, about how things went with Melissa.

Not well is almost a given. But Teresa had specific remarks about her sister-in-law’s reactions to things.

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Using her nails to accentuate her gestures, Teresa Giudice expresses how her sister-in-law does not, to her, seem reasonable. (Image Credit: Bravo)

In her mind, Melissa is not reacting in proportion to events as she sees them.

(We have all watched both women become increasingly irate after every slight, every conflict)

Oh, and Teresa shared that Melissa was really dragging her heels about RSVPing.

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As Teresa Giudice shares that she has not received a response, Luis Ruelas suggests that his future sister-in-law wants them “to chase” after her. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Luis chimed in, saying that Melissa “wants us to chase” her for an answer.

In other words, he believes that it was some sort of power play on Melissa’s part.

Meanwhile, Teresa pulled out her texts with Melissa. Specifically regarding the rehearsal dinner.

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Luis Ruelas looks at texts between his then-fiancee and Melissa Gorga. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Within the texts, Melissa says that she didn’t know the person who texted her about the rehearsal dinner.

(Millions of Americans receive dozens of unwanted scam and spam texts and calls every week. The deluge makes it difficult to see important calls and texts from anyone who is not already a contact)

But Teresa and Luis weren’t buying Melissa’s story.

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Looking at the texts, Teresa Giudice and Luis Ruelas note that surely everyone knows that a rehearsal dinner will happen the night before a wedding. (Image Credit: Bravo)

As Teresa reasoned, this is a wedding.

Melissa is a grownup. A married grownup. She knows how weddings work.

There is pretty much always a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.

Frankly, Luis Ruelas doesn’t even want to read any more of this conversation. He’s unhappy. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Luis had read enough.

He very dramatically dropped Teresa’s phone onto the table.

(We know that it has a phone case, like they all have to have these days, but still, we winced)

In Teresa Giudice’s mind, she tells Luis Ruelas, her sister-in-law is essentially keeping her brother from her. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Teresa is blaming Melissa for keeping Joe from all of this.

She complained that her sister-in-law should “let him have his family.”

Meanwhile, Luis said that he tired of Joe blaming him for every single thing.

Luis Ruelas says that he is always receiving blame from his future brother-in-law, and that his then-fiancee’s ex-husband warned him that this would be the case. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Teresa’s ex-husband, Joe Giudice, had apparently reached out to Luis (after Gia brought him up to speed on the drama).

He advised Luis that, no matter what, Joe will find some way to blame him for everything.

This is like hearing about someone else’s game of telephone. We’re hearing Luis’ account of what he talked about with Joe Giudice, whose info came from Gia, whose version of events came from Teresa and Luis. Messy.

Speaking to the confessional camera, Teresa Giudice expresses that she feels so embarrassed that her family is causing problems. (Image Credit: Bravo)

Teresa emphasized how humiliated she feels that her family is causing problems.

On the one hand, we can all relate. We often feel like our relatives, our friends, are somehow our responsibility.

At the same time … some fans are already remarking that Teresa’s apparent need to apologize to Luis feels unhealthy. That could just be Luis’ unsavory reputation at work, however.

Referring to his brother-in-law, Luis Ruelas says that he has remained “calm in the last three months around an animal like that?” (Image Credit: Bravo)

This is when the gloves came off with Luis.

He hyped up his own self-restraint after remaining “calm in the last three months around an animal like that.”

Teresa did not bat an eye at what he said. Or at what followed.

Again disparaging his brother-in-law, Luis Ruelas says that he is “not gonna lower myself to f–king trash that does that.” (Image Credit: Bravo)

Luis declared that he was “not gonna lower myself to f–king trash” that behaves as Joe has.

Meanwhile, Teresa’s response to this was to feel sorry for Luis for having put up with so much.

This is such an ugly, bitter situation.