Rumors of Rulla Nehme Pontarelli‘s husband Brian Pontarelli‘s affair have been swirling all throughout the first season of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, and one thing is holding true: Jo-Ellen Tiberi remains at the eye of the storm.
As seen in an exclusive clip of the RHORI Season 1 reunion obtained by Parade, things are kicking off between Rulla and Jo-Ellen, but this time, Rulla is coming with receipts.
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“I actually have Brian’s surgery records for the day that alleged video was taken,” Rulla tells Executive Producer Andy Cohen. “His whole entire schedule.”
“Okay, well, we’re taking a five-minute break,” Cohen replies, sounding, honestly, a little burnt out.
The video in question? A clip Jo-Ellen received and later shared with the larger group that shows Rulla’s husband of 11 years, Brian, intimately hugging and kissing another woman. Notably, the video pans to the dashboard of a vehicle that shows that the date and time is allegedly just one day prior to the highly dramatic polo match the cast attended.
“It’s impossible!” Jo-Ellen says in response to Rulla’s surgery record receipts.
“Okay, Jo-Ellen, anybody can change a date on their dash and everything,” Rulla quips back.
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Despite what Jo-Ellen’s video appears to show, Rulla is convinced that the affair with the woman she once referred to in a Parade interview as a “cockroach” is old news. She’d originally found out about the affair in December of 2024 after her co-star, Liz McGraw, sent her Instagram screenshots of the mistress sitting on Brian’s lap, kissing him.
The affair came as quite a shock to Rulla.
“He was home with me,” she explained on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show. “And he’d be around on the weekends, most weekends. He was home every single night. He never slept out. … So, you know, you’d think maybe sometimes a guy will take a vacation, he’ll disappear for a bit, he won’t call you all day, you know. It was very bizarre.”
Jo-Ellen has steadfastly believed that the affair is not, in fact, old news.
“He prints out AI things for you and tells you he’s going to aesthetic conferences,” Jo-Ellen tells Rulla in the clip. “And he goes with [the mistress].”
“That was before!” Rulla retorts.
She goes on to say that Brian hasn’t been to a conference in some time.
“You’re delusional,” Jo-Ellen replies.
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As the pair argue, the other Housewives on the soundstage appear to dissociate in an attempt to stay out of it.
“You didn’t even see the video,” Jo-Ellen reasons with Rulla.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rulla says. “It was done.”
This brings Jo-Ellen to a whole new level of heated.
“They didn’t stop f—ing until December!” she says. “They were still meeting up in January.”
From there, the producers plead with the ladies to stop arguing until they’re properly back to taping post-break. They need to bring Brian out to weigh in, they say.
But this doesn’t stop Rulla and Jo-Ellen from continuing to go at it.
“I’m so done,” Rulla says, walking away. “I’m so done.”
Tune in to part one of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island Season 1 reunion on Sunday, June 21 at 9pm EST. The episode will be available the following day to stream on Peacock.