Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 4 participant Teresa Giudice told PEOPLE how hard it was for her to leave Gia Giudice to continue the grueling competition without her.
Why Teresa quit:
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star knew that watching Gia participate in the milling challenge was asking too much of her. “There was no way that I would be able to sit there and watch my daughter get punched, as a mom.”
Teresa continued, “I would’ve probably definitely jumped in. I didn’t want to show my daughter me actually fighting either. I’m sure Gia would’ve did the same for me, or maybe not. Maybe she would’ve restrained herself because we were on Special Forces.”
“But I just didn’t want to show my daughter. I didn’t want to see her getting hit, and I didn’t want her to see me fighting. It took everything in me to leave, it really did.”
“But I knew she was going to be okay. I know my kid, so I knew she was going to be fine.”
Teresa reacclimated to life in Jersey while Gia was alone in Morocco:
After leaving the competition, the mother of four dorters “cried that whole night.” Teresa shared, “I cried going home in the airport. Even when I got home, I was crying. My husband [Luis Ruelas] was like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ And I was just so upset.”
“I wasn’t myself until Gia came home. I really wasn’t. Even Luis said, he’s like, ‘I feel like you’ve changed.’ He’s like, ‘What happened to you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I was… It took a lot out of me. It really did.’”
Did Teresa quit too soon?
The House of Villains personality considered going back to Morocco, but “you can’t go back. I mean, I would, but then they’re not going to take you back.”
“I was having second thoughts, but then, like I said, we had discussions and there was a lot of stuff that we talked about,” she said of her and daughter Gia. “And so I was thinking, my mom instinct, I’m always a mom first, and I always want to try to set good examples for my children. So, that’s what always comes in my mind. I’m always a mom first.”
Gia “understood why I left because she knew what we talked about beforehand. And then, I explained to her why I left, and she totally got it.”
Teresa added that she was “grateful for the experience to do this with Gia. It is something that we both will never forget. Something that she’ll always remember. I’ll always remember.”
