A Real Housewife Trashed Her Sprinkle Cookies. Fans Are Eating Them Up.

The feud between Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice, her “Real Housewives of New Jersey” castmate and sister-in-law, has been simmering for more than a decade.

Giudice takes pains to point out Gorga’s perceived transgressions, citing rumors of infidelity, gold-digging and a past life as a stripper (all of which Gorga has denied) in fights that became recurring story lines for the show and that divided fans into Team Teresa and Team Melissa.

A dispute in Season 3 (shot in 2011) came to summarize the innocuous events that could set off accusations of bad taste when Giudice complained to family and friends that Gorga brought a subpar choice of cookie to her holiday gathering. “She came to my house Christmas Day, and she brought me sprinkle cookies,” Giudice said, specifying that she preferred pignoli cookies, before adding: “Melissa. No one touched the cookies you brought. I threw them in the garbage!”

Gorga used the dis as a springboard for Let’s Sprinkle by MG, a direct-to-consumer line of upscale butter cookies with sprinkles — running $29.99 for a box of a dozen — that she says has brought in over half a million dollars in revenue since its December launch. Beyond being a recurring reference on the show, the sprinkle cookies are also an offscreen calling card for audience members firmly on Team Melissa.

The sprinkle cookies have become a calling card for audience members firmly on Team Melissa.Credit…Yael Malka for The New York Times

Gorga and Giudice are no longer talking after a bitter last season that divided the cast so deeply that they could not gather to sinema the all-important reunion show. It’s uncertain who will return to the series, and there are whispers that the cast will be overhauled, as has happened with the New York and Atlanta franchises.