With great power comes great responsibility, and reality TV has it in spades. However, this power can be used for good or for evil. And most commonly, that power is being used for evil.

News broke this week that Real Housewives Of New Jersey stars Teresa Giudice and her husband Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice plead guilty to four fraud charges. Joe Giudice stands to be sentenced to a potential 37 to 46 months in jail; Teresa’s potential jail time is 21 to 27 months. This all comes after they were indicted in July 2013 on 39 counts of fraud, with the government alleging that they lied in their bankruptcy proceedings about their income from the show, provided false income statements on loan and mortgage documents, and failed to file tax returns. In their current plea deal, Teresa will have to fork over $200K in July in addition to whatever jail time is imposed on the couple.

That’s a lot of consequence for trying to keep up appearances.

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