RHONJ's Jennifer Aydin Clarifies Jersey Mike's Drama: 'Hindsight Is 20/20'

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Jennifer Aydin is clarifying her recent social media beef with Jersey Mike’s.

“Hindsight is 20/20, but I did not think it was going to go that way,” Aydin, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 8. “Not at all.”

Earlier this month, Aydin claimed in a social media video that she waited for “what felt like forever” to receive service from an airport Jersey Mike’s. One of the employees then shared her response in a TikTok video, referring to Aydin as a “stupid bitch” and alleging that the reality TV star backed up the entire line of customers.

While speaking with Us, Aydin asserted that she “was not rude” to any of the food chain’s staff.

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Jennifer and her husband, Bill Aydin, had been traveling with their five kids for the holidays.

“We’re a big group. I’m a family of seven,” Jennifer recalled. “I have a sister with my goddaughter. She’s a widow [and] her and my goddaughter come with us everywhere we go. So, we travel [with] nine people or a lot of people. We met up with my cousin who’s another family of six. … We’re 15 people, not to mention the other two families that were meeting up with us at the airport.”

After Jennifer and Bill, 51, corralled their crew through TSA security, they decided to separate in order to quickly get their children food before boarding a four-hour flight.

“He took all the kids, went to another stand that had a table, ordered food. It was about 5:30 in the morning,” she said. “Jersey Mike’s did not open until 5:30 and my cousin and I got on the line pretty much around 5:45 a.m. and there were not that many people on the line. Again, it was a little slow moving, but we weren’t going to complain.”

Jennifer and her cousin, Susie, got in the line at the same time, but Susie eventually stepped out to check out a neighboring kiosk.

“She didn’t come back on the line with me because it already started accumulating. So, she decided to wait for me at the front of the register until it was my turn,” Jennifer told Us. “When it got to be my turn, obviously, I let her go in front of me and I think that people thought I was letting her cut. I didn’t let her cut and she ordered four sandwiches. I only ordered one. I only had one that my kids wanted to split. That was my task. I’m in mom mode trying to just get my kids food.”

After Susie ordered, Jennifer and the woman standing behind her also placed their respective orders. The other woman was allegedly helped before Jennifer, despite the Bravo personality saying she arrived at the line first.

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“We’ve already been waiting. We’re at an airport, we have a flight to catch. We’ve already been through TSA, I’m a big group, everything took [time], so, obviously, tensions are high,” she stressed. “Again, I don’t want to complain. I get it. Everybody’s like, ‘It’s New Year’s, whatever.’ They fulfilled the woman behind me’s sandwich [order] first, and I reminded the employee. I’m like, ‘Hey, did you do my Italian?’ And she was like, ‘You have to wait your turn.’ I said, ‘Oh, but you did hers before mine and I was before her.’ So, obviously she realized that [and] ignored me. I didn’t want to make a big thing about it.”

By the time the employees were working on Jennifer’s sandwich, Bill arrived to add to the order.

“They’re working on my one sandwich that I ordered. It’s a foot-long Italian and Bill said one of our kids wanted a plain tuna mini with nothing on it,” Jennifer said. “So I said to the employee, ‘OK, sweetie, I’m going to need another mini tuna.’ She goes, ‘Oh no, you have to get to the back of the line.’ And I said, but you just fulfilled that woman’s sandwich before me and I didn’t even say anything and none of this is on camera — by the way. So she looks up and I guess she realized I was right and she goes, ‘Well, then the guy behind you has to say it’s OK.’”

Jennifer hadn’t noticed the man who was now waiting behind her, who apparently said, “I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous …  that [she was] adding another sandwich.”

“Tensions are high. I know I’m going to get blamed for something and I’m going to keep my cool,” Jennifer stressed. “The whole point of me recording — I know it backfired — was to show that I was not snapping. I’m just recording the window. At that point, the guy is not even in my thing.”

The man then claimed to be a law professor and allegedly threatened to sue Jennifer for “all [her] fake diamonds” if she posted the video of him.

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“I am literally so shocked and disgusted by this man’s behavior,” Jennifer said, noting that she gets “triggered by bad behavior.”

She continued, “I realize that I did not tackle this correctly, but, in the moment, I was just so shocked and appalled by this really unwarranted, aggressive behavior. Then, I put the camera on him.”

She added, “In my angst, I was telling him because I wanted him to know that you just can’t be rude to people like that. You don’t know who you’re being rude to and I’m going to put you on blast. … I was just, like, livid that this person [was] talking to me that way. I want you to know that in the moment, I was not rude to the Jersey Mike’s staff at all. I was trying to be polite.”

One of the Jersey Mike’s employees then allegedly threatened not to finish Jennifer’s order that was currently in process.

“In the video, they were still working on my sandwich. It’s not like I had paid. I didn’t check out,” she said. “So for them to tell me to wait to the end of the line or that I had to ask this guy’s permission — that just really started an altercation. They shouldn’t have done that and that’s just customer service. I’m realizing now that I can’t say, ‘I’m a celebrity.’ People are very angry. … I will no longer say I’m a celebrity since people are so angry about it. But, obviously, this wouldn’t have gone so viral as it did if I wasn’t a public figure.”

Jennifer also apologized for her pointed remarks about the staff, noting she “was not a celebrity in that moment” but simply an “angry mom.”

“I wanted to put it on blast to show how rude they were to me. I didn’t go about it the right way. I acknowledge that, but I was not rude to the staff in the moment,” Jennifer reiterated, noting she only proclaimed her celebrity status after another restaurantgoer recognized her and loudly pointed it out. “I feel like we’ve all been there. I’m learning now that I have to realize that I’m a public figure and that everything that I say or do will be scrutinized and I actually have to lead by example.”

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She continued, “It was wrong for me to go in my stories and then bash their bad customer service. I’m learning now that I’m not allowed to complain. It’s not entitled. This is not privilege. I’m a paying customer.”

Jennifer also “one hundred percent” regrets posting the video rant in the first place.

“I realized that I should have done it in a different manner and it could have landed a little differently,” she stated. “And I’m learning now not to do things in the heat of the moment, because I was not furious as a celebrity. … I was a paying customer that didn’t get the sandwich for her kid.”

In addition, Jennifer “felt [she] was owed an apology” from Jersey Mike’s and the allegedly “rude and dismissive” man in line behind her, but doesn’t plan to reach out.

“I’m not going to,” she said, “They’re constantly blasting me. … I will apologize for calling [the worker] an 80-year-old woman and doing all that, but that’s where it ends. They’re monetizing this, which I’m very happy for. At last some good will come to them from this.”

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi