Tonight on ABC Celebrity Wife Swap returns again for a whole new episode where Comedian Judy Gold and her fiancée Elysa swap lives with magician Penn Jillette and his wife Emily
On the last episode Amanda Beard, a four-time Olympic swimmer who has won seven medals for Team USA and lives outside of Seattle, WA with her husband, Sacha, and their two children Blaze (4 1/2) and Dune (9 months) traded lives with Heidi and Spencer Pratt who are best known for their roles on MTV’s hit reality series “The Hills.” The couple lives on the beach in Santa Barbara, CA with their four dogs Castle, Rainbo, Dolly and Ninja. Heidi and Spencer love to go out and indulge in the finer things in life like champagne and expensive cars. Heidi spends her days shopping and lunching with her girlfriends while Spencer keeps up with the latest happenings in social media and spends hours caring for his extensive crystal collection. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we recapped it all right here for you.
On tonight’s episode, Comedian Judy Gold lives in New York City with her fiancée Elysa and two sons Henry and Ben. The family lives in a cramped Manhattan apartment where they keep an open door policy with many of the boys’ friends stopping by despite the fact Judy utilizes part of the living room as her home office, making it difficult for her to focus on the work she needs to do. Magician Penn Jillette is one-half of the famed stage duo Penn and Teller. He lives in Las Vegas, NV with his wife Emily and their two children Zolten and Moxie. The family resides on a secluded and expansive piece of land in the Nevada desert that they’ve named “The Slammer.”
We will be covering tonight’s Celebrity Wife Swap, Judy Gold and Penn Jillette episode with all the details. You don’t want to miss this episode; you never know what craziness is going to break out! Don’t forget to come back to this spot at 8PM for our coverage of the episode.
RECAP:
Emily Jillette, wife of magician Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller, the magician duo) is swapping with Elysa, fiancee to Judy Gold, a famous stand-up comedian. The Jillettes are firm atheists and the Golds are very, very Jewish. This will be a huge transition for both. Penn Jillette introduces himself. He lives in Vegas with his family because he and Penn perform at the Rio and have for 13 years. He lives with his wife Emily and two kids Moxie and Zolten. Penn says they are atheists and their relationship is built on this.
She says they call their house the slammer because it is out in the desert with no one near them. They have a gigantic house and Emily is highly organized and scheduled. She says her kids are always polite. Penn writes all day, does a show Saturday through Wednesday and then stays up late. They have dinner at six each night before Penn goes to work. Emily says she has the kids in bed by 7:45 pm. Penn likes reading, not sports or exercise and thinks kids should only do things that are intellectually stimulating. Penn says he doesn’t like any religion in his house.
Judy Gold is a stand-up comedian, a lesbian, Jewish and has two kids from her last relationship. Her fiance Elysa has been with her for seven years. They consider themselves best friends. She has Henry, a 17 year old that she says you can’t win an argument with and Ben who’s 12. Elysa is the grounding influence. The house is a mess, her kids are horseplaying, don’t listen, won’t clean their rooms and she says it’s chaos. She says they have a tiny apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom.
She works at a desk in the living room which makes it hard. She says they are all competitive, like sports and work out and it gets them out of their tiny place. They have a very Jewish household and have Shabbat dinner each week. The rest of the time, they don’t really have dinner together. She has her shows to do but her boys don’t come. Judy says they are loud, goofy, but mean well.
Emily is packing and says it’s hard because she hasn’t been away from the kids for very long. Elysa packs and Judy says she hopes the new wife will come and help because she needs a lot of help. Penn and the kids say goodbye to Emily and Penn says he hopes the swap forces self-examination. Neither has any idea where they are going.
Emily is in shock to be in NYC and Elysa marvels at the desert. Each gets to check out the house first without the family. Elysa can’t believe how huge it is and Emily can’t believe how tiny the apartment is. Elysa sees the dead body outline on the floor and Emily notices the Jewish accoutrements everywhere. Elysa is wowed at how neat the house is and Emily can’t believe that the kids share a bedroom and that four of them share a bathroom.
Elysa is amazed that there are two kitchens and Emily is floored at the tiny place. Elysa sees a photo and realizes whose house she’s at and then Emily realizes she’s going to be the new wife to Judy Gold. Elysa reads the guide Emily left on her house and Emily reads Elysa’s. Elysa can’t believe the routine that Emily has in place and says it’s sad that she can’t get Penn to read to the kids.
Elysa is impressed with how Emily’s kids pitch in and keep the house clean. Emily is floored by the sports references and that the family has no structure. They each finish up the books. Emily says oy vey and Elysa says she’ll wing it. Elysa meets Penn and she introduces herself as Judy’s partner. He knows Judy but didn’t know her. Elysa says the kids are cute but she thinks this is going to be exhausting.
Judy is thrilled to meet Penn’s wife and hugs her. One of the kids didn’t show up for the meet and greet. Judy says the atheism will be the biggest adjustment for her fiance in Vegas. Elysa is trying to make dinner and loves that the kids help out. They hand her things and assist. Emily is making dinner and asks for help but Ben blows her off and Henry still isn’t home.
Judy leaves without eating and says who the hell knows where the kid is. Henry shows up as she’s on the way out and Emily wonders why 12 and 17 year old kids are allowed to do what they want. Elysa is horrified the kids are still using training wheels. Penn says teaching kids to ride bikes is not important and reading is better. She tells Penn about her kids cycling all over the city on their racing bikes.
Elysa thinks they should know how to ride a bike. In New York, Emily cleans and the boys play video games. Then some more kids show up and it’s an open door policy with no privacy. Penn says goodnight to the kids and leaves Elysa to read to the kids. She says she sees what Emily is saying about Penn not reading to the kids. She doesn’t like that.
Penn is asleep the next morning and Elysa is surprised the kids have gotten themselves ready for school on their own. Emily finds Judy up making breakfast for her kids despite being out late. Judy says the kids don’t come to her show and Emily doesn’t like that. Judy yells for the kids to grab their lunch and they finally slam out the door. Judy says she has to teach and Emily says she’ll take care of Henry.
Judy says her boys are very independent and she leaves. Emily knocks on Henry’s door and he says to give me five. She says she made oatmeal and he says no thanks. She throws it out. The kids says that Emily takes them to school and mom or dad pick them up. Elysa takes the kids to school and while Penn sleeps she wanders around the house.
She says her house in New York is so busy that the big house makes her feel alone. Emily heads in to deal with the boys’ room. She tries to figure out what’s dirty, what’s clean and looks at all the disorganization. Elysa plays with the kids while Penn records his podcast in the home studio. They tell her they do arts and craft and music. Elysa thinks they should be outside. She finds Zoltan playing a video game.
The Golds are playing their weekly game of competitive ping pong. The kids are brutal. Emily is astounded at all the trash talk and how cutthroat they all are. Penn comes out for dinner with the family. Elysa says they only eat Friday night for shabbat. He says he likes bacon. She tries to tell the kids and Penn interrupts and says he doesn’t want religion in his house. He says the zombie invasion will start with the birth of Christ. Elysa says Penn is disrespectful about religion.
In NYC, Judy tries to work but the kids are making too much noise. Emily asks if it bothers her and she admits it annoys her. Emily says everyone needs privacy and a place to work in peace. The wives have been living under the existing house rules but now they get to change rules. Emily is ready to add structure and respect. Elysa wants the Jillettes to be more active. Emily comes to talk to Judy and the boys.
She says she wants to set a certain dinner time and some personal responsibilities. The kids say no to cleaning their rooms. Elysa says they are going to play mini golf and says Penn is going to teach the kids to ride two wheeler bikes. Emily says they are going to do non-competitive stuff side by side not head to head. Judy says competing is more fun.
Elysa tells the kids that Penn is going to put them to sleep. Penn tells the kids she means to put them to bed, not put them down. Emily tells the boys they need to minimize the arguing and respect their mom. Henry says she argues more than them. Elysa says she wants to have a Shabbat dinner. Emily wants to create a sanctuary for Judy and says she has some creative ideas. Judy says she’ll need to be a better magician than Penn to find room in their tiny apartment and Emily says ‘abra cadabra.’
Elysa drags the family outside and Penn tries to help his kids with the bike. The kids beg to go back inside. Penn says exercise is horrible. Elysa says it’s a big accomplishment. Zoltan says he hates this. Emily tells the boys they need to pick up their room. She brings in some organizational stuff. She gives them bins to go under their bed and shelves for their sports trophies.
Henry says they don’t want it clean and she leaves them to clean. Elysa now has Moxie on the two wheeler even though Z didn’t like it. She’s working harder at it than her brother was. Penn is panting exhausted. Moxie says she got two seconds of solo riding. The boys are still cleaning in NYC. Emily brings Judy in and she’s totally impressed.
Ben says it wasn’t fun to clean but the results were exciting. Emily says she knows they won’t stay that clean after she goes but if there’s improvement, that’s good. Elysa is ready to show them Shabbat dinner. She lights the candle and explains the steps and wants to introduce them to the family tradition. Penn asks if we can eat. The kids get disrespectful and Penn laughs.
Penn says he’s so glad that his kids have so little knowledge of religion that they are clueless about this. Elysa is angry that Penn let the kids make a mockery of her important religious tradition. She’s shocked and annoyed. Elysa brings over the food and Moxie asks why she’s wearing a napkin on her head. She thought Penn might agree to at least showing it to them.
Emily brings the Golds to a quilt museum. Ben says quilts aren’t fun even though they are kind of cool quilts. Judy says OMG. Emily tells them pieces of art don’t compete with each other. She thinks they had fun, but they were all bored to death. In Vegas, they head out to mini golf. Penn is having fun and the kids are having a good time and she’s happy to see him interacting with them.
Emily brings a piano teacher into the house to give a lesson. The boys are kind of bored but are happy the teacher was hot. Elysa has the kids playing basketball and Penn juggles basketballs. Emily makes a family dinner before Judy goes to work. The make homemade pizza. Ben says it was nice to be togetehr as a family. Judy is thrilled that she got to see them before she went to work.
Elysa brings some people over to the Jillette’s to do crafts. Penn says he’s no more crafty than he is sporty but hangs out and interacts with the kids. In New York, Emily takes the boys to go see Judy at her show to surprise her. They stop for flowers and the boys are excited. Elysa has Penn read the kids a story before bed. He makes up a story and it’s hilarious. The kids are thrilled.
Penn is happy that she suggested and says he probably should be part of the bedtime ritual. He tells the kids to shut up and go to sleep and they giggle in joy. This is obviously how they always talk to each other and it’s affectionate. After Judy’s show, they head backstage and Ben says his mom did really well. She’s excited they were there. She hugs them and says it was amazing. She says she’s canceling her therapy session and never throwing the flowers out.
Emily has a surprise for Judy. She brings her into the bedroom. She has transformed the bedroom into a sanctuary. She asks where the bed is and Judy says she needs a bed. Emily shows her the magic trick. The whole room transforms and the bed comes down from a wall unit. Judy is thrilled that she now has an office. Emily is excited that she was able to do this.
The week is over and the families are ready to reunite. Elysa says it’s been exciting and tiring. Elysa says Judy doesn’t take to change so she’s nervous. Emily runs to her hubby and kisses him and Judy and Elysa hug. The couple sit down together. Judy and Penn hug it out and then they all sit. Elysa says she couldn’t believe the house and says it was like nothing she’s ever seen.
Elysa says each room was more strange than the next. Emily says the small apartment was tight by anybody’s standards. Elysa says she put the kids to bed and says Penn just sat on the couch. Penn says he would get theme excited at bedtime and disrupt the routine so he stepped aside. Elysa says the Shabbat dinner was stressful and Penn says Z doesn’t allow religious stuff. Elysa says he was disrespectful.
Emily says she was surprised at how ride Henry was and Judy says he’s his own person. Emily says they take the path of least resistant. She talks about the chaos while Judy was working and Penn says he thinks kids’ chaos should taper off as they grow up. Judy says – to each his own. Emily says Judy has given up and she says she does see now that the kids can help out more.
She talks about the quilting gallery and Judy says the kids didn’t care for it. Elysa explains how musical the Jillettes are and she wanted to get them active. She says it didn’t go well. Elysa says Z kicked the bike and says he hates them but Moxie was gung-ho. Emily says she’s exchited and thanks her. Emily says they love dinner together and so she did that at 5:30 at her house and they all ate together.
Judy would like to carry on with that and says she also created some space for Judy to work. She says she got her a Murphy bed and Murphy desk and Judy says it’s really peaceful and Elysa is excited. Penn says he can spend more time with the kids at bedtime. Emily says she’s thankful that Elysa got them more active and Elysa says she’s glad that Emily got the boys to do something besides sports and fighting.
Judy says she heard a lot about structure and respect and saw it implemented which made her life easier. Judy says she knew what was wrong with their family but also knew what was great about it. Penn says no sports. The kids are happy to have Emily home and she says she’s really happy to be home.
Six weeks later, Judy’s family has had dinner together every night and her bedroom sanctuary is making her work more productive. Ben and Henry’s room is back to messy but they are helping around the house more. Emily is still an atheist. Penn is participating more at bedtime and has even played basketball with the kids a few times. Zolten still hates bikes.