The Real Reason Why She Left “Jersey Shore” And Other Unbelievable Facts About The Reality Show
Jersey Shore is back. We thought we got rid of them but Snooki, The Situation, and the rest of the gang have managed to find their way back to the shore and back into our hearts. The original show was a little bit of entertainment and a whole lot of making us feel better about our own lives.
Take a trip down memory lane, back to when duck faces, side bangs, and the Snooki-pouf was all the rage. Check out these secrets and scandals behind Jersey Shore and don't forget to GTL while you're at it.
Snooki Had Quite The Audition
The producers must have known they hit TV personality gold with Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi. The bar star was only 22 when she auditioned for Jersey Shore and producers told The New York Post that she had an audition to remember.
Apparently, she was pretty memorable because her eyelashes were stuck to her eyeliner and left orange fingerprints on the release form because she had so much bronzer on. She was also pretty open about how she can get a little wild when she drinks, openly admitting that her friends have to take care of her.
They Weren't Allowed To Do Much But Drink
Rules inside the Jersey Shore house were actually pretty strict. They couldn't watch TV, listen to music, read, or do anything a normal human would do to pass the time. The producers needed to make sure they interacted as much as possible to get the best TV.
One thing they were allowed to do was drink, which is why they seemed to be doing it 24/7, according to Snooki. They were also only allowed 1 personal call a week that wasn't recorded, everything else was free to be on TV.
The Situation Is Now In Legal Trouble
Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino has got a major situation on his hands. In 2014, both he and his brother Marc were charged with tax evasion and intention to commit fraud. According to the Department of Justice, The Situation didn't file any taxes for the year of 2011, which was one of his highest earning years at nearly $2 million.
The plot thickens when The Situation plead guilty to the charges on January 19, 2018, right before they started filming the Jersey Shore Family Vacation reunion show. His sentencing is on April 25, 2018, so he had to stay sober the entire time of filming. Sounds like a totally different Situation than we were used to seeing.
Jersey Shore Was Originally A Competition Show
The original concept for the show was meant to be a clash of "guidos". It was going to be all men going head-to-head on who could be the most stereotypically Italian-American. The contests were going to include battles for fist-pumping and tanning that, if you lost, would send you home from the shore.
Thankfully the concept completely changed. The producers knew that adding some ladies to the mix would probably mean more drama and they decided that rather than eliminating people, they would keep them cooped up together so they could get on each other's nerves. Good call, MTV.
Vinny Wanted To Be A Lawyer
Vinny saw the show as a way to get into acting, and if he didn't make it big, would instead try to become a lawyer. Just before starring on the show he received a degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Vinny may have been a member of the irresponsible, partying, Jersey Shore cast but if you were a fan of the show it's not hard to believe he wanted to be a lawyer. Vinny was also the most level-headed and rational members of the group, rarely entering into the fights and drama and instead, took on the role of being the comedic relief.
They Made A Lot Of Money
Haters can hate, but this crew has made a lot of money from drinking and partying on TV. According to the NY Daily News, each cast member was only making a few hundred bucks per episode in the first season, but as the show grew in popularity, so did their paychecks.
By season two, each cast member was making $10,000 an episode, and by the third season Snooki, The Situation, and Pauly D were each bringing home $150,000 an episode. That paycheque doesn't even include their side hustles which took off because of the show's popularity.
Many Of The Fights Were Staged
Even with all the rules and regulations in the house, the eight seemed to get along pretty well for the most part. But a friendly cast isn't exactly good for TV, so occasionally the producers would have to stage fights.
Some Internet sleuths made sure to call them when they saw them. One notable staged fight was during the third season where Angelina returned to the show and her and Snooki ended up in a catfight. The scene appears to be shot multiple times with JWoww wearing different footwear in different shots. Oh well, who really expected reality TV to be real?
The Situation Had A Drug Problem
The Situation's situations don't end at the lawsuits. He opened up in 2012 about his addiction to prescription drugs after checking himself into rehab. He admitted to being heavily addicted to oxycodone.
The Situation is said to be clean and sober now but that didn't stop the legal issues. He was charged with assaulting in 2014, and in that same year, cheques were mysteriously bouncing at his tanning salon. According to Snooki though, he's a changed man who is no longer the same Situation we used to know and love, but we're sure we'll still love this version.
Snooki And JWoww Became Hot Moms
One of the most incredible glo ups over the years is how Snooki and JWoww went from young and irresponsible partiers to certified MILFs. Snooki gave birth to her first child in 2012 and her second in 2014, both to her then-boyfriend now husband, Jianni.
JWoww has two children as well and you can rest assured that the two have tons of playdates. The two had their own spinoff show, Snooki and JWoww, which was rebooted after they had kids and retitled, Snooki & Jwoww: Moms With Attitude.
They Had No Contact With The Outside World
One of the hardest parts of living in the house and following all the rules was that they had almost zero contact with the outside world. Aside from their one personal phone call a week, they were purposely kept away from TV and Internet news.
Snooki told Rolling Stone that it was so intense that "if the president died, we’d have no idea." Who knows if they even understood their own fame at times, seeing as they were on top of the world while on the shore.
The Show Was Based On The Producers Own Experience
They played it off like the eight had been to the shore many times before and that it was a traditional right of passage that the eight turned into a TV show, but this wasn't entirely true. The show was based on real-life experience, just not the casts. The executive producer of the show, SallyAnn Salsano, based the concept on her own trips to the shore in her twenties where she and her friends would all rent a house together and go wild.
Since it was her own experiences, she was always able to clap back at the haters who claimed the show was just embarrassing and exploiting the cast. Salsano would always say how could she be making fun of them when she used to be one of them?
Ronnie Had A Kid, But Not With Sam
The main drama in the house season after season was Ronnie Magro and Sam 'Sammi Sweetheart' Giancola. The two entered into a relationship in the first season that lasted nearly seven years, but that relationship was rocked by cheating, lies, and fights and eventually ended because of his unfaithfulness.
The two have since moved on, and Ronnie has certainly moved on in a big way. He and his current girlfriend, Jen Harley, just welcomed their first child, a little girl born April 3, 2018. Congrats to them both!
Pauly D Is Also A Dad Now
In a much less expected way, Pauly 'DJ Pauly D' DelVecchio is also a dad, and he didn't even know it for a while. Pauly D became Pauly Daddy after a one night stand with a Las Vegas Hooters waitress.
Amanda Markert gave birth to a daughter in 2013 and informed Pauly of her existence a few months after her birth. Pauly seems like he's stepped up to the plate to help out, but still maintains his DJ and party lifestyle.
People Would Line Up To Buy From The Shore Shop
Part of their contracts for Jersey Shore included having to seem as normal as possible. This meant that each cast member still had to do chores, cleaning, and hold down a part-time job. The producers arranged for the entire cast to work at The Shore Store on the Seaside boardwalk.
The cast was notorious for showing up drunk or hungover for work but the producers had a bigger challenge on their hands: they had to ward off the hundreds of fans that would line up to see the cast in their day jobs. Apparently, they would let a few fans in at a time and instruct them to be as normal as possible. Reality TV isn't so real.
JWoww Is Basically An Instagram Queen Now
Aside from her full-time duties as a hot mom, JWoww has turned into one of the best Instagram influencers out there. If Kendall Jenner or Selena Gomez has advertised it, so has she.
JWoww primarily focusses on fitness and fitness products, including advertising deals for clothing lines, protein shakes, fitness equipment, and different foods. She's got the face to compete with all the 20-year-olds on Instagram now too after multiple rounds of botox injections and plastic surgery, which she's never been shy about sharing.
Sam Is SO Over It All
One notable face you won't be seeing on Jersey Shore Family Vacation is Sammi Sweetheart. While the rest of the cast quickly reassembled for the show, Sammi took to Instagram and told her fans that she wasn't returning because she is at "a completely different place in my life right now focusing on my businesses and my relationship."
We have to agree with her commentary. If someone wants to avoid toxic situations then the Jersey shore is not the place to be, especially since she'd be seeing her ex-bae Ronnie who now has a kid.
People Always Forget About Angelina
I wouldn't be surprised if you made it this far and totally forgot about one of the original castmembers, Angelina Pivarnick. Angelina famously left the first season of Jersey Shore after just a few episodes and was replaced by Snooki's BFF Deena.
Angelina tried to make a comeback in the third season and it didn't really work. She also tried to release a music single, "I'm Not That Hot" in 2010 which didn't go over very well either. As of 2016, she's shocked us all and is working as an EMT. Who would have thought!
Most Of Jersey Hated Them
The world may have loved the show and cast of Jersey Shore but most of Jersey did not. The only reason that MTV filmed the show in Seaside Heights was that nowhere else in New Jersey wanted to open their doors for a show of that concept.
The cast did a good job of getting the Italian-American community pretty angry too. The show flaunted the idea of the cast being 'Guidos and Guidettes' which had long been a derogatory slur against working-class Italian-Americans. Many Italian-American societies called out the cast and show for supporting cultural stereotypes.
They Had A Lot Of Legal Troubles
The Situation may have suffered his own legal issues off camera but the show had a lot of on-screen legal issues. The most famous of these was Snooki's arrest for public intoxication in season one where she famously walked up and down the beach asking people where the beach was.
Snooki also ran into trouble in season four when the gang went to Italy. She is shown crashing into a cop car which caused her international driver's license to be revoked. What they won't tell you is that the cop car was actually filled with the show's security team.
Snooki Has Written Five Tell-Alls
She may have come off a little dimwitted in the first few seasons, but Snooki is a really successful businesswoman. She wrote five books, with the latest ending up on the best sellers list. Snooki also runs her own clothing line, tanning lotion line, hosts a weekly podcast, runs an Etsy shop AND is a full-time mom.
You may not like her, but you can't deny that she's doing well for herself. In 2014, Rutgers University even brought her to the campus to be a guest speaker. She herself only attended community college, but she gave the university kids some lifelong advice: "study hard but party harder."
