Life’s a rocky seashore: Inside Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Giancola’s ‘Jersey Shore’ return

A miracle occurred Wednesday in Seaside Heights, NJ. 

For the primary time in years, the forged of “Jersey Shore” descended upon the city’s boardwalk, a span of the Backyard State seashore that seems like holy floor — with their names, faces and iconic catchphrases emblazoned on T-shirts, towels, magnets and extra merchandise as in the event that they have been canonized saints. 

When beachgoers caught wind that a lot of the OG crew had gathered on the Shore Retailer — the forged’s administrative center on the early seasons — for a Web page Six photograph shoot, they got here in droves to worship their fist-pumping idols. 

“It’s loopy — a lot nostalgia,” an astonished Vinny Guadagnino informed Web page Six after a crowd of followers amassed exterior the memento store. Native police ultimately arrived as backup to guard the fact stars. 

“It is a homecoming,” he added, smiling at his outdated boss, Shore Retailer proprietor Danny Merk, who appeared each bewildered and amused by the chaos exterior. 

“And Sammi’s again in all of this, which is the craziest half.”

"Jersey Shore Family Vacation" cast at Shore Store
“It is a homecoming,” Vinny stated when the “Jersey Shore Household Trip” forged confirmed up for a photograph shoot for The Publish.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

After an 11-year hiatus from the franchise, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola lastly determined to participate in “Jersey Shore Household Trip” for Season 6B (premiering Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV). 

In 2018, six years after the unique sequence concluded, Guadagnino, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Deena Cortese, Mike “The Scenario” Sorrentino, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Giancola’s ex, signed again on for the reboot. (Angelina Pivarnick additionally ultimately got here again full-time.) 

Giancola, 36, opted to not be part of, letting viewers know that she wished to “keep away from doubtlessly poisonous conditions.” Her tumultuous relationship with Ortiz-Magro, 37, underlined her first spherical of the unscripted drama.

Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola
“I do know there was drama and craziness and never all nice instances for me again then, however I’m hoping possibly this time round will likely be a bit bit completely different,” Giancola informed Web page Six.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

However now Giancola is prepared for a brand new starting. 

“I do know there was drama and craziness and never all nice instances for me again then, however I’m hoping possibly this time round will likely be a bit bit completely different,” she informed Web page Six. “I’m extra mature and I need to deal with conditions otherwise than after I was 22 years outdated.”  

Giancola, who now shines within the middle of the up to date “JSFV” promo artwork, stated she “missed my outdated mates and the expertise” of filming. “However I hadn’t actually spoken to anyone in a very long time. So it was positively nerve wracking.”

She’ll keep it up for “nevertheless lengthy everyone does it,” however understanding there is freedom to flee is a reduction — particularly now that Ortiz-Magro has assumed a lowered position after taking a break to concentrate on his psychological well being and sobriety. 

Angelina Pivarnick
“I like that I used to be really in a position to pull it off and everyone else couldn’t,” Pivarnick stated of recruiting Giancola to return to the present.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

“I’m simply hoping that each one goes properly this time round. And if it doesn’t,” she stated with amusing, “I’ll simply depart once more.”

Giancola got here again into the fold by way of castmate Pivarnick, who inspired the Sweetheart Coast boutique proprietor to contemplate a return. Strategically, she used Ortiz-Magro’s then-intact pause from manufacturing as a promoting level. 

“I like that I used to be really in a position to pull it off and everyone else couldn’t,” Pivarnick, 37, boasted, acknowledging frequent and largely ignored makes an attempt from forged members and producers to influence Giancola to return again. “She and I at all times had a bond.” 

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi
“I’m not the kind of girl to compete towards my mates by opening different shops,” Polizzi stated of rumors she and Giancola have been in retail competitors.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

Pivarnick revealed that she was instructed to maintain Giancola’s introduction “high secret” earlier than MTV broke the information in March.

“The producers actually have been wonderful about not telling anyone,” recalled Pivarnick, who was delighted by the forged’s mixture shock when Giancola arrived to Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountains. 

“Everybody’s mouths have been on the ground.” 

Nevertheless, unbeknownst to Giancola and Pivarnick, Ortiz-Magro had additionally quietly reached out to Sorrentino, 41, expressing his want to reconcile with the group after an prolonged interval of estrangement.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro on the red carpet
Unbeknownst to Giancola, her ex Ronnie Ortiz-Magro had additionally quietly reached out about reconciling with the group after an prolonged interval of estrangement.
Getty Pictures for MTV

“Ron ultimately is available in after which ‘The Mediation’ needed to present up,” joked Sorrentino, who was joyful to educate Ortiz-Magro by the primary steps of his reprisal.

“My specialty is coping with habit, coping with psychological well being, coping with making errors in your life and making an attempt to mount a comeback,” the “Actuality Verify” creator elaborated. In 2019, he served jail time for tax evasion and waged a hard-won battle with substance abuse. “So I positively tried to take the lead throughout throughout that specific second for everybody, simply to guarantee that we’re all in a great place.”

DelVecchio, 43 — who, like Ortiz-Magro, was unable to take part within the Seaside shoot — informed Web page Six over electronic mail, “I simply know [he and Giancola] had so much to make amends for to say the least.”

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino
“My specialty is coping with habit, coping with psychological well being, coping with making errors in your life and making an attempt to mount a comeback,” Mike “The Scenario” Sorrentino stated of serving to to orchestrate Ortiz-Magro’s present return.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

It stays unclear if Giancola and Ortiz-Magro reunited whereas filming the forthcoming installment — which happened within the Poconos, Orlando and Atlantic Metropolis — however government producer SallyAnn Salsano teased “fairly intense” scenes addressing the prospect of a crossover. 

“You need to wait and see, however you will notice some stuff. It’s not like Snuffleupagus,” she stated — utilizing a “Sesame Avenue” reference to guarantee that the difficulty will not be handled like a figment of followers’ imaginations.  

Salsano emphasised that she understands there may be an expectation from “Jersey Shore” devotees for a reckoning of types.  

Vinny Guadagnino
Guadagnino’s again — as is his sidekick Pauly D.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

That dialog on digital camera?” she stated of telling the forged about Ortiz-Magro’s attainable return. “All people’s concerned and it’s actual. We deal with this query on digital camera as a result of not even I knew the way it was going to go when it got here up that he could come again or come go to.”

Salsano, a actuality TV vet who’s additionally helmed “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila,” “Occasion Down South” and the succession of “Jersey Shore” spinoffs, stated that efforts have been made in order that Giancola felt “comfortable” as her re-entry converged with Ortiz-Magro’s. 

Nonetheless, Giancola stated she “by no means knew what to anticipate. On daily basis I’m like, ‘What the hell is subsequent on this home?’ There’s at all times one thing.”

Jenni "JWoww" Farley
“We have been harm and confused,” Farley stated of being iced out by Giancola. “However she owned it and we’re so joyful to have her again and have the ability to transfer on from that.”
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

Giancola had present beau Justin Could to assist her maneuver by any surprises, onscreen or off. The previous Karma nightclub worker — who first observed Giancola as cameras adopted her contained in the now-closed venue greater than a decade in the past — filmed parts of “Household Trip.” 

“My man is so excited for me,” Giancola stated of Could’s response to her reclamation of the highlight. “He’s so supportive. And he slot in properly.”

Cortese, 36, noticed {that a} “new Sam” has emerged. 

“Sam is a lot lighter and simply so free. Sam [has] at all times been caught to Ron and had a heavy weight on her. I felt like she was in a really dangerous place for a very long time,” she stated. “All people watching goes to be launched to a wholly new individual.”

Deena Cortese
Giancola stated she considers her feminine castmates, together with Cortese (above) “sisters.”
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

Giancola’s new man and mindset have seemingly incited a level of indifference aout the previous. 

“[Ortiz-Magro is] like a co-worker at this level,” she stated.   

However everybody else seems like “household,” Giancola insisted. She was desperate to quell rigidity with Cortese, Polizzi, 35, and Farley, 37 — who she considers “sisters” — after a social media beef was blown out of proportion. 

Giancola admitted that it was “immature” to dam and unfollow them when she selected to distance herself from the present in its preliminary revival.

“We have been harm and confused,” Farley stated of being iced out. “However she owned it and we’re so joyful to have her again and have the ability to transfer on from that.”

Nicole Polizzi's daughter, Giovanna, (left) and Jenni Farley's kids, Meilani and Greyson
Polizzi’s daughter, Giovanna, (left) and Farley’s children, Meilani and Greyson, joined The Publish’s photograph shoot.
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

Polizzi and Giancola additionally put to relaxation any battle over assumptions that the previous copied the latter’s Sweetheart Coast retailer in Ocean Metropolis by launching brick-and-mortar Snooki Outlets. 

“I’m not the kind of girl to compete towards my mates by opening different shops,” Polizzi stated. “We had a pleasant dialog about it. Nobody was copying anybody. And we’re all allowed to open shops. Like, nobody must be upset about that. It’s like little child stuff.”

Specializing in “little child”-style friction whereas elevating precise little children is hard, Farley admitted, though manufacturing has advanced to be extra supportive for the forged’s many mother and father: Farley, Polizzi, Cortese, Sorrentino, Ortiz-Magro and DelVecchio. 

"Jersey Shore" cast in a hot tub
The forged in 2009.
Mtv/Kobal/Shutterstock

“My [children] are with me right now,” stated Farley, who beamed when her daughter Meilani, 9, and son Greyson, 7, joined the Shore Retailer shoot, adorably posing for photographs alongside Polizzi’s 8-year-old daughter, Giovanna, with the grownup forged 

“I really like that I can take them to work and that it’s inspired,” famous Farley, who shares her younger ones with ex-husband Roger Mathews. “We get to carry them on journeys with us and generally they pop up on digital camera. It’s cute.”

For her half, mother of three Polizzi — who shares Giovanna and sons Lorenzo, 10, and Angelo, 4, with husband Jionni LaValle — hopes extra household content material is captured for future episodes.

Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola
“I’m extra mature and I need to deal with conditions otherwise than after I was 22 years outdated,” stated Giancola (seen right here in an outdated forged photograph).
Mtv/Kobal/Shutterstock
Producer SallyAnn Salsano stated there are “fairly intense” scenes addressing Ortiz-Magro and Giancola crossing paths.
Mtv/Kobal/Shutterstock

“We have to present extra of that!” she exclaimed. “Like, haven’t folks seen me fall down drunk off of wine sufficient?”

Whereas the “Jersey Shore” household’s partying habits have collectively died down — “Hangovers hit completely different in your 30s,” Guadagnino lamented — the roommates are nonetheless able to turning up prefer it’s 2009. 

“We’ve all modified and followers have seen that on ‘Jersey Shore Household Trip.’ , we have been scorching younger messes again within the day,” stated Cortese, who shares sons CJ, 4, and Cameron, 2, with husband Chris Buckner. 

Nicole Polizzi and daughter Giovanna
Polizzi stated she hopes there’s extra household content material on future episodes: “Like, haven’t folks seen me fall down drunk off of wine sufficient?” 
Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

“We do have our s–t collectively a bit greater than we used to,” declared Cortese, the founding member of the reboot’s “Soiled Keep Out” posse, who prioritize booze over bedtime when cameras are up and childcare is secured. “However we’re nonetheless scorching messes. Mother and pa scorching messes.”

Further reporting by Danny Murphy