Calgary Herald

Last days on the Shore

Male stars of reality TV trash-fest reflect on their legacy

- JONATHAN DEKEL

It was never meant to last. But in just under three years and six seasons, MTV’s Jersey Shore has gone from a lowbudget reality show chroniclin­g the fistpumpin­g capers of an emerging, bronzed cultural subdivisio­n to a ubiquitous force of American culture. It has turned cast-members Nicole (Snooki) Polizzi and Mike (The Situation) Sorrentino into household names, refined the English language with terms such as GTL, grenades and smushing. It’s sprouted two spin offs, two internatio­nal editions and, in the process, redefined the possibilit­ies and reach of reality television. All of this made MTV’s Aug. 30 announceme­nt that it would be bringing the most successful show in its history to an end, following its sixth season, all the more shocking.

“Every season was supposed to be our last season,” Sorrentino explains during a recent phone interview with the male cast members of the show. “So every season we went into the house thinking it was our last season, I think that’s why every season did so well because we went so hard.”

He’s not exaggerati­ng. As far as guilty pleasures go, the antics of the cast of the Jersey Shore were among the guiltiest this side of pay-per-view. Drunken sexual exploits, drunken public urination and drunken fisticuffs were regular occurrence­s throughout the first five seasons, which predominan­tly took place in Seaside Heights, N.J., though also featured sojourns to Miami and Italy.

However, as filming for the final season began, the convention­s and mores of the housemates changed markedly. For one, the series’ biggest stars were now sober — Sorrentino had just returned from a highly publicized stint in rehab, Polizzi was pregnant — and, though accounts differ as to when exactly the final nail was put into the coffin, all can agree that it was un- derstood this would be the their final summer in the communal house.

“We kinda knew going into it that it would be the last one,” Ronnie Ortiz-Magro admits. “Yeah, we definitely knew by the end of the season,” Sorrentino asserts.

For Sorrentino, returning to the house offered more than ample options to slip back into old habits.

“There [were] definitely a lot of variables going into this particular season and I was just hoping for the best. I just tried to show the roommates that I was there for them and this was the Mike they all know and love,” he says. “I was thinking that it was going to be a challenge to me, but at the end of the day I figured the fellas, MVP (short for Sorrentino, Vinny Guadagnino and Ortiz-Magro), eventually would see the light and would see all the work I put into my sobriety. And that I went through a lot and that I’m here to stay.

“I thought it would be a little bit more of a challenge with Snooki and some of the girls but I had my glass half full, thought positive and hoped for the best going in.”

“I wasn’t really worried about it,” he added later in the conversati­on, turning to vernacular commonly used in rehab. “I just wanted to be the best me that I could be on a daily basis.

“I knew that I would come across variables and barriers on a daily basis that I had to get by — relationsh­ips and issues and drinking and girls and clubs — I just had to take each issue one by one on a daily basis and do my best and think positive or else I never would have finished the season, let alone stayed sober.”

For his part, Paul (Pauly D) DelVecchio says he was “definitely nervous.”

“I mean going into it I didn’t really know what to expect. I heard my buddy he just got out of a rehab situation and Nicole was pregnant so I didn’t know what to expect.”

While Sorrentino’s sobriety was worrying, the biggest curve ball this season was the surprise pregnancy of the pint-sized hellraiser Polizzi.

“One day we were at MTV and she pulled something out of her bra,” Ortiz-Magro recalls. “I was like, ‘Snooki, what are you doing?!’ and it was a sonogram of the baby.”

(When she told me) I was shocked. I was really surprised,” DelVecchio adds.

In spite of initial hopes, Polizzi quickly moved next door during filming to shield herself and her unborn child from the raucous antics of her housemates.

“I didn’t know how to live with the pregnant chick,” Ortiz-Magro admits.

“He just wanted to make sure it wasn’t contagious,” DelVecchio, who says he’s currently “trying to get wifed-up,” laughs. “I don’t know if we cut the party down, but we were aware and cautious of the whole thing. I know I was watching after Mike for a bit. And same thing with Nicole. Not that we had to. They didn’t really need us to; they were doing their own thing and they were very responsibl­e.”

“I’m just glad she made the responsibl­e decision,” Ortiz-Magro says of Polizzi’s resolution to move out. “In my mind, we’re coming home three nights a week three o’clock in the morning up laughing, making noise. ”

With all these issues hanging over the heads of the cast members, it would be easy to assume Jersey Shore Season 6 will pull its punches in comparison to the carefree early days, but DelVecchio begs to differ.

“Going into this, we knew it was our last (season) so we took advantage of everything that Jersey had to offer,” he says.

For Sorrentino, it was simply a case of real-time denial.

“When we were in the house it didn’t really hit us,” he claims.

“I think it was more of the last day when we were actually leaving and they brought the producers out and the cameramen and the mic people and we all just came together and it was that moment because everybody that was there at the beginning was there at the end and that’s when it finally hit us, we’ll never be in this house together again.”

“Everything has to come to an end,” DelVecchio sums up.

“Sopranos ended, Entourage ended, now it’s Jersey Shore’s turn.”

 ?? Ian Spanier/mtv ?? The cast of Jersey Shore, are taking their last tan. From left, Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Deena Nicole Cortese, Vinny Guadagnino, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie...
Ian Spanier/mtv The cast of Jersey Shore, are taking their last tan. From left, Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Deena Nicole Cortese, Vinny Guadagnino, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie...
 ??  ?? Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
 ??  ?? Vinny Guadagnino
Vinny Guadagnino

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada