Is it still a family vacation without the entire family? That was the question during the Thursday, April 5, premiere of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Vinny Guadagnino, Deena Nicole Cortese, Paul “DJ Pauly D” Delvecchio, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley and eventually Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino all reunited in Miami for the revival, and it only took “13 seconds” to bring up Sammi Giancola, the original cast member who turned down making an appearance.
Most of the cast (and fans) assumed it was because she was in a new relationship and didn’t want to live with her ex Ronnie. Right away, Deena revealed she was pretty upset Sam decided not to come. However, since they were so close, the 31-year-old took on the responsibility of defending Sam — that was a pretty big role, though. Little did she know, Pauly D, 37, would bring a Sam doll along that had a sound box inside it so that it could repeats Sam’s famous sayings — you know, like, “Ron, stahp!”
Ronnie, 32, who dated Sammi on and off during the original show and for a bit afterward, admitted he was “so confused” why Sam wasn’t there. He also revealed that after the show wrapped in 2012, the pair dated for a while and moved in together, but she wanted to get married sooner than he did. Once she gave him a timeline, he cheated and they didn’t work out.
It didn’t take long for Deena to get irritated when the entire house started playing with the doll and making jokes. “If I have sex with her, is that still cheating?” Ron asked, picking up the doll. “I’m just carrying her like I did the past seasons.” The rest of the cast seemed to agree that since Sam wasn’t there, making fun of her with the doll was OK.
After a few drinks, Ron brought it up to Deena. “She’s not here. She’s not our friend. She doesn’t have our back,” he told her. “Cause if she did, she’d be here with us. Bottom line. I’m having a motherf—king kid, do you understand? And I’m still here. She’s seven months pregnant. What the f—k does she got going on that’s more important than me?”
Deena claimed Ron felt that way because he was “still not over” Sam. However, it turned out that Deena and Ron’s issues actually went deeper. Their fun drunken night quickly turned into crying next to the pool when Deena revealed Ron was the only cast member who didn’t reach out to her when her dad died 2016, and she was still upset about it.
He felt so bad that he broke down crying as well, saying that Sam came between their friendship and that after his split from her, he was in a bad mental state and was depressed, so he messed up and didn’t reach out to Deena.
The next day, Snooki tried to drown the Sammi doll in the pool. Jersey Shore: Family Vacation airs on MTV Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
