Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi broke down in tears when Ronnie Ortiz-Magro reunited with the “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” cast following an extended estrangement.
“We were, like, really close,” Polizzi, 35, tells Ortiz-Magro, 37, through sobs in Page Six’s exclusive look at the Season 6B super-tease.
Prior to meeting with Polizzi and more stars of the MTV reboot, Ortiz-Magro expressed remorse for the way his actions impacted their dynamic over the last several years.
“I’ve done things that I’m not proud of, but I just want to make it up to them,” he says in a confessional before echoing in a separate scene, “I really am sorry.”
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino welcomed Ortiz-Magro back into the franchise because the latter has been working on himself after legal drama and mental health struggles prompted a reality TV hiatus.
“For many years, Ronnie was concentrating on his mental health. And I think that is a very sensitive topic and not everyone knows how to deal with that topic,” Sorrentino, 41, recently told Page Six.
Sorrentino shared that he would periodically check in on Ortiz-Magro off-camera to make sure he was OK.
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“My specialty is dealing with addiction, dealing with mental health, dealing with making mistakes in your life and trying to mount a comeback,” Sorrentino, who served time in prison for tax evasion and conquered his substance abuse struggles, told us.
“So I definitely tried to take the lead during that particular moment for everyone, just to make sure that we’re all in a good spot.”
Ortiz-Magro stepped away from filming “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” to focus on his mental health in 2021 after being arrested for alleged domestic violence.
A judge ultimately let Ortiz-Magro walk free but ordered him to take parenting classes and placed him under a three-year protective order.
“Now he’s back, and we get to also see his story,” Sorrentino said.
Ortiz-Magro’s TV re-entry converged with his ex-girlfriend Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola’s. The Sweetheart Coast boutique owner, 36, finally decided to come back to the franchise after 11 years off the air.
Speaking with Page Six, Giancola said she was unfazed by Ortiz-Magro’s reprisal despite their tumultuous romance that lasted from 2009 until 2012.
“It’s just like a co-worker at this point,” she said with a shrug. “I’m kind of, like, moved on from that vibe. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that vibe. So I kind of do my own thing and, like, keep it at that.”
While Polizzi was emotional and Giancola was apathetic over Ortiz-Magro’s reemergence, some cast members had a tougher time reconciling with his alleged misdeeds.
“All of us had an issue with Ron coming back,” Deena Nicole Cortese claimed to Page Six. “He did a lot of things outside of the show that none of us really appreciate.”
In the Season 6B super-tease, Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio Jr. suggests that Giancola’s return will ignite serious drama among the “Jersey Shore” crew as they spend time together in Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountains, Orlando, Fla., and Atlantic City, NJ.
“You can’t pull up with Sammi the Sweetheart and expect everything to be peaches,” the DJ, 43, says, acknowledging castmate Angelina Pivarnick’s success in convincing Giancola to get back on board.
“We have a lot to talk about, I feel,” Giancola says in the preview, explaining that there are issues to be worked out with the other ladies: Polizzi, Cortese, 36, and Jenni “JWoww” Farley.
“These girls definitely have beef with me.”
“Jersey Shore Family Vacation” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.