Highlights
- Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is back on Jersey Shore after 11 years, reuniting her roommates.
- Giancola was nervous to return, feeling like a new roommate among people she once knew well.
- Sammi Sweetheart sees her ex, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, as a coworker and is happy he’s prioritizing his mental health.
Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is officially back on MTV’s Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Giancola returns after 11 years to reunite with her roommates who have collectively gotten married, had children and even went through some divorces. We remember Giancola as the “sweetest b**** you’ll ever meet” during the show’s original run, but with that sweetness came a lot of sour when it came to her memorable—and chaotic— relationship with Ronnie Ortiz-Magro.
Magro, whose struggles with mental illness resulted in him stepping away from the show in 2021, was seen during the premiere episode calling up Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino to share that he would like to return to the show. Fans were floored when they learned that a reunion was in store on the new season for the former couple. And we get it: the mere thought of their reunion is all it takes to relive all of the drama that went down between them during the original run of the series. But things have changed, at least for Sammi Giancola, who is ready to leave the past behind—and that includes toxic-up-and-down relationships. Let’s catch up on all things she’s said since confirming her return to Jersey Shore.
Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Giancola Was Nervous To Return To Jersey Shore: Family Vacation
It was an iconic moment in GTL history when Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Giancola broke the internet announcing that, after 11 years, she was finally returning to Jersey Shore. Giancola was a fan-favorite during the series’ original run that brought together eight fist-pumping partiers to ravage the shore of Seaside Heights, New Jersey. But, in 2018, when Jersey Shore: Family Vacation premiered, fans were bummed that Sammi Sweetheart was the other member of the cast that had chosen not to return— a decision that she made in part of her avoiding toxic situations.
Fast-foward to now, Sammi Giancola has rejoined her former roommates on the seventh season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. The reality star admitted that, while she was excited to return, it was a nerve-wracking experience. For her, it was like starting over, only she was the new roommate walking in on a collection of people who she once knew so well.
“It was very nerve-racking,” Giancola admits to People of walking into the house for the first time. “It’s definitely overwhelming because I haven’t talked to anybody in a really long time. I haven’t seen anybody in 10 years or however long it was. It’s like, ‘Are these people going to be the same? Are they different? How did they grow?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know them anymore. They don’t know me. How is it going to be?’”
Her cast mates Deena Cortese, Pauly “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino didn’t expect Sammi Giancola to show up at the end of to be part of the trip to the mountains. In fact, Giancola had lost touch with her costars over the years.“It’s hard when people are continuing on a show that you no longer are a part of,” she says. “I definitely stayed in touch after deciding not to come back in the beginning, and then we just lost touch for years. That was a sad part.”
Despite feeling nervous heading into season 7, Giancola found that not much had changed with her cast mates. “They just have kids and babies, but they’re all still the same,” she says.
What Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Giancola Said About Reuniting With Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
It’s been years since Sammi Giancola has seen her ex Ronnie Ortiz-Magro face to face. Once fans found out that they reunited during the seventh season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, they were dying to know where Giancola stands with her former ex after so long. For the reality star, she knew that a reunion was in store the moment she decided to return to the show.
“I knew the moment I decided to come back that there will be a possibility that Ron will be here,” Sammi, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, August 3. “You know, he’s part of the family too. I definitely knew that. It was just like, ‘OK, I can handle it — whatever comes my way.’”
How did she truly feel about seeing Magro again? Well, to Giancola, Magro is now a part of her past and (as she put so frankly) simply, a coworker. “I’m good, we can keep it moving. We’re coworkers. You’re just somebody I dated in my 20s. Like, and we can keep it moving at that,” Sammi said. “A lot of people are, like, when I tell them my age now, they’re like, ‘Wait, you dated him when you were 22 and you’re 36 now?’ Like, a lot of time has gone [and] I’ve dated other people. I mean, there’s just a lot of life that goes on in between all those years.”
Giancola did note that she was happy Magro is prioritizing his mental health. “He’s working on himself to be a better person, that’s all that matters,” she added.
Sammi and Ronnie dated on and off between 2009 and 2014 and their relationship was recorded on the original version of Jersey Shore.
What Is Sammi Giancola Dating Now?
After her tumultuous relationship with Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, it didn’t take long for Sammi “Sweetheart” to find her own sweetheart. The reality star was in a relationship with Christian Biscardi— whom she started dating in 2017 and got engaged to in 2019. The pair called it quits and split in 2021.
In November 2021, Giancola took another shot at love and found herself swept up in a new romance with current boyfriend, Justin May. The reality star hinted that she had moved on in her personal life when she posted a snap of her with May with the caption, “Thankful.”
The real kicker is that May has crossed paths Giancola before—but not in the way you might think. May actually had a front row seat to the Jersey Shore cast’s raging partying back when the series first aired. “He actually used to work at the club Karma when we were there partying in 2009,” she said of her boyfriend.
“I just feel like it was kind of weird how he kind of was a part of my life prior, in the beginning years,” she added.
May is set to make an appearance on the seventh season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. For Giancola, May has been supportive of her every move— especially since returning to the show. “I feel like all we have is really time, so I’ve learned not to waste time on the wrong people anymore,” Giancola told ET. “I found somebody who’s very loving and supportive of what I do and just supportive of me and who I absolutely adore.”
Source: NewsFinale
