“I will Jersey Shore, bitch!”
15 years in the past, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi exclaimed these phrases as MTV debuted a model new present following the lives of seven 20-somethings picked to dwell collectively — all whereas having their debaucherous lives filmed for one epic summer season in Seaside Heights.
What started with a present the solid wasn’t certain would even make it to air grew to become a juggernaut for the community, sparking six seasons, and a followup — Jersey Shore Household Trip — at present on Season 7, in addition to worldwide variations, spinoffs and imitations.
Within the course of, Snooki, Mike “The Scenario” Sorrentino, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Pauly “DJ Pauly D” Delvecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Samantha “Sammi Sweetheart” Giancola, Angelina Pivarnick and Deena Nicole Cortese grew to become family names, whereas phrases like “Guido,” “Guidette,” “Grenade,” “GTL” and “Beat the Beat” took over the popular culture lexicon.
In celebration of the present’s fifteenth anniversary, TooFab spoke with The Scenario, Snooki and JWoww about filming that first season, the way it felt to explode in a single day, their wild experiences with celebrities — together with Jennifer Aniston — and whether or not they have something they really want was not caught on digital camera.
First Impressions
The group first met on the Shore, not understanding how a lot it could change their lives as soon as it aired … or how shut they’d turn into. And relating to first impressions, Jenni has one she regrets all these years later.
“I at all times remorse Nicole’s. I at all times say it is enhancing, however she says, ‘No, it is not, you actually did that,’” recalled JWoww. “Nicole is available in, however I am like, ‘Dude, you appear like a rabid chihuahua, you got here in with a lot power,’ and I sort of went like this [disgusted] to her. In fact, they confirmed it, and I used to be like, oh my god.”
“However she nonetheless to today, 15 years later, holds that towards me. She’s like, you weren’t my good friend to start with, it took me getting punched so that you can be my good friend,” added Jenni, who’s adamant she liked Nicole earlier than that notorious Season 1 second. “I used to be intimated; I used to be like, lady, you had been very intimidating. You had been loud, you knew who you had been, and I am introverted … she loves holding that towards me and I’m like I liked you, that is why I reacted to your punch. I liked you earlier than that.”
Mike, in the meantime, admitted they had been all “in all probability incorrect about everybody” when it got here to their snap judgments.
“15 years later, everybody had a lot development, a lot change … That is what’s so nice about it and makes us so relatable,” he added. “That there was a lot development with all of us.”
Protecting It Actual Season 1
When the cameras had been rolling on the primary season, Mike admitted that, for him, he was simply “within the second” the entire time.
“I positively wasn’t trying previous the primary season. I used to be so grateful and so excited to be getting my break, I assume,” he mentioned, including that none of them anticipated a lot from it initially. “We had been actually dwelling by the second, in all probability. Then after I left, I knew we had filmed one thing particular, and every thing exploded from there.”
“We did not learn about TV. We had been simply going for the free summer season, free Shore home, simply to love have a superb time,” added Nicole. “I at all times needed to be on a actuality present, and I used to be like, ‘Oh, that is my likelihood to do it, and simply come residence and return to my regular life.’ We do not have a look at it how we do now, the place its our profession … we had been newbies.”
Whereas Mike mentioned they had been all in it “for the drinks on the time,” Nicole joked she was “blissful for the $200 for the Shore store.”
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Ready for Jersey Shore to Drop
Jenni admitted she was involved the present would not work out whereas filming … and have become much more apprehensive when the primary business for the collection did not air as supposed.
“On the finish [of filming] we did a photoshoot and shook one another’s arms. We had been nonetheless on Blackberries, and we had been attempting to attempt to create these little Blackberry group messages; keep in mind these?” she mentioned of wrapping Season 1. “I keep in mind Pauly giving his DJ enterprise card as a result of that was the one strategy to talk. It simply died down.”
Whereas Jenni mentioned they had been informed a business was in all probability going to air in the course of the MTV Video Music Awards that September, it did not occur.
“I obtained all of my family and friends to tune in and it by no means aired. I simply remembering being, ugh,” she recalled. “They would not even inform us the title for it. So quick ahead, I had MTV on, and I used to be cooking within the kitchen, and I hear my annoying ass voice on the tv. I run round from the nook of the kitchen and into my front room, and was like, ‘What is that this?!’ I would just seen the primary business, which was chaos.”
“I simply keep in mind Jersey Shore and I used to be like, ‘That is what they named it?’ I had no concept,” she added. “I simply known as all my family and friends again and I used to be like, ‘See I informed you I used to be going to be on TV!’ and I hung up on them. No person believed me as a result of we filmed it months prior. We ended Labor Day weekend, and it didn’t come out till December.”
Although Jenni mentioned that they had no concept the present was “going to be iconic,” she’s glad that is how they felt filming the primary batch of episodes — as a result of they “really got here in with zero expectations and we had been simply ourselves.”
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Early Fame
December 3, every thing modified for the solid, because the present premiered on MTV. It was immediately iconic, making names of its stars — who had by no means been within the highlight earlier than.
“Completely petrifying,” Jenni mentioned of their in a single day success. “It’s a must to perceive we had Kardashian fame with no cash. I used to be broke as hell.”
“I had folks trying via my home windows, following me in my automotive, stealing my rubbish; I’d get up and other people can be like little raccoons,” she recalled. “I’d be like, ‘What are you doing? Simply say hello to me.’ I’d get up in my second-story place, and there can be somebody in my window. It was simply insanity.”
She added that their fame was natural and never because of the assistance of social media, as Instagram and Twitter had been solely of their early levels when the present launched.
“I keep in mind Ashton Kutcher signing us as much as Twitter … and [Nicole] was like, ‘It’s a must to signal as much as this factor known as Fb.’ I used to be like, ‘I do not wish to,’” Jenni continued. “She was always forcing me to be on social media, however at the moment you simply rode the wave via old-fashioned media, magazines, paparazzi. There have been no cellphones and TikTok, issues that made folks well-known at the moment. It was very charming, it was loopy.”
“We had been stoked,” Nicole mentioned of that early fame. “I by no means went to California earlier than. I by no means actually traveled earlier than, except it was like Florida. So, I used to be like, ‘Holy crap, I will California. We’re not paying for something; every thing is like taken care of. We’ll meet celebrities’”
“I really feel like we had been all stoked as a result of we clearly liked consideration; we nonetheless love consideration. We had been like, ‘That is nice,’” she added.
“It positively exploded so shortly, however I assumed that we remained ourselves for a really very long time,” added Mike. “Like we might exit, and we’d simply be centered on simply how we felt; being so blissful, being collectively. We had no concept what was about to occur, and every thing that got here with it.”
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Celeb Encounters
As they grew to become celebrities, additionally they obtained to satisfy a ton of them … first at crimson carpets hosted by MTV, earlier than getting invitations to swanky occasions around the globe.
“So, I obtained to satisfy Leonardo DiCaprio at a membership, and we took a selfie. You possibly can Google it, it is on the market,” JWoww boasted, earlier than spilling on her Jennifer Aniston encounter backstage at a special MTV present.
“I simply keep in mind her shaking my arms, with each arms, and searching me within the eyes,” she recalled. “I simply keep in mind my jaw fully dislocating and falling to the ground. However I always remember she handled me so kindly — and he or she did not see the present at that time, so it was simply her being like, ‘Oh, you are [MTV programming president Tony DiSanto’s] good friend, it is so sort to satisfy you.’”
“Then she grew to become a fan of the present after, and I used to be like, ‘I win at life,’” she exclaimed. “That is probably the most iconic factor that ever occur to me. She is so candy, there’s no one as sweeter.”
The Scenario, in the meantime, title dropped Leo, The Rock and Jason Statham — all of whom he additionally spoke about in his e book.
“It simply all occur so shortly, and we had been simply being ourselves, being genuine. That’s what labored on the time, and that’s what nonetheless works at the moment,” he added.
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Regrets? They Have Too Few
Contemplating a number of the completely wild experiences that had been captured on movie — together with arrests, bodily fights, battles with substance abuse, and extra — it could be completely truthful if the celebrities of Jersey Shore wished a few of these moments weren’t captured on digital camera.
“50% of it. That is embarrassing, I want that was by no means there,” Nicole quipped when requested if there have been moments she needs did not make the ultimate lower, earlier than explaining why she would not actually have regrets.
“That’s what made us who we had been. We had been simply unapologetically ourselves,” she added. “I believe that’s the reason the followers liked us as a result of we had been simply so actual and uncooked with every thing. Even when it was embarrassing.”
“Actuality TV is actuality TV. There isn’t any script, we’re the script,” added Mike. “Early on in our profession, it’s extremely life like to see us make errors, see us succeed, see us fail. That is all within the course of.”
Jenni, nonetheless, would pinpoint one factor she would change.
“I simply want the primary season, I believe I obtained actually sick, we known as it the Seaside Swine Flu, the place it simply annihilated you,” she shared. “I appeared tough. So that they did not play the truth that I had the flu. They only performed me trying like a multitude.”
“I simply keep in mind being like, could not you could have simply gotten your s–t collectively, Jenni? Like, should you would’ve recognized this freaking present would have been the primary hit, might you could have washed your hair?” she laughed. “I appeared a hella mess, however once more I used to be tremendous sick, they usually solely had so little issues to place in every episode. I might be within the background trying like an absolute catastrophe, which I remorse.”
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Jersey Vogue Makes a Comeback
The present’s success introduced the Jersey Shore aesthetic to the lots — and we nonetheless have not absolutely recovered. Due to the solid, the poof and blowouts gained reputation, whereas Ed Hardy and pretend tans took over. And now, 15 years later, these late 2000s fashions are already making a comeback.
“[Her daugher] Meliani desires a Juicy Couture for Christmas. I used to be like, ‘What’s going on in life?’ Shout out to Juicy, are you able to please contact me? I don’t even know methods to purchase it anymore. I used to go in malls,” mentioned JWoww of the model’s iconic sweatsuits. “I am like, do you purchase it on-line now? I’m so historical; I need assistance.’”
“My 10-year-old desires it. My eight-year-old desires Ed Hardy. He is mad at me that he noticed episodes and photos, and outfits that I wore that I haven’t got anymore,” she continued. “I am like guys, I had bins of Ed Hardy. Bins! My mother and father mentioned it finest, to by no means eliminate your stuff as a result of it may come round once more. They’re proper.”
“I miss it,” Nicole mentioned of that 2009 model. “Pauly simply introduced again Ed Hardy on our final journey to Jamaica. I went purchasing this morning and [remembered] all the Juicy luggage I used to put on. That was one of the best model for me, like I simply liked all of it. So no, that was actually my favourite period ever. The 2000s, the gaudiness, I miss it a lot.”
Mike, who nonetheless loves a Versace print, mentioned he does nothing however smile when he seems at outdated images. “I am grateful for the nice, grateful for the dangerous, grateful for all of it!” he added.
Catch new episodes of Jersey Shore Household Trip each Thursday on MTV!