Mike Sorrentino was happy to see old friend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro back on Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
“It’s always good to see Ron,” Mike, 42, exclusively tells In Touch while discussing the return of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. “I believe that it’s definitely been an adjustment period over the past, year or two that we’re seeing a lot more of him.”
The reality TV personality says that Ronnie, 38, was “slowly adjusting to the squad in a positive manner,” adding, “It’s always good to see him when he pops up.”
Jersey Shore dominated the MTV airways from 2009 to 2012. The series debuted the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation spinoff in 2018 and Ronnie was part of the original cast — which included Nicole ‘Snooki” Polizzi, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio and Jenni “JWoww” Farley — who chose to return. Ronnie’s ex Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola didn’t make her return to the franchise until March 2021, the same year Ronnie stepped away from the show following his arrest on domestic violence charges.
“After talking to the team at MTV, we have mutually agreed that I will step away from the show while I seek medical treatment for mental health issues that I’ve ignored for too long,” Ronnie said in a statement at the time. “My No. 1 goal now is facing my struggles head on. This process will be difficult, but my No. 1 priority is to get healthy and be the best man and the best father I can [be] for my daughter.”
Ronnie’s attorneys, Scott E. Leemon and Leonard Levine, told Us Weekly after his arrest that “the L.A. County District Attorney’s office and the L.A. City Attorney’s office determined that criminal charges were not warranted against Ronnie related to the incident that occurred in April.”
Ronnie came face to face with Sammi’s fiancé, Justin May, during a cast trip to Arizona in November 2023. The men exchanged a simple handshake, while Sammi, 37, ignored her ex, and the interaction was documented during a May episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Ronnie later admitted he had a better chance of being friends with Justin than his ex.
“I didn’t expect that to happen,” Pauly D, 44, said, regarding Ronnie and Justin’s interaction. “Justin is such a standup guy for doing that. I think that’s a really respectable move.”
In a confessional interview, Sammi, who dated Ronnie from 2009 to 2014, acknowledged that the situation made her feel uneasy. “For me, I’m actually like, ‘Ah, no!’ I don’t want my boyfriend and my ex shaking hands. Nobody wants that,” she told producers. “But at the end of the day, I would rather have this be peaceful than one of the most uncomfortable, awkward situations. And it just reassures me that I made the right choice with the right guy.”
Although Sammi may be working closely with her ex-boyfriend, she exclusively told In Touch that she wishes people would stop “associating” her with Ronnie.
“It’s been so long now, can we just move on from that aspect of my life?” she explained in a story published on Wednesday, September 18. “He lives his own life. I live my own life. We happen to be coworkers. We just happen to be working together, but his life does not pertain to me and my life does not pertain to him.”
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation returns with new episodes on MTV Thursday, September 19, at 8 p.m. ET.
