‘Jersey Shore: Family Vacation’: Nicole Polizzi ‘Embarrassed’ Jionni LaValle on Their First Date
Fans of MTV’s Jersey Shore: Family Vacation who know very little about the cast member’s personal lives might not even know that Nicole Polizzi has been married for almost a decade. Her husband, Jionni LaValle, prefers to keep out of the spotlight, and Nicole respects his wishes. However, she occasionally speaks about their relationship, including how she “embarrassed” him on their first date.
Jionni LaValle met Nicole Polizzi during season 3 of the original ‘Jersey Shore’ series
Nicole Polizzi first met Jionni LaValle when he momentarily entered the Jersey Shore house in season 3. His cousin met Vinny at a club, and together, they returned to the cast’s Seaside Heights abode. Jionni and his uncle appeared to retrieve the young woman.
Several episodes later, Nicole danced with Jionni at the Seaside Heights club Karma and brought him home for a hookup in the Smush Room. Nicole was intoxicated that evening and couldn’t remember Jionni’s name, so she called him “Bernard.”
After their hookup, Nicole said she kept thinking about Jionni during the series off-season. She eventually messaged him, and they began seeing one another.
“He drove an hour and a half to see me because he lived in New Jersey, and I lived in New York,” she explained in a YouTube video. “We went to a bar, and I got wasted,” she continued, saying, “I embarrassed him because I was screaming on the karaoke machine, ‘Snooki’s here! Party’s here!'”
Jionni LaValle told Nicole Polizzi after their first date ‘I should have left you then’
Embarrassed on the heels of her intoxicated and dramatic outburst during their first official date, Jionni LaValle told Nicole Polizzi that he wanted to leave the bar. Later, once they were a couple, he joked, “I should have left you then.”
“You were so annoying,” he continued. Nicole added, “But he stayed, thank God.”
“Could you imagine being stuck with me on a date?” Nicole asked. “And I’m like drunk? Relax.”
The karaoke bar date ended with the couple spending the night together at a hotel Nicole had booked earlier in the evening. She said she lived with her mother and didn’t want to feel awkward staying the night with Jionni in her home.
She added that was the beginning of their relationship. “We were besties, then we started dating and fell in love.”
Nicole and Jionni were together for one year before she became pregnant with their first child, a son they named Lorenzo, in 2012. The couple married in November 2014, two months after the birth of their second child, a daughter named Giovanna. In 2019, they had their third child, a son named Angelo.
Why isn’t Jionni LaValle featured on ‘Jersey Shore: Family Vacation?’
Nicole Polizzi shared with Hollywood Life that although she has asked her husband, Jionni LaValle, to appear on Jersey Shore: Family Vacation with her, he has declined. She explained why he chose to keep out of the public eye.
“I’ve always been asking, but I respect his privacy,” Nicole said. “He just doesn’t want to be on camera. He just wants to be the home base when filming, which I’m so thankful for.”
In 2018, Jionni took to Instagram (via Us Weekly) to share his thoughts about reality television and why he wouldn’t appear alongside his wife on the MTV series. He decided the lifestyle wasn’t for him.
“Nicole and I are doing great and have become even stronger together while raising our beautiful kids. HOWEVER, you will not see me on her reality show. Being a reality was never something I wanted to be when I grew up,” LaValle wrote.
“I own my own business and work hard at it. That’s what I do. My wife is a reality star and works hard at that; that’s what she does,” he continued.
Jionni concluded, “For the HATERS, I hope this message finds you and confuses you even more about life, and for the FANS of my wife and her show …I got your back!!! God Bless Yas!”
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Season 7 begins Thursday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.
