‘Jersey Shore’: Sammi Giancola’s New Love Has Ties to Ronnie Ortiz-Magro’s Former Favorite Club
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation welcomes Sammi Giancola back to the cast after an absence of 11 years. However, her ties to the series continued even when she was off-camera. Her new love, Justin May, once worked at a favorite club of her former beau, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro.
‘Jersey Shore’ star Sammi Giancola’s new love once worked at the cast’s favorite club
Sammi Giancola discussed how happy she was to return to the cast of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. She also shared the support she has received from her new love Justin May.
Ironically, Justin once worked at the cast’s favorite club, Karma. Sammi told People Magazine about the connection between the cast and Sammi’s boyfriend.
“He’s familiar with everybody just from seeing them way back when, so he knew who I was,” Giancola revealed. “It’s kind of funny how things work out.”
Karma was a favorite club of Sammi’s former flame Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole Polizzi, Paul DelVecchio, Vinny Guadagnino, Mike Sorrentino, Deena Cortese, Angelina Pivarnick, Sammi, and Jenni Farley. It was located in Seaside Heights, NJ.
The club shut down in 2020 and was sold at auction after its owner filed bankruptcy. A proposal for the site would replace the block-long venue with luxury housing.
Seaside Heights was where the group lived and worked in seasons 1, 3, 5, and 6. Miami was the setting of season 2, and season 4 was filmed in Italy.
‘Jersey Shore’ star Sammi Giancola is ‘lighter’ and ‘free’ says castmate
Speaking to Page Six, Sammi Giancola’s castmate Deena Cortese believes viewers will see a different side to her longtime friend during season 7 of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Deena feels the Sammi has changed substantially since her original run on the series ended in 2012.
“Sam is so much lighter and just so free. Sam [has] always been stuck to Ron and had a heavy weight on her,” Deena explained of her friend and castmate.
“I felt like she was in a very bad place for a long time,” she said. “Everybody watching will be introduced to an entirely new person.”
Sammi reportedly comes in “hot,” using the show’s famous vocabulary for a person looking to stir the pot. In a teaser trailer, Sammi tells one castmate, “Why are you being messy coming for me now?” In a separate scene, Sammi fights with another castmate, saying they talk too much, telling them to “shut up.”
Sammi Giancola admits it was ‘nerve-wracking’ rejoining the ‘Jersey Shore’ cast
In the decade-plus, since the original Jersey Shore series ended, Sammi Giancola’s castmates have remained in the public eye. In 2018, the cast reunited for a reboot series titled Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
However, Sammi opted out of filming the reboot. She shared a social media post that stated she wanted to put “toxic situations” behind her.
Her decision to stay away from the rest of the cast likely stemmed from the end of her up-and-down relationship with Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, which lasted throughout the series’ six-season run. However, in the following years, she and her castmates also stopped communicating.
“It was very nerve-racking,” Giancola admitted to People Magazine. “It’s definitely overwhelming because I haven’t talked to anybody in a really long time.”
However, one key reason was Sammi’s return to her Jersey Shore family. Ronnie left the series in 2021 to work on his sobriety and focus on raising his daughter Ariana.
“I probably wouldn’t have come back if I knew he was still on the show, honestly,” Sammi reveals. However, the two could potentially cross paths during season 7 after he reaches out to Mike in a teaser scene included in the trailer.
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation debuts season 7 on Aug. 3, 2023. The series airs at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.
