Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola returned to Jersey Shore last summer after A LONG TIME away from the camera.
“I needed the time to regroup and figure out my own life,” Giancola told Variety back then of why she waited 11 years before making her return.
“I wasn’t in a good head space. I just couldn’t do the show back then. And I’m happy that I’m able to be able to come back and do it now.”
The thing is, Sammi was able to avoid filming any scenes in 2023 opposite ex-boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
Part of the show’s original cast, Sammi was a main star from 2009 through 2012.
She dated Ronnie off and on for years, finally ending the relationship after Ortiz-Magro cheated on her.
Ronnie then took his own time away from the MTV series to focus on his own mental health, and also to battle an alcohol addiction, returning several months ago to issue a number of emotional apologies.
The exes will soon share the screen again for the first time in over a decade.
“It’s not ideal,” Sammi told TooFab this week of seeing Ronnie up close and personal once more.
“I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I did know that if I were to come back on this show again, that this could be a possibility.
“I mean, it’s a given. And I was like, listen, this person doesn’t affect my life anymore. So it’s kind of like just working with a co-worker.”
Sammi echoed this same sentiment in the aforementioned Variety interview, telling that outlet that Ronnie is now “just a guy I dated in my 20s.”
She says she can even laugh at this point in response to the infidelity.
To be clear, Sammi doesn’t expect any sort of mea culpa from Ronnie on the season ahead.
“Hell no! There’s nothing that needs to be said,” she told TooFab.
“Things were said back when we broke up. There’s nothing that needs to be said at all from his end to me, from my end to him. Like, I’m good. I don’t need closure. I’m good, we’re good.”
Ronnie has claimed in the past that he’s clean and sober and that his life is back on track. We very much hope this is the case, of course.
Either way, however, Sammi is now dating someone named Justin May… having moved on from her violent ex ages ago.
“Justin, I absolutely love and adore,” the reality star told E! News recently, confirming that May will appear on Jersey Shore this year and even adding:
“You’re gonna see a lot of him on this season, and I hope there’s wedding bells in the near future. I love him. He’s the one for me, and I know that.”
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation returns Thursday, February 8 on MTV.