Jersey Shore is an American reality television series that ran on MTV from December 3, 2009, to December 20, 2012. The series follows the lives of eight housemates at a vacation home, for seasons one, three, five, and six on the Shore in Seaside Heights, New Jersey; plus for season two in South Beach, Florida; and for season four in Florence, Italy.
The show debuted amid controversy regarding its use of the terms guido and guidette and its portrayal of Italian Americans, which some alleged perpetuated stereotypes. It was also criticized by locals who observed that few of the cast members were natives or residents of the area. (Most of the cast was from New York, and at least two cast members were not of Italian descent.)
The show became a pop culture phenomenon with classes and conferences at universities about the show and journalists listing it as one of the most notable shows of the time. The Shore franchise spawned several international adaptations in other countries. Four of the Jersey Shore cast members received spin-off shows on MTV, with the most successful being Snooki & Jwoww. Most of the cast went on to appear in other reality programs or receive their own shows on various networks.
On August 20, 2017, a one-off television special called Reunion Road Trip: Return to the Jersey Shore aired on the E! network. On November 27, 2017, MTV announced that the cast (with the exception of Giancola) would be reuniting in Miami, Florida, for a new reunion series titled Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. The series premiered globally on April 5, 2018.
A spin-off series, All Star Shore, was released on June 29, 2022. It features Jersey Shore and other reality stars from around the world as they live together in a villa to compete for $150,000.
Overview
Cast Overview Cast memberSeasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio colspan="6" Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi colspan="6" Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino colspan="6" Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola colspan="6" Ronnie Ortiz-Magro colspan="6" Jenni "JWoww" Farley colspan="6" Vinny Guadagnino colspan="6" Angelina Pivarnick colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="2" Deena Cortese colspan="2" colspan="4"
NameHometownEthnicityBiographySeasons 3–6New Egypt, New JerseyItalian AmericanCortese, a longtime friend of Polizzi, had originally auditioned for season 1 and been rejected. She eventually joins the cast starting in season 3. She describes herself as a "blast in a glass"."Pauly D"Johnston, Rhode IslandItalian AmericanDelVecchio is a disc jockey from Johnston, Rhode Island outside of Providence. He strikes up a brief romance with fellow castmate Farley but the relationship does not progress. DelVecchio was nominated for the 2010 "America's Best DJ" competition."JWoww"Franklin Square, New York Irish-Spanish AmericanFarley is a graphic designer and club promoter from Franklin Square, New York. During the casting process, she stated, "I thought the guys would be enormous and really mean, and I thought the girls would be catty and overdone." She enters the shore house with a steady relationship at home but cheats on her boyfriend with castmate DelVecchio and ends her relationship in season 3 episode 4 for different reasons. Farley has had breast augmentation surgery, which she got as a birthday present to herself just before turning 21."Sammi Sweetheart"Hazlet, New JerseyItalian-Greek AmericanGiancola is from Hazlet, New Jersey and is recently single at the start of the series. She attended William Paterson University and was a midfielder on the women's soccer team. Giancola ultimately strikes up a relationship with fellow castmate Ortiz-Magro in season 1 episode 3.Staten Island, New YorkItalian American21-year-old Guadagnino comes from a traditional Italian American family in Staten Island. A graduate of the State University of New York at New Paltz who had plans to attend law school if acting did not work out. Guadagnino applied after a friend sent him an application asking for "the orangest, most muscley, spiky-haired people", which Guadagnino filled out "as a joke". Describing first meeting his castmates, he says, "I see Pauly and his spiky hair and his whole guido look. Great, they found the most stereotypical kid. Then Snooki seems like a train wreck. But you realize we're all starting this crazy new adventure."Bronx, New YorkItalian-Puerto Rican AmericanOrtiz-Magro is from The Bronx in New York City. He strikes up a relationship with castmate Giancola.Seasons 1 & 2Staten Island, New York Polish-Italian AmericanPivarnick is a New York City bartender. She starts out the season with a serious relationship at home, but the two break up in episode 3, which indirectly leads to her eviction from the shore house after refusing to work her shift in the T-shirt shop. Pivarnick again departed the house during Season 2, after violent confrontations with Mike and Nicole. She did not return for Season 3. She calls herself the "Kim Kardashian of Staten Island", but is mocked by other cast members as the "Staten Island dump" or the "Rob Kardashian of Staten Island". Pivarnick made brief cameos during Seasons 5 & 6."Snooki"Marlboro, New YorkBorn in Chile (adopted by Italian-American parents)Polizzi is from Marlboro, New York, and is an aspiring veterinary technician. She applied to an ad on Facebook that said "Calling all guidos and guidettes," which Polizzi said, "was definitely about my lifestyle." Polizzi earned the nickname "Snooki" in middle school after being the first of her friends to "make out" with a boy. She became the center of controversy when a man punched her in her face during a bar confrontation. Polizzi was arrested by Seaside police on July 30, 2010, on public intoxication charges, which were later dropped. She previously suffered from an eating disorder in high school.. New York Daily News. March 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-19."The Situation" Staten Island, New YorkItalian AmericanSorrentino, an assistant manager of a fitness center in Staten Island, develops an attraction towards Giancola, which does not come into fruition when she becomes interested in fellow castmate Ortiz-Magro. Sorrentino worked as an exotic dancer in 2004. In the 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars, he partnered with Karina Smirnoff, but was eliminated in week 4. He also appeared on the British television show Celebrity Big Brother in August 2012.Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino joins Celebrity Big Brother 2012 Starcasm.net
Production history VH1 producer Anthony Beltempo proposed the idea of a show focusing on the "guido" lifestyle for TV, in the form of a male competition series. Executive producer SallyAnn Salsano, who previously worked on A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, devised a new concept, inspired by her own summers in a Jersey summer shore house, and retained casting director Doron Ofir to find the cast. MTV Networks President Van Toffler felt that the series' "loud, young, bold" style was better suited to MTV's sensibilities than VH1, and MTV programming executive Tony DiSanto felt that "[After The Hills], it was time to go for a more authentic approach, like a documentary." Van Toffler described the casting process by saying they looked for "candor, honesty, boldness and a very combustible, chaotic mess. You could honestly say none of these people were traditionally beautiful."Schneider, Michael. "Jersey Shore: In Their Own Words", TV Guide, March 14, 2011, Pages 10-11
The series follows the lives of eight housemates spending their summer in a summer share in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, known as The Jersey Shore House, as well as other locations in other seasons. Residences include a confessional room for cast members to self-record their thoughts on daily house drama. Season 1 followed cast members Angelina Pivarnick, Jennifer Farley, Michael Sorrentino, Nicole Polizzi, Paul DelVecchio, Ronald Ortiz-Magro, Samantha Giancola, and Vincenzo Guadagnino at the Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore premiered on December 3, 2009, with back-to-back episodes, averaging 1.375 million viewers. Although the initial ratings were considered unimpressive to Salsano, they slowly grew in popularity, and was the subject of parody on Saturday Night Live after the third week, a turnaround that MTV executive Tony DiSanto calls "the fastest 0 to 60 I've ever seen on a show". Season 1 posted strong growth every week and ranked #1 in its time period versus all cable competition among P12–34 (people 12 to 34 years old) during the first quarter of 2010, with a season high 2.6 rating for the finale. The season 1 finale audience, 4.8 million, was more than triple that of the premiere, an increase of more than 3.4 million, and was MTV's highest rated original series telecast in almost two years. Overall, the season 1 averaged 2.7 million viewers.
In an article in Rolling Stone, it was mentioned that the house had 35 remote-controlled cameras in fixed locations, 12 hand-held ones, one IMX camera and six DV cameras. Nicole Polizzi said that:
After Season 1, the cast negotiated pay increases, though both they and DiSanto explained that it was not contentious, and was given undue weight by the press. Rather than wait until the next New Jersey summer for Season 2, the production moved to Miami.
In January 2010, MTV announced that a second season consisting of 12 episodes had been ordered and would air that summer. It would follow all of the first-season cast as they avoided the cold northeast winter by relocating to the South Beach, Florida. In May 2010 the cast relocated back to the Jersey Shore for the rest of filming, but it was later determined that the production company had enough footage from the Miami shoot to fill the entire second season, and that the footage to be shot at the Jersey Shore would be used for a third season. The second season premiered on July 29, 2010, averaging 5.252 million viewers. Season 2 was the #1 television series in the P12-34 demographic for the summer of 2010 across all TV and has also posted continued growth every week.
On July 20, 2010, MTV announced that the cast would return for a third season, with the exception of Pivarnick. Season 3 returned to the original Jersey Shore summer setting, and replaced Angelina with Deena Nicole Cortese, a longtime friend of Polizzi. The season's January 6, 2011 premiere was viewed by a record 8.45 million viewers, making it MTV's most viewed series telecast ever. The second episode of the season once again set a series and MTV high at the time, with 8.56 million viewers, only to set another record with the airing of the fourth episode, which garnered 8.87 million viewers.
On January 25, 2011, it was confirmed that the show had been renewed for a fourth season, to be filmed in Italy during the first half of 2011. The fourth season premiered August 4, 2011. MTV confirmed in June 2011 that the fifth season would return to Seaside Heights.Thompson, Brian. "MTV's "Jersey Shore" Crew Returns to NJ for 5th Season". NBC. June 6, 2011
Believed complications caused by Nicole Polizzi's pregnancy, and several cast members (including Polizzi, DelVecchio, and Farley) receiving spin-offs sparked talk about the future of the series past the fifth season, however on March 19, 2012, MTV officially confirmed that the series would return for a sixth season, with all cast members returning. Filming for the sixth season took place in mid-2012, and featured Polizzi nearly eight months pregnant. MTV said in a statement, "While things will definitely be a little different this time when they hit the boardwalk, their trademark hilarity and family dysfunction will remain the same."
Jersey Shore house