Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola avoided a potential encounter with her ex but told castmates she and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro could “co-exist” if necessary.
The current season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation features the return of both Sammi and Ronnie, but at different levels and not together on-screen.
Sammi’s return came after over a decade away from the franchise and her castmates, and she’s a full-time cast member on the latest season of the spinoff.
Ronnie stepped away from the show several years ago to focus on mental health, his sobriety, and other issues.
However, he’s appeared in Family Vacation for an episode or two, including the recent season, which featured him reuniting with most of his castmates.
Sammi skipped out on a reunion with her ex thanks to a heads-up from Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. However, she got details about Ronnie’s visit later.
Sammi talks about a potential reunion with Ronnie
In the recent episode of Family Vacation, Ronnie had some one-on-one talks with castmates, including Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Angelina Pivarnick. He eventually said his goodbyes to the cast before heading back home.
The visit was an emotional one and a positive step for Ronnie as he owned up for his previous mistakes and discussed reconnecting with his castmates.
As mentioned, Sammi was away from his visit as she headed out for the day with her boyfriend, Justin May.
She returned later to meet her castmates for dinner and said she was sad to see her boyfriend go. Sammi said Justin loved everyone there before asking how everyone else’s day went.
“I’m so relieved that Ron is not at this dinner right now,” she said in a confessional interview.
Deena shared that during the visit, Ronnie “took complete accountability for everything” that happened previously. Deena said she also asked him how he’d feel if he saw Sammi again.
“I mean, I can co-exist,” Sammi told her castmates, adding, “I’m in a different place in my life. His s***show isn’t my s***show anymore.”
In her confessional, Sammi brought up that people might forget that her relationship with Ronnie took place when she was 22. It’s been 13 years since her previous appearance on reality TV, and she’s matured a lot.
“I’ve been out of the relationship longer than I was in it at this point,” Sammi shared in her confessional.
They dated during MTV’s Jersey Shore and its original run from 2009 through 2012, but the relationship was toxic. In 2016, it was revealed they’d officially split. Both have moved on and have dated several other individuals.
Sammi previously mentioned in interviews that she viewed Ronnie as a “coworker” with her return to the show. With that in mind, she may be able to look past previous issues from their tumultuous relationship and co-exist on the spinoff.
Ronnie spoke with Snooki about having a chat with Sammi
While Sammi said she can co-exist with Ronnie, she and her ex have yet to cross paths during the latest season of Family Vacation. However, Ronnie talked to his castmate Snooki about a conversation happening at some point.
He mentioned it was hard for him to be away from his friends from the cast for so long before the convo shifted toward seeing Sammi again.
“Question, though. What are you gonna do when you see Sam?” Snooki asked him.
“I don’t know. I hope we can have a normal conversation,” Ronnie shared, adding, “I hope she’s down for it. It has to happen eventually.”
After Snooki suggested that Ronnie and Sammi had “history” and would likely stir up some emotions when they saw one another again, he shared, “She’s a big part of my life.”
The latest Family Vacation episode closed with that tease that a conversation would happen at some point, with viewers left wondering if that will be next season on the MTV spinoff show or at another time and place.
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on MTV.