Jersey Shore star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro made a surprise emotional return on Family Vacation Season 6, which nearly led to a difficult situation with his ex-girlfriend.
The latest episode featured Ronnie visiting his castmates unexpectedly, with Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola admitting she didn’t want to see him due to their tumultuous relationship.
Ronnie and Sammi dated after meeting as castmates on MTV’s original Jersey Shore, with their dramatic relationship eventually dissolving and causing Sammi to walk away from reality TV for years.
Based on Sammi’s comments, that relationship wasn’t healthy for her and prevented her from initially joining the cast for Jersey Shore’s spinoff, Family Vacation.
She returned for Season 6, reuniting with most of her castmates sans Ronnie. It marked her first appearance on the spinoff show.
Ronnie, who’d been away from the show to work on mental health, was also shown in trailers teasing his reunion with castmates. However, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi recently dropped accidental spoilers about him and Sammie seeing each other.
Adding to an already difficult situation for Ronnie’s potential reunion with Sammi was that her boyfriend, Justin May, had also joined the Family Vacation group.
Sammi told castmate she’s ‘moved on’ with her life
On the October 19 episode of Family Vacation, viewers finally saw Ronnie Ortiz-Magro heading to Margaritaville in Florida to see his castmates. Most of the cast didn’t know he would show up, except for Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and his wife, Lauren.
“When I was talking to Ronnie, I never in a million years thought Sam was coming back. Their relationship was a lot. So, we got a situation here,” Mike said in a confessional.
Mike’s wife suggested he inform Sammi about Ronnie’s upcoming visit, saying, “I don’t think they should be in a room together. It’s too soon, it’s not good.”
When Mike brought the news, Sammi’s first reaction was shock with an “Oh my God,” but she further expressed her feelings about it in a confessional interview.
“I don’t want to see Ron, especially with my boyfriend here. My heart is sinking into my stomach. My relationship with Ron was not healthy for me. We broke up in like 2015, and I haven’t talked to him since. He’s the reason I didn’t come back in the first place. I’m definitely not ready for this; my life has moved on,” she said.
The Situation helped Sammi avoid a situation
Mike let Sammi know that Ronnie had been preparing an apology to his castmates for two years, so when they’d been discussing it, he hadn’t known Sammi would also return to the show.
He suggested his castmate and her new boyfriend head out for the day to avoid a potentially difficult or awkward situation with Ronnie.
Sammi told her castmate it was “very thoughtful” to give a heads-up about Ronnie, and he explained they wanted to make sure she was “happy” and stayed around.
“I don’t want to see Ron today. Justin knows me and Ron had a toxic as hell relationship and this could be a situation and he’s understanding about it all. I think I’ve just gone through so much that I’m so relieved to be getting out of here with my man,” Sammi said during the episode.
Spoilers about Sammi and Ronnie’s potential reunion dropped via Snooki’s recent podcast episode, alerting fans they’d have to wait to see that possibly in another season or elsewhere.
Sammi stayed away from Jersey Shore after relationship ended
As mentioned, Ronnie and Sammi first met during MTV’s Jersey Shore, the show that started it all. The pair had an off-and-on relationship from 2009 to 2012 as the show aired. It continued until 2016, after the show had ended.
One year after her split from Ronnie, Sammi dated Christian Biscardi, and they were engaged as of March 2019. However, the wedding never happened, and Sammi revealed they’d broken up in 2021.
Sammi began dating bartender Justin May in 2022 and seems happy with her current relationship. Justin arrived to join the cast during the recent season on one of their vacations. It was Justin’s first time meeting Sammi’s castmates.
Sammi’s last reality TV appearance was in four episodes of the Snookie & JWoww spinoff in 2014. She returned for Family Vacation Season 6 after nearly 10 years away from reality TV and her “toxic” relationship.
In addition to finding love, Sammi gained mental clarity and maturity years after her initial appearance on Jersey Shore and her rough relationship with Ronnie.
However, viewers will continue to wonder if they might eventually see Sammi and Ronnie finally have a conversation years after things went badly between them.
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on MTV.