A reunion seven years in the making went down on the Thursday, April 11, episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro came face-to-face for the first time since their 2014 breakup.
Ronnie, 38, finally joined the group in Nashville. After landing at the airport, he had lunch with Pauly “DJ Pauly D” Delvecchio, Vinny Guadagnino and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino before heading back to the cast’s rental house. Sammi was waiting in the living room with Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWoww” Farley and Angelina Pivarnick.
“I don’t really have a plan going into the house and seeing Sam,” Ronnie admitted. “I feel like I’m just going to be myself and let it be organic.”
The reality star said hello to the group and gave individual hugs to Snooki, 36, Jenni, 38, and Angelina, 37. Sam, 37, remained seated as her ex made his rounds. Ronnie eventually mumbled, “Hey, how are you?” to Sammi and moved on.
While everyone knew this reunion was going to be awkward, it was seemingly even more cringeworthy than they thought. “Ron is literally hugging everyone and then he sees Sam. Oh my god, I wanna die,” Snooki said in a confessional. “It’s so cringe. I’m so embarrassed.”
Just a note: The word “awkward” was used 237 times in this episode, per a tally by MTV.
After some awkward silence on the couch, the group went their separate ways to get ready for dinner. Sam assured the girls that she was “OK” after seeing Ronnie. “I wasn’t expecting anything,” she explained. “I feel nothing. He doesn’t affect me. You guys are working on friendships. I have no need to work on a friendship.”
Meanwhile, Ronnie told the guys that he thought it “worked out well” and “could have been worse.”
The pair sat apart from one another at dinner, where the cast took part in a spicy chicken eating challenge. “I actually am enjoying myself,” Sam admitted. “This whole dinner and challenge is the best distraction. I’m not worrying about anything or anyone. I’m just having fun.”
However, things took a turn when Vinny, 36, made a reference to the infamous note that Snooki and JWoww wrote about Ron cheating on Sam in Miami during season 2 of Jersey Shore. Although Sammi was previously able to joke about the note, she didn’t like bringing up that part of her past in front of her ex. She told Vinny it was “not funny” and got visibly annoyed.
“This whole dinner has been such a nice distraction to what’s going on and now Vinny’s really ruined it,” Sammi said in a confessional. “I mean, I have been cool, calm and collected about the whole Ron situation but this is something I do not take lightly and now I feel like I’m going to explode.”
Unfortunately, we won’t get to see the aftermath until the next episode on April 18.
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