‘Jersey Shore’ Alum Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi Lands Another MTV Reality Role

MTV must have decided it still doesn’t have enough Ridiculousness to air because the network will soon air a spinoff hosted by Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi. The new show, titled Messyness, is already in production and will also feature Tori Spelling, Adam Rippon, and Teddy Ray. Polizzi announced plans to leave Jersey Shore Family Vacation in December 2019, but she returned for the second half of Season 4.

Messyness will follow the format set by the original Ridiculousness hosted by Rob Dyrdek. In that series, Drydek and his co-stars make fun of the most outrageous internet clips they can find. Messyness will do the same thing but focuses on dating, partying and messy young adulthood reports Deadline. Filming has already begun and the spinoff will debut later this year. The series is produced by Thrill One Media and Gorilla Flicks, with Rachel Tung and Jessica Zlkind as executive producers.

Ridiculousness launched in August 2011 and has been going strong ever since, with over 677 episodes produced. In November, MTV ordered another spin-off, Deliciousness, a food-centric series hosted by Tiffani Thiessen. While MTV does air other reality TV shows, its schedule is often packed with repeats of Ridiculousness. In February, a tweet showing just how often the show aired in one week went viral.

In July, Variety reported that 113 hours of Ridiculousness took up 168 hours of MTV programming in one week. When asked about this, Tanya Giles, general manager of ViacomCBS’ entertainment & youth group, pointed out that the linear cable network is “just one piece of our ecosystem” and said Ridiculousness’ popularity continued growing during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

“We went from people coming one to two times a week to nearly six times a week to watch Ridiculousness,” Giles told Variety. “Particularly when COVID hit, now there’s a lot of people at home. We knew that this was a show that many generations could watch. It cut across different genders; it’s laugh-out-loud; it’s escapist.”

Polizzi’s involvement in Messyness could attract even more viewers since she is a longtime MTV star, dating back to the original Jersey Shore in 2009. She joined the show’s revival, Jersey Shore Family Vacation, in 2018. In late 2019, she left the show to spend more time with her family, only to return for the second half of Season 4. The new season is set at a Poconos resort. Episodes air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, a division of ViacomCBS.