‘Jersey Shore’ Stars, Sammi Giancola Talk Reuniting With Ex Ronnie Ortiz-Magro (Exclusive)

It’s time for a big reunion on Jersey Shore Family Vacation. In the upcoming season of the MTV show, which premieres Thursday, Feb. 8, Jersey Shore fans will finally see Ronnie Ortiz-Magro under the same roof as his ex Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola as he returns to film with the rest of the crew on a Nashville vacation. Ahead of the premiere, Giancola opened up to PopCulture.com about what it was like to reunite with her ex after so many years while her co-stars Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino shared how they supported their roommates through it all. 

While Giancola admits she “definitely wasn’t fond of” reuniting with Ortiz-Magro years after their tumultuous relationship played out on Jersey Shore, she said at this point in her life, “It’s just working with a coworker – somebody I dated in my 20s.” She continued, “I had a feeling that this would eventually happen one day. Do I want to be doing this? No. But it’s like he’s a part of the family, and I understand that, and I respect that, and it is what it is.”

Giancola confessed that when she decided to return to the spotlight last season on Jersey Shore Family Vacation, she knew filming with Ortiz-Magroonce again could be a possibility. “I didn’t think that it would be so soon, but here we are,” she told PopCulture. “I just feel like this person doesn’t have any … control [over] my life now. It’s somebody from my past, it’s a coworker. So why not give it a go and see what can happen?”

Preparing for the big moment in which she would see her ex again, Giancola praised all her roommates for being “truly amazing” in supporting her. Polizzi told PopCulture she went into “mama bear” mode making sure Giancola was ready for the reunion, even speaking to Ortiz-Magro off-camera to make sure he was “totally respectful” of his ex. “I just wanted to make sure that Sam was OK with it, because obviously they had a crazy relationship back in the day,” Polizzi explained. “Clearly she’s over it, she moved on, but I wanted to make sure she was comfortable and it wasn’t a forceful thing, and she was totally fine with it.”

The MTV star continued, “I think just as a girlfriend, I just wanted to make sure she was good and [say], ‘What’s the boundary? I’m here for you. Let me know if you’re uncomfortable. We’ll leave.’ Stuff like that.” Even with all the preparation going into Ortiz-Magro’s return, Polizzi admitted it was “definitely awkward” when the two exes first saw one another again. “Sam’s over here, Ron’s over here – you’re going to see it, and I can’t wait to actually see how it plays, but it was very awkward for all of us,” she revealed. “Yeah, it was weird.”

Sorrentino said he was “open” to having Ortiz-Magro return to the show after his previous struggles. “I knew that for a year or two, Ron was making his comeback and he was making an attempt to make his amends, do the right thing, make positive decisions,” he told PopCulture. “I’m like, ‘If [he continues] that, I’m sure we will see him.’ And then when it was time to see him, I’m like, ‘OK.’” 

The Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation author confessed he was also interested to see how Ortiz-Magro and Giancola interacted all these years later. “I wanted to see if Ron walked into the room – was he going to give the wave or was he going to say hello? Was he going to dap Sam up? How that was going to happen? So that’s kind of like what you guys get to see, because they’re actually in the same room at the same time and this hasn’t happened in almost a decade.”

See Giancola, Ortiz-Magro, Polizzi, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley, Mike, Pauly “DJ Pauly D” Delvecchio, Vinny Guadagnino, Deena Cortese and Angelina Pivarnick reunite on the new season of Jersey Shore Family Vacation, which returns for Season 7 Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.