Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is shedding more light on her past beef with Jersey Shore costar Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
Sammi, 36, declined to participate when the MTV franchise was rebooted as Jersey Shore: Family Vacation in 2018. She further distanced herself from her Jersey Shore days by temporarily blocking Snooki, 35, on social media because she thought Snooki was stealing her business idea, which she later realized wasn’t true.
“Me and Nicole totally worked through our issues,” Sammi exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, August 3, while promoting season 6B of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, which premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.
Sammi went on to explain that when Snooki opened a shop location in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, she thought Snooki was “doing something similar” to what she’d done with her Sweetheart Coast storefront on the Ocean City, New Jersey boardwalk. “But that was not the case,” she said. “So, in the end, I actually was wrong and I told her, ‘I’m sorry. I know you weren’t trying to copy off me.’”
The Sweetheart Styles founder — who will make her return to reality TV after an 11-year hiatus in season 6B of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation — added that her decision to “exclude herself” from the friend group for a while was a “personal thing” that had “nothing to do with” her costars.
“They just didn’t understand why I did that. So, it was just definitely miscommunication, which you’ll see all go down when we see each other again [on the show],” she said after noting that she didn’t blame the group for being upset with her. “I really had to block some things out of my life in order to move forward or move in a different direction. So, I kind of get why they might be upset.”
Snooki and Jennifer “JWoww” Farley, meanwhile, shared how they felt about the situation during a Tuesday, August 2, interview with Page Six. “She owned it and I got over it quick,” JWoww, 37, said. “We were hurt and confused [at the time], but … we’re so happy to have her back and be able to move on from that.”
Snooki added that she and Sammi had a “nice conversation” about their store drama. “I’m not the type of woman to compete against my friends by opening other stores,” she said. “No one was copying anyone. And we’re all allowed to open stores. Like, no one should be upset about that. It’s, like, little kid stuff.”
In addition to reconnecting with Snooki and JWoww, Sammi also crossed paths with ex-boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro while filming the new season. She told Us that while working with Ronnie, 37, again was “definitely nerve-wracking,” she went into the experience knowing she could “handle it.”
The pair dated on and off from 2009 to 2014, and the OG Jersey Shore documented the ups and downs of their rocky relationship. Ronnie previously announced that he was stepping back from the MTV franchise to focus on his mental health in May 2021, one month after he was arrested and released on a $100,000 bond following a domestic violence dispute. He was ultimately not charged with a crime and returned to the show the following August.
Although Sammi told Us that Ronnie is “part of the family too,” she noted that they will “probably not” be friends again. “We’re coworkers. You’re just somebody I dated in my twenties. … He’s working on himself to be a better person, that’s all that matters.”
Season 6B of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation premieres Thursday, August 3, on MTV at 8 p.m. ET.
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With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
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