Ten years after their split, exes Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro come face-to-face again on the upcoming season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. The season 7 trailer that was released January 4 shows the former couple reuniting at the group’s vacation home in New Jersey. “I feel like this is where I belong,” Ronnie says as he walks into the house with his bags.
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino tells the group, minus Ronnie, that Ronnie is finally making his comeback. “I feel like we’ve all known for quite some time that Ron may be coming back,” Mike says, to which Sammi, 36, responds, “Hell no!”
When Ronnie walks into the house, everyone gets up to greet him — except Sammi, who is shown sitting on the couch rolling her eyes. Later in the trailer, Sammi says, “Am I living in a Twilight Zone?,” seemingly in reference to her reunion with her ex. The new season premieres February 8.
Sammi and Ronnie had a tumultuous relationship when the original seasons of Jersey Shore aired from 2009-2012. They broke up for good in 2014 and went on to date other people. Sammi turned down doing Jersey Shore: Family Vacation when the revival series premiered on MTV in 2018. Ronnie left the show in 2021 to get treatment after he was arrested for domestic violence. Sammi officially returned to the series for the second half of season 6 in 2023.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last year, Sammi confirmed that she expected to eventually reunite with Ronnie on camera. “I knew if I was gonna do the show again that he would eventually be there, or there would be a situation where Ron and I would have to work together,” the reality star said. “He’s a part of the family like everybody else, so I look at it more like he’s a coworker and I’m working with him, and he’s just some guy I dated in my 20s.”
Sammi has moved on from her ex and has been in a relationship with Justin May since 2021. Ronnie, meanwhile, has a 5-year-old daughter, Ariana, who he shares with his ex, Jen Harley. Ronnie was awarded sole custody of his daughter in 2023.