The sweet life! Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola has come a long way since her Jersey Shore beginnings.
The New Jersey native rose to fame after starring on the MTV reality series from 2009 to 2012. Giancola was best known on the show for her rocky relationship with then-boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, whom she dated on and off for five years.
Their highs and lows were often highlighted on the series, which also starred Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Vinny Guadagnino and Deena Nicole Cortese.
When it came to reuniting with her housemates for the spinoff, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, Giancola opted to distance herself from the MTV show.
“Everyone was invited to come on the show, but Sammi was the only one who didn’t want to. A big reason for that was because she didn’t want to be around Ronnie,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2017. “She has been enjoying her life off of TV and didn’t want to change that.”
While the designer chose to focus on her career aspirations and new relationship with Christian Biscardi, with whom she became Instagram official with in April 2017, she did tune in for its April 2018 premiere.
During the episode, Giancola gave Cortese a shout-out, tweeting, “I love my @DeenaNicoleMTV.” She then “liked” a few shady tweets from fans when they spoke about her ex-boyfriend, including one that read, “Ronnie is literally the last man I would ever associate with on planet earth! @SammiSweetheart is a genius for not getting herself mixed up with that dude again!”
After walking away from the Jersey Shore family, Giancola, who got engaged to Biscardi in March 2019, also decided to distance herself from many of her former pals, a source exclusively told Us in October 2019.
“Some of the cast members have tried reaching out, but she hasn’t responded lately,” the insider said at the time. “They would really like to still be friends.”
Scroll down to see how Giancola has changed since she first appeared on the MTV reality series: