One of the most iconic and combative relationships in the history of the Jersey Shore franchise was the one between Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro.
The couple never appeared to have a middle ground in their relationship. They were either at the highest highs together or the lowest lows.
Their daily interactions with one another set the tone of the day for their housemates which included Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Deena Cortese, Angelina Pivarnick, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio, Angelina Pivarnick, Vinny Guadagnino, and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro.
Ronnie and Sammi’s relationship drama dominated the MTV reality hit during its original six-season run from 2009-2012.
They started dating after Sammi had a brief fling with Mike during her first weeks in the house the group shared, which was located in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. They would briefly break up after the Season 1 reunion special.
By the time Season 2 rolled around the couple was still split, and Ronnie partied as a single man. He would later get back together with Sammi as the cameras rolled in Miami.
His bad behavior included getting several girls’ phone numbers, kissing random women, and returning to Sammi’s bed at the end of the evening. This promoted Jenni and Snooki to write the infamous note, where the spilled all of Ron’s misdeeds anonymously. Their good intentions backfired when Sammi chose Ronnie and had an explosive fight with Jenni and Snooki.
Sammi and Ronnie face-off
During Season 3, the couple’s volatile behavior hit an all-time high and their fights became very uncomfortable to watch. In one particularly graphic fight, Ronnie tried to throw Sammi’s bed out onto the outdoor deck area while she was lying on top of it.
For Season 4, the cast traveled to Italy and the fighting continued between Sammi and Ron, who broke up and reconciled several times throughout the season. At that point their roommates had enough and said many times to one another and in the Jersey Shore confessional that they should break up for good.
They continued to have difficulties communicating
Throughout Seasons 5 and 6, the duo still had difficulties communicating, but by the end of the show’s original run, they reconciled their relationship and planned to move in together.
It wasn’t until late Summer of 2014 that Sammi and Ronnie split for good.
Sammi eventually moved on and fell hard for Christian Biscardi, to whom she is engaged to wed sometime this year.
Ronnie appeared to never really get over Sammi, even after a long relationship with Jenn Harley, with whom he had a daughter Ariana Sky.
He said admitted during the first episode of the rebooted Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, “Once we left the shore house, me and Sam decided we were going to take the next step. And we were getting towards that stage where it was like, I either have to s**t or get off the pot.”
“She gave me a timeline. She was like, I want to get married in six months—and I’m still trying to figure my life out,” he explained. “I got cold feet. I wanted to do the right thing, but there was a part of me that was like, ‘I’m not going to do the right thing.’ So I didn’t do it. I ended up cheating, she found out. I blew it,” he said.
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation will return with the second half of Season 4 beginning June 3 at 8/7c on MTV.
All episodes of Jersey Shore are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.