MTV’s no-holds-barred reality TV show “Jersey Shore” was an instant sensation when the first season premiered in December 2009. The series followed a group of self-proclaimed hard-partying “guidos” and “guidettes” Italian Americans, mostly from New York or New Jersey as they spent a loud, messy summer together in a Jersey beach house.
With a cast of larger-than-life personalities (Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, and Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio were instant stars) and just the right amount of medium-stakes drama, the show was quickly renewed for a second season. And unlike the casts of other reality-TV shows around the same time (like “The Hills” and “Laguna Beach”), the “Jersey Shore” cast members were largely left to their own devices, with little to no producer involvement or scripted moments.
While there was no shortage of iconic moments throughout the original series’ six-season run, one incident in season two has become the stuff of pop-culture legend: the infamous note to Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola about her boyfriend and fellow cast member Ronnie Ortiz-Magro’s infidelity during nights out at clubs, written by Farley and Polizzi but presented anonymously.
“Sam,” the letter, typed in all caps, begins, “the first night at BED when you left, Ron made out with 2 girls and put his head inbetween a cocktail waitresses breasts. Also was grinding with multiple fat women.”
After detailing another alleged instance of infidelity, the note concludes: “Multiple people in the house know, therefore you should know the truth.”
Jenni shared her side of the story after the episode aired she said Nicole and I decided to write an anonymous letter because we needed Sam to know the truth, but technically we were never there when Ronnie was cheating on her … Angelina always was. We loved both Ron and Sam, but we had a sense of “girl code” that made us feel obligated to tell her the truth. We really didn’t want Sam to find out it was us! We only agreed to tell her [about Ron’s cheating] if we could do it anonymously. During “Jersey Shore,” we were never allowed cellphones, pens, paper, computers, etc., so we were actually hoping that Sam would think it was production, since you’re never allowed any of those things. And we wanted to change up the language so it didn’t sound like either of us. It obviously backfired and created the “note heard around the world,” but that was never our intention. We love Sam and just felt she needed to hear the truth.
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