'Jersey Shore' Behind-the-Scenes Secrets

The Situation Took His Shirt Off Immediately During His Audition

Executive producer SallyAnn Salsano told Vulture during an incredible must-read oral history of Jersey Shore that Mike walked into his interview and said, "Okay, let me just take my shirt off first." He then went ahead and added, "Enough said, right?"

I mean, yep.

Snooki Did Her Audition Drunk

As she revealed on Live With Kelly and Ryan in 2018, "I saw a thing on Facebook. I always wanted to go on Real World, I always wanted to be a reality star. Then I saw Guidos and Guidettes, and was like, 'That's me!' I went to the audition wasted. I needed liquid courage, so I did it."

They Almost Cast a Dude Named 'Joey Fist Pumps'

Casting director Doron Ofir told Vulture, "At one point, there was a guy named 'Joey Fist Pumps' in the mix." Tragically, he couldn't be hired due to being "a union contractor."

As for how he got his nickname, I mean duh: He was known for his fist pumps, to the point where "girls wore Joey Fist Pumps T-shirts when they walked around him."

*To be clear, Joey Fist Pumps is not Goofy, there just isn't a photo of this legend (which is a CRIME).

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The Show Was Nearly Recast After the First Season

Did you gasp when you read that? Because I did.

According to the New York Post, production assembled an entirely new cast ahead of the show's second season. Luckily, they ultimately chose to stick with the originals (with Deena joining towards the end of season two), and every bone in my body is so grateful for that decision.

It Was Supposed to Be a Competition Show

According to The Hollywood Reporter, SallyAnn was originally hired to develop an all-male competition show called Guidos. Truly feels like a crime to even imagine this show without Snooki and JWoww.

Angelina Legitimately Showed Up With Her Stuff in Garbage Bags

To be fair, she didn't have any notice, so she "literally just took [her] stuff and threw all of it in garbage bags" before driving to Seaside.

"I'll never live that one down, but hey," she told Vulture.

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The Show Almost Got Cancelled??

While the cast eventually got so famous that they were starring in commercials of their own (I respect the hustle), some companies reportedly wanted nothing to do with the show—especially when it was still titled Guidos—for fear of alienating Italian-American groups. "[We were afraid the] show was going to get pulled," SallyAnn told the New York Post." Advertisers were pulling out. Domino's [Pizza] pulled out. It wasn't like we were out to ruin the guido. We're celebrating it."

Pauly D ~Committed~ in His Casting Tape

In a twist that absolutely everyone saw coming, Pauly D sent in a "self-produced" casting tape that was oozing with nods to New Jersey's finest. It was so detailed that he had Rocky playing in the background on the TV set. He had the Italian flag and a picture of a Ferrari and Tony Soprano on the wall," Doron told the New York Post. "Once we saw that, it was like: 'What do we do with this guy?'"

But Then He Almost Didn't Do the Show

During the casting process, Pauly D said producers filmed a "day in the life" video with him and then essentially ghosted him for six months—until they didn't. "I get a phone call and they're like, 'Can you pack for 30 days?'" he said on the Full Send podcast. "I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to lose my DJ gigs. I was DJing six nights a week at these local Rhode Island bars." He also added that once filming was over, he didn't hear anything about the show's status until he heard his own voice on a commercial while he was doing his hair. Of course.

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The House Had 42 Cameras Inside

"The sheer amount of footage we shot on this show is unprecedented," SallyAnn told Vulture.

They Also Lined the Boardwalk With Cameras

SallyAnn's not kidding. On top of the house and Shore Store being filled with cameras, producers placed recording devices "up and down the boardwalk" and "wired the entire town."

Production Had a Back-Up House Next Door

Viewers might remember a pregnant Snooki moving into a house next door during the show's final season. Turns out production always maintained a second home for the cast. Why? SallyAnn told Entertainment Weekly that the back-up house was reserved for "meltdowns" that required cast members to be separated from each other.

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Snooki Got Bronzer All Over Her Paperwork

According to Doron, Snooki's penchant for bronzer was well underway during the casting process. "She had bronzer all over herself," he told the New York Post. "When she filled out the release, it was covered in orange fingerprints."

If someone hasn't framed this paperwork and put it in MTV's headquarters, idek what to say.

There Is No Script Whatsoever

I mean, who needs a script when people are this naturally entertaining? As Pauly D confirmed to Bustle, "We don't have a script. Never had a script for 10 years, not even a little bit… not even a little bit."

But They Do Have ~The Book~

Pauly added, "The only thing we have is a book that tells us the places that we're allowed to film. We tell the producers where we wanna go, we can't go alone, that's it."

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The Duck Phone Wasn't Planned

SallyAnn told Vulture that she didn't want to leave the iconic phone in the show, but it accidentally stayed in the house. As she put it, "The show started and I'm like, 'Oh my God, we left that duck phone in there.' Now the duck phone is the national symbol of Jersey Shore." I have no complaints...

A Season Films in Just Under Two Months...

In case you were wondering, The Hollywood Reporter reports (heh) that Jersey Shore's shoots run 30 to 50 days per season.

And They Film 600 Hours for Every Hour Shown

Pauly also confirmed this nugget of info, telling Bustle, "People go home, sometimes they relax on the couch and watch TV. We do that, but they're not gonna show that, it's not good television ... They film 600 hours for an hour of TV time." Umm...

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Vinny Did Not Think He Was a Guido

"The application called for the biggest, muscly, orange-skin, spiky-hair guidos in the area. I took offense to that. I look nothing like that," he told the New York Post. "So I filled out the application almost as a joke." According to SallyAnn, though, the joke was on him. "Vinny's casting tape was like, 'I’m not a guido'— and I'm like, 'You're the biggest guido.' There are different types."

Deena Was Almost an OG

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Deena was one of a dozen final candidates production was considering for the first season of the show. She ultimately decided to drop out of the audition process when she learned her grandmother was sick.

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