Sammi 'Sweetheart' Giancola On Seeing Ronnie Ortiz-Magro After 11 Years In Her Jersey Shore Return

In new interviews with People and Variety, Sammi opened up about her return, and revealed what it was like seeing her cast mates -- including Ronnie Ortiz-Magro -- for the first time in over a decade.

As shown in the Season 7 trailer, the 36-year-old can be seen walking through the door, and surprising her shocked former castmates -- Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio, Deena Cortese, and Angelina Pivarnick -- while on a group trip to the mountains.

"It was very nerve-racking," Sammi told People. "It's definitely overwhelming because I haven't talked to anybody in a really long time. I haven't seen anybody in 10 years or however long it was. It's like, 'Are these people going to be the same? Are they different? How did they grow?' I'm like, 'I don't know them anymore. They don't know me. How is it going to be?'"

She added that she and her former co-stars "went our own ways" after the revival show premiered -- and she wasn't on it -- but said there wasn't any drama that went down between them.

"It's hard when people are continuing on a show that you no longer are a part of," Sammi explained. "I definitely stayed in touch after deciding not to come back in the beginning, and then we just lost touch for years. That was a sad part."

Sammi said she realized her castmates were "still the same," aside from the fact that several are now parents.

She revealed to Variety why she waited until now to join the revival series.

"I needed the time to regroup and figure out my own life," she said. "I wasn't in a good head space. I just couldn’t do the show back then. And I'm happy that I’m able to be able to come back and do it now."

"I missed filming all those years," she added. Why not come back and try it again, give it a shot, and see if I like it."

Another big moment in the trailer featured the shocking return of Sammi's ex, Ronnie, who had stepped away from the show in May 2021 to "seek medical treatment for mental health issues that I've ignored for too long."

Fans, of course, watched the former's couple's tumultuous relationship unfold on the original series, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2009 to 2012.

"I probably wouldn't have came back if I knew he was still on the show, honestly," Sammi admitted to People, noting that she hadn't seen Ronnie for 11 years.

"At this point, he's just a guy I dated in my 20's," she told Variety. "We all go through relationships. He’s basically just a co-worker at this point."

Meanwhile, Sammi also shared her thoughts on The Note, which also makes a return this season. If you recall, Snooki and JWoww wrote Sammi a letter in Season 2, in which they informed her of Ronnie's infidelity.

"I'm definitely at a point where I can laugh at it and make a joke out of it. I feel like the note will forever be by my side," she joked to Variety. "I kind of have no choice! It's funny now. A lot of people, I feel like, go through the whole cheating thing, especially in your 20’s. Mine just so happened to be on TV. I went through it all with friendships, cheating, bad relationships. So it’s just kind of funny now to look back and be like, 'What a crazy time in my life.'"

Jersey Shore Family Vacation returns Thursday, August 3rd at 8PM ET/PT on MTV.