When most people think of the cast members of Jersey Shore, they think of the main “guidos” who have the most followers on Twitter, a.k.a. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. When State Theatre announced the cast of Jersey Shore would be coming to Starkville Saturday, people thought at least the two most famous ones would appear. However, rumors circulated and different names were brought to the forefront of conversation, such as Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and Pauly DelVecchio. However, it was a mystery and no one knew exactly who would would make an appearance.
Drew Cleek, part owner of State Theatre, said originally, the cast members who were supposed to make the appearance were Vinny Guadagnino, Pauly and Ronnie on March 5. MTV ended up taking that date for the Jersey Shore reunion show, and State Theatre had to reschedule. The only date available was March 26, and Pauly was already booked for that time. Therefore, another cast member, Angelina Pivarnick, was added to the mix. Two weeks before the event, Ronnie said he would not be able to attend. However, throughout the entire scramble, Vinny remained the only consistent cast member and the only one to show up after Angelina missed two flights into Memphis.
Ashley Washington, sophomore majoring in English, said, “I was just pretty much disappointed by the whole event. On State Theatre’s website, they had an advertisement for the Jersey Shore party with a picture of the whole cast. When we bought tickets, they told us that at least three cast members would be present, which obviously was not true.”
People paid a $30 cover charge to enter State Theatre and a large number of people bought higher-priced V.I.P. tickets to party on the same stage as whichever cast members showed up. Some patrons were sorely disappointed when they saw it was only Vinny, but most of the audience went wild when he walked in. Camera flashes filled the room and almost everyone cheered. It was a very divided house at State Theatre. People did not know whether to be excited to at least see one of them or disappointed there was not more cast members.
Angelina was scheduled to Skype in on State Theatre’s main screen to say hello, but she missed that as well. Vinny, despite being sick, came on stage, said “hello” to the crowd, and did the customary “fist pump” that is so common on the show. He only posed for pictures and talked to a few people but that was the extent of his mingling. He told people he enjoyed Mississippi and that we were some of the nicest people he has been around. He was all around impressed with Starkville.