You’ll be hard-pressed to find another show that ruled the 2010s as hard as Jersey Shore did. The show made a long-lasting cultural impact that spans generations.
Over the course of six seasons, running from 2009 until 2012, there are so many memorable moments. “Who wrote the note?” Pauly D’s infamous conversation on the duck phone; the Meatballs’ many drunk escapades. You couldn’t walk anywhere without people saying GTL (gym, tan, laundry), “yeah buddy,” or rocking the iconic Snooki poof and slippers. The show spawned multiple spin-offs, including Jersey Shore Family Vacation, which MTV decided not to renew earlier this year.
With all the craziness and chaos the friend group caused, there is one moment that stands out above the rest.
Snooki Says This Infamous ‘Jersey Shore’ Moment Took Her Years to Get Over
In Season 1, Episode 5 of the show, everyone’s out at the bar drinking and having a good time. A drunk bargoer approaches them, stealing their shots. Snooki notices and decides to call it out. The man starts harassing her. She holds her own, of course, until he punches her in the face. This is when JWoww steps up, throwing punches of her own at him. All of the guys come to her defense, too. While that’s happening, the girls rush to console a crying Snooki. It’s one of the earliest examples showing that they’ve got each other’s backs.
The moment isn’t just unforgettable for fans; it traumatized Snooki for a long time. MTV knew the moment was delicate, so they pulled Snooki for a private conversation to gauge how comfortable she was with them airing the assault. She was the one who chose to black out the punch, which was shown uncensored on the Jersey Shore DVDs.
“The network was very respectful [of] my feelings over it, because that was insane,” she recently told Teenbeat with Danielle Fishel. “It took me two years to get over it because it was so scary.” Backlash caused MTV to pull the clip, with many questioning why it made it to air. The man was arrested for disorderly conduct and assault, fined $500, and served six months of probation for the incident.
At first, she and her castmates weren’t sure what the show was or if it would make it to television. However, she knew her life would never be the same after that episode aired.
“I went to the mall to go shopping, like thinking nothing of it. And I couldn’t walk anywhere,” she recalled. “People were like, ‘Oh my god, you’re that girl.’ There was a line to take pictures. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, is this my life now? I can’t go to my mall now.’”