It’s been nearly 15 years since Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was punched by a random bar patron while filming the first season of “Jersey Shore.”
“I woke up and I felt like a victim,” Polizzi reflects in an exclusive interview with Pvnew alongside co-star and BFF Jenni “JWoww” Farley, who chimes in, “You were a victim.”
In the fourth episode, an inexplicably irate man swings at a then-21-year-old Polizzi, knocking her to the ground and prompting most of her castmates to retaliate — including Farley.
“I just needed to protect her that night,” she says, acknowledging the crew’s collective reaction to the headline-making assault at Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights, N.J.
“It … was instinctual where I hit the guy back,” Farley adds.
Though the punch was infuriating, it provided space for the original cast — including Polizzi, Farley, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, Angelina Pivarnick, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio, Vinny Guadagnino and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro — to form a tight family bond that has lasted more than a decade.
“That one was a big one for us,” Farley, now 37, says of the attack on Polizzi, now 35. “Grabbing her and bringing her to the bathroom, that’s when I was like, ‘I really do love this girl’ — from that moment on.”
Recalling Farley’s visceral defense of her, Polizzi marvels, “It was so good.”
Even before sustaining the blow, Polizzi had a feeling that she and Farley would develop a sister-like connection during that first summer filming the MTV reality show.
“I gravitated to her the most, though, out of all the girls because she was a badass and I loved her energy,” the Messy Mawma wine founder says. “So I was like, ‘I like her.'”
Polizzi says her love for Farley was cemented when the latter agreed to skip her normal “G.T.L.” routine — gym, tanning and laundry — to unpack the punch the next morning over margaritas.
“I just felt like I got beat up and I felt not OK, so I was just like, ‘OK, it’s the summertime. Jenni, will you just go and get a margarita with me?’ And usually, she would do G.T.L.,” Polizzi recalls.
“She wouldn’t go to the boardwalk that early with me, but she got a drink with me. … It was crazy. Half my cheek was swollen. I looked like a chipmunk.”
Still, Polizzi asserts she is “glad [she] got punched” because it forced the cast to grow closer — even though “at the time, it was terrifying.”
Farley tells us that MTV was willing to scrap the scene if Polizzi felt it was too painful to relive.
“Originally, they weren’t even going to show it because it was such a controversial subject of the time,” she says. “I loved how MTV respected whatever decision you were going to go with.”
Polizzi — who now stars on the “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” reboot with Farley — eventually gave higher-ups at the network the green light.
“They asked me if it was OK to be shown and I was like, ‘It’s fine. It happened, whatever.’ I wanted everyone to see what actually went down,” she says.
“Also, I feel like everyone wanted to tune into the show because of that. They were like, ‘Oh my God, this little girl got punched in a bar … for no reason. We kinda want to see it.'”
“Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” Season 6B premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.
