It actually on Thursday night.
At last.
Following weeks’ worth of suspense and over a decade’s worth of not seeing each other, Samantha “Sammi Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro sat down in the same room on the latest episode of Jersey Shore Family Vacation.
The stars, as you likely recall, dated off and on way back when this franchise started.
Then… Ronnie cheated on Sammi, she left the show and recently admitted that it was gonna suck to film with her ex after deciding to make a return.
Cut to Thursday’s installment and Ronnie meeting up with the guys in Nashville, not long after making tearful amends for the way he treated his friends during his substance abuse period.
“The last two years being away was definitely a double-edged sword,” he explained in a confessional, now that he’s clean and sober.
“I was able to focus on myself, doing therapy, parenting classes, AA meetings, a lot of self care.
“But it was hard being away from my family. Now I’m ready to show my roommates I’m becoming a better person.”
Would Sammi care about seeing this new and improved side, however?
“I’m a little nervous to see Sam. We were together for a long time, such long history. Last time we talked it was kind of like, ‘We’re done,’ and that’s it,” Ron added to the camera.
“I think we both have grown. I know I’ve grown, and I’ve matured and I’m hoping me and Sam can have a conversation. We’ll see. I don’t have a plan coming into the house … I’m here to rebuild my relationships with my roommates.
“Me and Sam, we don’t have to be friends, but our history’s so long, there’s going to be that instant feeling of something.”
As for Sammi?
She labeled herself “a ball of emotions” in her own confessional and emphasized how she’s “not looking forward to spending time with this person that has not been a part of my life.”
Her only goal was for them to get to a place where they could “coexist,” stating:
“That’s where it ends. Sam and Ron is from the past.”
From there, the guys went over to the ladies’ rental house and Ronnie gave a sitting Sammi a nod and asked how she was doing.
“It’s so cringe, I’m so embarrassed,” said Snooki of the non-exchange between the exes, as Sammi, back in her own confessional, said she was “being quiet as hell” and didn’t know “where to look” once Ronnie arrived.
“In my head I’m like, get me out of here,” she said, before Vinny called Ron’s arrival the most “awkward moment in Jersey Shore history.”
Jenni, meanwhile, compared the situation to a divorced couple spending the holidays together for the children, despite how much “they f-cking hate each other.”
At dinner that same night, Ronnie and Sammi sat on opposite ends of the table and everyone seemed to be having a blast.
But then Vinny tried to make jokes about Ronnie having been unfaithful and Sammi told him to STFU.
“Vinny’s really ruined it,” she later said in a confessional, toward the end of the episode.
“I have been cool, calm, collected about the whole Ron situation. This is something I don’t take lightly and I feel like I’m gonna explode.”