One of the Jersey Shore‘s most popular characters is not returning for a fourth season. Nicole “Snookie” Polizzi decided to opt-out MTV’s Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
She made her official announcement on “It’s Happening With Snooki & Joey,” a podcast with Joey Camasta. She started, “There [are] reasons why I’ve come to this decision.” She admits, “It’s definitely a hard decision,” before continuing, “Okay, you guys, I love you so much and don’t hate me for my decision, but I have to do what’s best for me at the moment, and I am retiring from Jersey Shore.”
She reiterates, “I am not coming back to Jersey Shore [Family Vacation] for a season four if there is one. And, there [are] a lot of reasons why, but the main reason is really, I’m just like, I just can’t do it anymore.”
Polizzi, now a parent, is struggling with the hardships of being a mother away from her children. She continues, “I hate being away from the kids. I don’t like partying [for] three days in a row. It’s just not my life anymore. And I wanna be home with the kids. You know, like, I don’t mind a here and there going to a dinner or whatever, but it’s just really hard on me to leave the kids and film the show.”
It seems like the wild, carefree, drama-filled “Snookie” is gone. Polizzi just “[wants] to have a good time.” She says, “I’m putting myself out there, and I just wanna come off as a good person. And lately, on the show, it’s just been very [filled with] drama.”
She wants the cast to be a family, and of recent, that isn’t happening. She continues, “Our show, Jersey Shore, is about family, and about making fun of each other, and having a good time and laughing and just knowing that it’s all in good fun. And lately, it’s just like, everything is so serious. And when it comes to our show, it’s not about, like, ‘Oh, team this [or] team that,’ and then, you know, fans are against each other when it comes to a cast member. It’s just not how the show works, and that’s how it’s becoming. And so for me, it’s just like, I don’t want that, and I’m not leaving my kids for days on end when that’s the result of it. I just don’t like the turnout of it, and I don’t like the person I’m portrayed as.”
It is sad to see Polizzi leave, but her heart is headed in the right direction. The show will miss her greatly, but her kids won’t, and that is more important.