Redeem now - "Jersey Shore" star Deena Buckner opened up about the cast's reactions to Ronnie Ortiz-Magro's return.
- Buckner (née Cortese) said she didn't want her kids around Ortiz-Magro.
- According to Buckner, it was easier to welcome Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola back than Ortiz-Magro.
Deena Buckner (née Cortese), best known as one half of the fun-loving "Meatballs" on "Jersey Shore," opened up about why she was initially hesitant to have former castmember Ronnie Ortiz-Magro back on the show.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Ortiz-Magro finally returns on Thursday's episode of "Family Vacation," his first time back since departing the series amid a slew of controversies, including a domestic-violence arrest, in 2021. As shown on the episode, he has an emotional conversation with most of the cast members, excluding his ex Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola. He apologizes for his actions and expresses that he wants to make amends.
In a confessional on the episode, Buckner reveals that she isn't sure whether she's ready to see Ortiz-Magro again. The mom of two reflected on the intense moment in a July interview with Insider ahead of the season six premiere.
"We said a lot of things that we haven't wanted to say to him over text or in person," Buckner told Insider of seeing Ortiz-Magro again.
According to Bucker, Ortiz-Magro's return was "harder of a transition" for the rest cast than when Giancola rejoined the show earlier this season, especially given his controversial behavior outside of the reality series.
"There was just a lot of things that he did that all of us roommates didn't agree with, and we really just didn't wanna be around that," Buckner told Insider.
"He says he bettered himself, but we've heard that before," she said of Ortiz-Magro. "It really had nothing to do with like, sobriety because Mike [Sorrentino] has been through sobriety and... he's so great."
According to Buckner, Ortiz-Magro was slow to take accountability for his "volatile" past behavior before he left in 2021.
"He would come onto the show and pretend like none of it ever happened and we're like, 'This just isn't okay... this is just too much now.' We don't want ourselves around it, we don't want the kids around it. We didn't condone it," Buckner said.
"So him coming back I think was definitely a bigger issue than Sam coming back," she added.
Ortiz-Magro and Giancola famously dated on-and-off for most of the original show's run, finally ending things for good in 2014.
Ahead of Giancola's return earlier this season, Buckner and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino shared their initial reactions with Insider.
"I was definitely very shocked when I saw Sammi. I thought that was the last thing that we'd ever see," Sorrentino revealed
Buckner, for her part, said she was just "really excited" to have Giancola back on the show.
"When I saw her walk through the door, I was just happy. There was no animosity," Buckner shared. "I was just so excited that she finally decided to come back, I didn't care how she wound up coming back."
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