This was inevitable. “Jersey Shore” producers have officially announced that the upcoming sixth season of Jersey Shore (debuting October 4th) will be its last. Rumors had spread that it would be and the cast was even told going into the shore house this go’ round that it was a very high possibility it’d be their last stay there, but nothing was concrete until this morning. With Snooki now a mother and bride-to-be and The Situation on a sober path, the show already lost the angle it made its popularity from with their two biggest stars. More details on the decision below.
The reason for Shore‘s cancellation goes beyond the size of its audience. The cast leveraged a series of raises over the years that has partly offset the show’s ratings success (their contracts expire at the end of the upcoming season). Moreover, Nicole “Snooki†Polizzi — arguably the show’s most popular castmember along with Mike “The Situation†Sorrentino — just had her first child, putting the show’s hard-living beach party TV fantasy on a crash course with grown-up reality. At one point during the upcoming season, Snooki left the Shore house, having previously cited concerns about whether the set was the proper environment for a mother-to-be. The overall sense has been that, creatively, Jersey Shore has run its course.
The sixth season is not expected to actively portray that the series is coming to close. Before filming began, the cast was informed this might be the show’s final season, but they were not officially told the news until this morning. The show is survived by its two spin-offs, The Pauly D Project and Snooki & JWOWW. Though MTV has not yet announced a verdict on Pauly D Project, the Snooki series was picked up for a second season.
MTV reality executive Chris Linn, who previously told EW that this was “very possibly†the show’s final season, also recently expressed interest in airing a special covering Snooki’s wedding. “I would love to have a Snooki-Jionni wedding,†Linn said. “That could be amazing.â€
