Say what you want to say about Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, but this girl has got it going on and is not as clueless as it seems. If you live under a rock and don’t know who she is, Snooki is one of eight housemates from the MTV reality series, Jersey Shore, which debuted in August 2009. There was a lot of controversy about the show’s premise since it negatively portrays “Guidos/Guidettes” and encourages those Italian-American stereotypes. Despite that, no one can disagree that this show hit it out of the park. Its third season premiered on January 6, 2011 to record ratings of 8.45 million viewers, making it MTV’s most viewed series telecast ever.
I had actually never watched the show until I saw Snooki as a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres show the day before. She was great! Snooki was hilarious and open, and I was impressed by her because it takes confidence to be yourself, as ridiculous as you may be, on a national show such as Ellen. So, kudos to Snooki.
In fact, at a mere 22-years old, Snooki has already achieved all these things:
1. She published a novel, “A Shore Thing.” OK, so I heard it was #591 on Amazon’s sales charts, but a huge publisher, Simon and Schuster, did accept her book. Not everyone can get their book represented by a big publishing firm.
2. She doesn’t take insults from anyone. Joy Behar (of “The View”) poked fun on both of her shows about the fact that Snooki “wrote” a book. As revenge, Snooki and housemate Jwoww conjured up a pair of Jewish accents and made fun of Joy – calling her an “Italian wannabe” who hates the “Jersey Shore” kids because kids like them ruined her childhood, back during the Great Depression. Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KeOQA6ckB0E
3. She has a slew of licensed products that bear her name, including a jewelry line and a slipper line. Snooki’s now in talks to create a denim, housewares, and beauty line this year.
4. The Jersey Shore cast earns $30,000 per episode. Not too shabby, considering their per-episode pay was $10,000 for Season 2 and just $5,000 for the premiere season. With approximately 10 episodes planned for this season, that’s a cool $300,000 for just being Snooki. Most people have to toil at a 9-5 job they (may) hate and still won’t ever make that much.
So Snooki, I’m in awe of you and now a fan. Seriously.
No Ugly Duckling 