So yeah … THAT happened on Jersey Shore.
Following weeks of celebrity gossip articles on the epic melee between Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and Jen Harley, MTV at last aired the epic fight.
And that’s exactly what it was: EPIC.
Ronnie fought through tears at various points while discussing his relationship with Harley, who gave birth to the contentious couple’s daughter in early April.
Because the muscle-bound reality star feared that Jen would take Ariana away from him, he met with a lawyer at one point.
Ortiz-Magro then returned to his hotel room in preparation for an argument with Harley over their failing romance.
And an argument is exactly what ensued.
Harley burst into the room and started screaming at Ronnie for calling her a “slut” and “whore” — and then she spit on him.
Eventually, security had to step in.
The episode concluded with Harley saying, “I’ll go to jail.”
(NOTE: Harley did go to jail. Here’s her mug shot!)
Also at one point during the episode, SallyAnn Salsano, the executive producer who has worked on the show since the very beginning, actually stepped in comfort Ronnie.
This almost never happens.
A producer appearing on the show they’re producing?
Breaking what is known on TV as the "fourth wall?"
It was certainly the first time Salsano had taken such an extreme step and she subsequently explained her reasoning to Us Weekly.
“We always try to avoid it. I know there are other shows that try to go for it a little more and I think there’s always reasons as to why it happens."
"In this case, it really wasn’t a thought-out process."
"It was a reaction to what you do when a friend or someone you love is going through something," she told the publication.
Salsano does not plan on doing this again.
She tells the aforementioned tabloid that she “hated” being on camera, yet she knew it had to be done in this extreme case:
"I get it, I’m a producer. They are people that are on my TV show. The truth of the matter is that we have relationships with these guys."
"We’ve known them for so long," she said. "It wasn’t a typical episode. It wasn’t a typical thing that we normally deal with."
"This is someone you love going through something completely unexpected, out of the ordinary, and you know, we all look to each other for guidance."
Getting more personal than we expected, Salsano continued, speaking of the Jersey Shore cast as follows:
"There have been times in my personal life where I’ve leaned on those guys. And this was a time where, I think, Ronnie needed to lean on us.
"I think honestly, as a human, I don’t know if there was another way to do it. As a producer, there’s always other ways to do it.
"But as a person who genuinely cares about these people and loves this cast, there was not an option."
Was this the most explosive thing to ever happen on the series?
Without a doubt, yes, she says.
In the preview for next week’s installment, Ronnie explains to his roommates that the police arrived and told him this was “domestic violence."
“Now Jen is going to have a warrant out for her arrest,” he says.
When it comes to the legality of the situation, “you’ll see it handled with total kid gloves,” Salsano said, concluding in her interview:
“Things played out in the press. That was a big part of the conversation. It’s already out there.”