November 30, 2020 • 41 mins
Wells has gotten himself into a “Situation”!
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and his wife Lauren open up about life on and off The Jersey Shore. They get real about Mike’s time in prison, their challenges with addiction and the work they’re doing to help others reclaim their lives.
But, The Situation is much more than just Jersey Shore! Wells goes way back to find out what his life was like before the fame and before the abs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In a sandwich and I got something in my teeth
and I just can't get it out. I don't have time,
so let's just do the whole thing with it in
the teeth. Let's do it. Roll it. This is the
Wells Cast with Wells Atoms and I heart radio podcast.
What's going on? Myself? A delicious salami sandwich, and I
(00:28):
gotta say salamie is my favorite of all the lunch meats,
which I guess it's appropriate for me to say that
considering our our guests today, who's very Italian Italian, I
made some good freaking soup last night. I'm still go
ahead and say it, guys, big soup guy over here,
everyone's forgetting about soup. You can't forget about soup. It's delicious,
(00:51):
pretty easy to make. You throw a bunch of stuff
into a pot, throwing some stock or some water, bing
bang boom. You got soup. And let's be fair. Soup
is a great delivery man for grilled cheeses or bread's,
buttered bread's. Obviously, I'm hungry, super pumped about the episode today,
and I'll tell you why. This guy and his lady
have a crazy story. We got a caplefor you. This
(01:14):
dude was born on Staten Island, raised in Jersey. Do
you already know where we're going with that? Yeah, he
got a nickname that's stuck with him for the past
I don't know, like fifteen years after a girl commented
on his abs, which no one's ever done for me,
which is fine. He was on a reality TV show
that ran from two thousand nine and two thousand twelve,
one of the most popular shows on MTV and now
(01:36):
it is back. But he's also been on Marriage boot Camp,
Worst Cooks in America, Dancing with Stars, Relicious goes On,
and on YO. Today on the Wells Cast, we have
the situation and his beautiful wife missed the situation. This
is me trying to do an Italian accent. This is
a Portuguese kid trying to do an Italian accent? Howes
it sound? Mike and Lauren Sarantino on the Wells Cast.
(02:02):
This is gonna be a good one. Play that stupid
little cool. Very excited to have these two on the
Wells Cast today. It's Mike and Lauren Sorentino. Do you
go by Mr and Mrs? Situation? Though we do it
(02:25):
kind of Yeah, it's pretty legendary names, so we kind
of like stick with like made us or made me. Yeah, Mike,
I get that you would embrace it because it's, I guess,
been such a part of your identity for so long.
But I feel like Lauren would be like, I don't know,
I don't know if I want this. She didn't want
(02:45):
to for a long time. It took a while of convincing.
I definitely fought against it for a while, but I
embrace it in our in our TV land life exactly.
It's a part of branding though, because when you mentioned
Mr or ms this situation, there is no other person
or a couple that you think of besides the two
(03:05):
that you're talking to now, So it's a bit of
strategy as well. I mean, yeah, obviously, can you tell
the story real quick of how you got the nickname? Oh? Yes,
I was in college. I was probably uh or late
late in college. I was twenties six years old, and
I was trying to be a fitness model at the time,
(03:25):
and I was going to go seas in New York
City and I was just unbelievably shredded naturally, and I
was at a club celebrating me getting signed to a
fitness agency. Nothing crazy. Probably I was going to be
doing J. C. Penniads for the rest of my life,
and I was just so happy about it. And I
was at a club in New Jersey fist pumping the
night away, and I was just extremely shredded. I was
(03:48):
probably also on a water protocol, which means that you
dry yourself out with uh, you know, water tricks. And
a couple walked by holding hands and she said, Oh
my god, honey, look at that right there. My buddies
were like, wow, that's usually something you don't see every day.
And you don't see a wife or or or a
girlfriend a significant other pointing out another mail in front
(04:11):
of her her mail. And my buddies were like, wow,
that that right there was a situation, and it clicked
on my head, like wow, that's a pretty cool little saying.
I'm like, no, this is the situation, and I pointed
to my abs and a couple of weeks later, I
had an interview with MTV. They asked me what my
nickname was, and I didn't think mikey Apps was a
good nickname, so I came up with a situation. It's
(04:33):
like the real life version of that meme of the
guy looking over his shoulder being like, oh yeah, that's
that's exactly what happened, and I ran with it. I mean,
congratulation guys. Season four of Jersey Shore Family Vacation back
on MTV. Do you think the show will ever end? Um?
I mean, I'm sure everything has the beginning and everything
(04:54):
has an end. But because of where the show is
right now. We were in our twenties filming Jersey Shore
and that's about partying, and now this is Jersey Shore
Family Vacation, and that's more of the trajectory. Where we're
at now in our thirties, people are, you know, getting married,
people are having kids, some are getting divorced. So I
feel like definitely can go on for quite some time.
Pauli needs to get married, Vinnie needs to get married,
(05:16):
um j wow, who knows, maybe needs to get remarried.
I don't know. Angelina might need a divorce, who knows.
But um, I think there's plenty of events to happen
on that particular series. What has been more fun? Was
it more fun doing the show when you were younger
or now as kind of like a mature, settled down adult.
I do like your your questions, very deep questions. I'd
(05:39):
have to say now they're more rewarding because the money
that I'm making now, it's it's going towards building a family,
building a future, building a brand. Back then, when I
was in my twenties, I didn't know what I was doing,
you know what I mean. I was a multimillionaire on
a number one showing MTV buying Lamborghinis and Ferraris, which
(06:00):
was a monster, monster mistake. Um giving money out to
every family member that I that I even had. I mean,
you just you just can't make this up. And UM,
I'm just more mature now and experience to handle the fame,
hander handle the pressure and excel in this in this
entertainment field. All that came at a cost. Right. He
(06:21):
had ended up forcing you into prison. I realize you
probably don't want to talk about it, and it's been
beaten to death, but I do want to know. Is
prison what I think prison is like? Or is prison
not what I think prison is like? It's not what
you think, for sure. I was there every Friday for
eight months, so definite. But to his credits, it's it's
(06:43):
a lot, a lot of it's in your own mind
um and human beings don't like change, and you come
up with these preconceived notions in your brain on the
way to prison that you're about to get jumped. Um.
You know, the food actually is horrible and conditions are
not very good, but it's definitely something that you can survive.
(07:04):
So it's it's a good learned lesson that if you
can survive prison, you can survive anything. But at also
at the same time knowing that, you know, sometimes you
create fear in your own brain that doesn't even exist. Yeah.
I often wonder if, like our society has created more
fear of prison for the reason of helping people really
(07:25):
not want to go there. Last question on prison conjugal visits,
Is that a real thing or not? Actually I was
hoping there was conjugal visits, but when I got there
in federal prison, I don't think there was. I think
I think in jails or maybe county jails or things
like that, there there might be, but I can't believe
they would be at county jails allowed because that's where
(07:48):
when you think prison, like when you think the scary
thoughts and like what what society conditioned you to think?
It's more like a County Jail where he went was
a different prison. It's prison, and it was a federal prison,
so it was very different. But yeah, they didn't have contables.
And also, anybody that's listening right now, which I'm sure
(08:09):
there's millions of subscribers and fans, do not you do
not want to go to prison hashtag pay your taxes, okay,
because I'm telling you a lot of people didn't do
well in there. There was people staring at the wall.
You have to be mentally tough. You have to make
your own schedule. You have to know that you know
that you have faith in yourself and faith in your God,
that you're gonna get through it or actually you won't
(08:31):
you And obviously you're a very fit guy, hence the nickname.
Was it hard like keeping up that regiment in there,
or were you just like, screw it. When I get out,
I'll tighten it back up. No, I actually lost forty
pounds in prison. I had gained a lot of weight
on the way to prison because I knew that I
was not going to be eating good food. Hence, um,
(08:53):
you know, the nickname Big Daddy Sitch came in the
early seasons of Jersey Shore family vacation because I did
not have six pack. I was on my way to prison.
So it was pretty much, you know what, I'm already
going to prison. I might as well live my best
life with as many fun fetty cupcakes as possible because
I'm not gonna get that in prison. Um. And then
once I got to prison, I would work out twice
(09:13):
a day intermittent fasting. Uh. And I got in the
best shape of my life. Um. You know obviously also
remains sober as well. So it's just all what you do,
you know what your time? Are you more famous out
of prison or in prison? I imagine like you would
have a lot of fans in there. Uh. Actually they did.
They did love the situation. But I would have had
a problem if they didn't, because if someone doesn't like
(09:37):
you in prison, whether it's a good prison, a light prison,
a high end prison, you're not gonna get good food,
you may get into fights, you may get sent to
solitary confinements. Um. So I was lucky that they did
like me. But then again they also did like Michael
Cohen who came into prison too, and he was also
famous too for being the President's lawyer. So yeah, and
(10:00):
like when I would have visited him on Fridays, it
was not far off from one like we would be
out in public, you know what I mean, because everyone
was such a fan and in the visiting room it's
family members, so you know, constantly like the wives, the kids,
this one that one, like, it was like I was
still trying to like have privacy with him even though
he was there, so that it was nice though that
(10:22):
they were all supportive of each other there, So that was. Yeah,
the conditions weren't good, but you can probably compare it
to Oranges of New Black with famous people in it. Yeah,
pretty much. That was pretty fun. On the show of it, Lauren,
I gotta wonder do you like being a part of
this weird, crazy reality TV show? She didn't like it
for a while. Yeah, yeah, so I guess I guess
(10:43):
why didn't you like it for a while? And like
what turned the tide for you? So I was uncomfortable.
My biggest struggle in the beginning was not having privacy
in real life and being at like a convenience store
and people just not having the decency to like excuse
themselves or politely interrupt a conversation. They just like immediately
(11:06):
get in your face, and it's like, I call it
the fame glade, you know what I mean, Like they
just see a famous person and it's like, oh, like
they gotta be involved, they gotta talk, They got to
talk about how they can relate to them. And it
took me a while to adjust to that and realize,
like that's how we're able to do what we do,
and they love us and they were just supporting us.
So it was just a weird transition for me to
(11:29):
get used to that kind of behavior because I feel
like I was more of a private person. But I
think because of how strong our relationship is, I have
gotten comfortable in sharing like everything we do authentically. So
by me sharing like my personal stuff with the show
and some things that people wouldn't be comfortable with, like,
(11:49):
it made his fan base and those supporters like rally
behind me at the same time. So it was it
was a struggle at first, but I found my way.
How many seasons of reality have you filmed in Jersey
Shore alone? We're coming up to a hundred and almost
a hundred and fifty episodes. I know it was seventy
one episodes of Jersey Shore and we're just about to
(12:10):
hit another seventy one of of Jersey Shore Family Education,
so we're coming close to like syndication, which I think
is close. Is that two hundred? I think? But then
there's other TV shows that we've done for for we TV,
and other other shows and stuff Dancing with the Stars, um,
Family boot Camp, Marriage boot Camp, UM. I don't want
(12:32):
to miss anybody some shows for TLC as well. So well, yeah,
I've done well, I haven't done as many shows as you,
but I've done a bunch. And I think what happens,
like the more and more you do it, the more
you start putting your producer hat on. And I wonder
if that's the case for you, where you're like, yeah, okay,
that's a good bit, But like what if we did
it like this way? Like do you guys do that
(12:53):
on your show? Uh? That happens sometimes where I'm a
little bit more like laid back where I'll let them
do uh their job, but if they become like really amateurish,
I'll have to step in and pull my weight a
little bit and say, listen, that's that's not a good idea.
We're not doing that, you know what I mean? We've
been We've been doing this for eleven years now. So, um,
(13:14):
I'm very grateful and blessed that we have some really
experienced producers on Jersey Shore Family Vacation, But we are
are quick judge when we come across anybody in that
business that is just not up to part. Yeah, it's
always tough when someone there's always something like bright eyed, bushytail,
new guy or girl, and you're like, all right, hold on,
you're pushing some browndaries. You're asking us to do some
(13:36):
things that we're probably not really cool with. Yeah. Do
you ever get annoyed with your edit? I really don't
get annoyed with the edit. Maybe when I was younger, um,
and I did some really crazy stuff, I would be like, oh, man,
like there's a conspiracy theory against me. But now that
I'm older and more wiser and more mature, I'm like,
(13:57):
I understand the accountability aspect of everything. You know. I
signed onto this job, you know, eleven years ago to
do reality TV. I feel on one of the top
in the business, and I usually, uh, my motto is
being genuine and authentic, and that usually works. At the
same time, if you're not being a good person, and
(14:17):
you're lying and you're cheating and doing all these things
on TV, You're gonna get a bed edit because your actions,
you know, reflect that. But when you're like five years
clean and sober, like me, I work for multiple rehabs.
Me and my wife have a very healthy relationship. We
just celebrated out our second wedding anniversary. We kind of
live a life of integrity, peace and percos. So I'm
(14:40):
very excited about this whole series of Jersey Shore Flaming
in Vacation because it's been like a whole comebacks, uh
you know series for me. I come across it a
lot where people get very angry and upset about how
they're portrayed on the show, and they're upset with their edit.
And it's the same thing of like generally when you
have those feelings is you you're not very self aware
(15:01):
of who you really are, or you're trying to be
something that you're really not. It takes a while, but
after a few seasons people start to realize that there
are some flaws and then actually helps them grow in
a way. And I it seems like that's kind of
what's happened to you, is that you had to go
through a bunch of hip to get to this like
(15:21):
really wonderful place, which is which is nice. And I
guess I was going to ask, like, what's the greatest
thing that's come out of all of this for both
of you guys. I mean for me, which is very
ironic to be on a show called jerrysy Shore and
be sober, but probably me becoming sober because this has
opened up so many doors for me. I've become a
man that I could only dream that I, you know,
(15:42):
could be, and that has made me excel in in
all aspects of business, my job, my personal life with
my wife, relationships with family, any boundaries I need to
put up. I've learned so much over the past couple
of years, just from, like you said, some of the
mistakes that I've made. But again, like you said, everything
happens for a reason in life, and sometimes you gotta
(16:03):
walk through the weeds to get to the flowers. Yeah,
And I think for me, a lot of my growth
and appreciation through this whole everything we've shared has really
been sharing, like not only the most amazing and high
parts of our life, like our wedding and our engagement,
but like sharing like the moments when he wants to prison,
(16:23):
like right when he came home, through different kind of
struggles we've gone through in our own marriage, and by
sharing like those times, it kind of helped me go
through it like kind of cathartically and heal. And so
many people have reached out that it's helped and it's
touched by like sharing their own story that they could
relate to. So I feel like the show has really
(16:46):
brought so much healing to me in that sense. It
also keeps us accountable too. You know, you're going through
some serious life events and you know there's a microscope
on you, and you know everyone's watching. Even if you
want to make a mistake, sometimes you just can't and
you have to just you know, grin embarry because when
there's a camera on you and you're dealing with real
life events you know we've dealt with um, you know, prison, recovery,
(17:11):
our wedding, friendship and stuff like that on camera, you
have to hold yourself to a very high standard because
if you don't, then, like you said, you have friends
out there that watch their edit and they're like, oh
my god, I'm unhappy with the edit. Yeah, because you
didn't hold yourself to a higher standard and your behavior
reflects that. But then producers are like, hey, guys, this
(17:33):
is not interesting. Yeah, yeah, you should see my wife
when a producer comes up to her and they're like, yeah,
we think that you might want to do this. My
wife's like like hell now. But that's the thing about
Jersey Shore is about of us. When a producer comes
up with an idea that is not something we would do,
(17:53):
suck off and one cast member that will do whatever
they say. I think we all know who that is.
It's crazy that it's the most popular show and MTV,
isn't it. Yes, yep, yep, I mean that's says something.
There's a lot of shows on that network, but for
you guys to still be at the top after all
(18:14):
this time, it just goes to show you that obviously,
like the proofs in the pudding, but for the most part,
people are in love with the characters and seeing that growth,
and so that must be a really nice thing to see.
Like America doesn't really care about a bunch of crazy
kids getting wasted every week. They care about watching our growth,
(18:34):
which when I look at the news, I'm never really uh,
I'm always shocked at like Americans and what they like
and what they don't like. But for you guys, it's
proof that there are good people out there that like
to see wonderful stories and and human growth. Yeah, yeah,
we're so excited. Usually Jersey Shore is uh, it's obviously
on Thursday nights. Usually we're number one on a Thursday night.
(18:55):
So we're very grateful and very blessed to still be
at the top of the game eleven years later. And also,
I gotta give props to a lot of the cast
and crew, especially the cast, the dynamic of everyone. They
are really good at their job. They're not really telling
us what to say. These guys are coming up with
jokes and pranks and and and like these little funny
(19:15):
memes like on the spot. So you know, I gotta
give everyone credit. You're on Worst Cooks in America. I
was yes, did you win? No? No, I came third.
I came third. Yoke. Well, I don't know if anyone
told you, but I won this last season. So no
big deal. All right? That that show right there is
not an easy show to do, and I've done a
lot of shows. Dancing with the Stars was also not
(19:37):
an easy show. But there's a lot of pressure on
that show Worst Cooks to perform. The way that you
cut things, the the the materials and things that you use,
it's it's like the next level. Yeah. Yeah. They never
gave me a trophy, so my fiance made one recently
and gave it to me for my anniversary. It's the
(19:57):
only trophy I have of anything to you man needs.
You can definitely cook, which is definitely a skill. It's
definitely a good thing. I came in third. I feel
that I should have came in second. But if you're
if you're not first or last, Yeah, exactly. Is there
anything else you guys want to promote before we kind
of pivot to the other portion of the show. Well,
I'm going to talk to the boss over here, which
we just launched a nutritional line, so you tell him
(20:20):
about Yeah. So he just launched Grotriction, which is his
first supplement company. It has groteine, which is his very
and we have chocolate and vanilla, but we also have
signature fun petty flavor which is amazing exactly, and he
has a grenade pre workout. Yeah, and then he has
(20:43):
a fat burner called ABS. So yeah, we're really excited
he's been working on like the formulations all year. I
helped him like research everything to make sure it had
no like craft and filler in it. So we're really
proud to launch it. And it just came out and
today there's a special discount code if they go to
the Grotrician official Instagram page. Yes it is hunting, Yes,
(21:06):
exactly as you can see. Guys, happy wife is a
happy life. So that's the boss right there. Do you
still have your workout app? I remember that being a thing. Yeah, No,
I I have all that stuff I have. We have
like ten years of bad decisions on file in a box.
(21:27):
But now I was very blessed early on in my
career to um to get hit up by everyone. I
actually a little know. In fact, I got hit up
by actually Lamborghini to do an endorsement early on in
my career, and being as smart as I was back then,
I felt that they were trying to get one over
on me, and they was they weren't paying me enough.
But that goes to show you guys. Uh, you know,
(21:50):
when you're young and dumb, sometimes you don't make the
best decisions. But we're now moved on from that and
wiser mature. Tell everyone again the website of the promo
that's going on for the nutrition line. So the website
is Brotrician dot com and the special discount code for
today only is Jursday exactly. Love it quick, breat we
(22:12):
come back. We're gonna get into the nuts and bolts
of this show, which is Origin Stories. I'm gonna make you, guys,
tell everyone out there where the hell you came from
and how the hell you got here? Are you ready
for that? Yeah? We got a situation. Welcome back to
(22:35):
the Welles cast, Mike Lauren, Thank you guys so much
for sticking with me and chatting. I don't even know
if anyone ever told you what the mission statement of
this show is, but I'm really interested in origin stories.
I'm fascinated with how people became successful, and a lot
of the listeners out there like to use this as
a blueprint for their own lives. So I don't really
care so much that, like, you guys are rich and famous, now,
(22:58):
I want to know how the hell you got to
this point. I love doing couples because we can really
kind of bust through it really quickly, and then at
some point their stories collide so we'll do ladies first. Lauren,
where did you come from? Tell us about your life? Okay,
So I was born in uh while I was raised
in Homeville, New Jersey all my life, which is where
we live now. So it's full circle. And yeah, I
(23:22):
was raised in an Italian American family. I went to
college for fashion. I was very, very motivated and driven.
I'm a Capricorn. I think that's like one of my
strongest traits. I worked my ass off since I was
allowed to legally work, and I commuted through college to
the city. I worked in the city. I got my
dream job, being a fashion buyer for sax Fifth Avenue.
(23:45):
By the time, I was early twenties and I was
doing all that while he was um becoming famous. I'm
Jersey sure. So when people would ask me, like, aren't
you embarrassed that's your ex boyfriend, I was like, I'm working,
like I have no time for anything. I was just hustling.
And I was so proud of him that he found
(24:06):
success because if anybody knew us during our relationship, we
were madly in love, but we were both young and
like had no plan, Like I loved fashion, wanted to
go to the city, and he worked out and like
drank protein shakes and you know what I mean. Like,
other than that, like we really didn't have a plan.
So like when he became over and famous, I didn't
(24:27):
really care what he was doing because he wasn't my boyfriend.
I was just happy he found success. So long story short,
Then I moved back to New Jersey. I ran into
Mike kickboxing had a kick boxing gym in what years
at two thousand twelve or two, And then that was
(24:50):
in like NY or March of two thousand and thirteen,
and it was the first time we ran into each
other since we had seen each other years ago, and
I I was saying Bill again and so was he,
and Jersey Shore was over, so there was never that
thing of the show having to come between us, because
he would call me when the show was on air
and I'd be like, no, I'm not going to be
(25:11):
the girlfriend at home. Yeah, baby, I'm gonna fly you
out and you're gonna be in the best hotel in
bloom Service and I got you. I'm going to send
a car and a flight for you, and she would
just refuse every time. Yeah. So then once it was
like all over said and done, the stars aligned. We
ran into each other at a kickboxing gym, and then
literally from that day onward, we were just together forever. Okay,
(25:36):
so you guys were what high school sweethearts? College? What
was Mike like in college? And Mike? What was Lauren
like in college? Oh? In college, Mike was very charismatic,
very charming, very in shape, and so the same the same.
(25:57):
It was exactly the same pretty much. Uh. And my
wife was she was adorable and she was like this
really like small, like petites, beautiful blonde with blue eyes
that I was just fell in love with the first
time I met her in math class in Brookdale Community
College in New Jersey, And believe it or not, I
(26:19):
felt that I had better math skills than she did.
But she might have been spitting some game to me because, um,
she said she needed help with her her homework or
you know, she didn't know how to uh do certain
equations and stuff like that, so that definitely did so Yeah,
so yeah, I probably got a C minus or a
(26:42):
D plus in that class, but I ended up winning
because I married this beautiful girl next to me. So
did you ever try to get her on the show?
Back then? I knew how how much against she was
reality TV back then. Even when I was in Jersey
Shore in my twenties, there was a couple of times
that I wanted to put her on the show or
(27:02):
bring her on, but I was deep in my crazy
days then too. And she was also a very smart
young girl. She was like, absolutely not. She's like, I'm
not going to be that young girl on TV where
I'm crying on the phone with my boyfriend who's in
a reality house banging everyone and everything in sight. And
she was absolutely correct. Um. So it was just the
(27:24):
right time at the right place, because once Jersey Shore ended,
I was trying to like repair my life and get sober,
and that's exactly where she came in. She was like
my angel to hold the letter of the law to
make sure I didn't go over to the dark side again. Um.
And that was She's the reason why I am the
man I am today, so because she held my standards
(27:45):
very high when I was on the fence, and I
think that was like a big thing for me to
not go back at that timing. Either was that he
had struggled with addiction prior. He It's just I was
just always I was always a weld, but always like
that was always a problem and I would never go
back to that unless that was healed. So when I
(28:05):
would watch the show, like I can pinpoint episodes like
he's high, there, he's not, he's using this, there, he's
using that. They're like, I know that because I know him,
even though it wasn't being talked about on the show.
So any time like he would call me during that
time frame, it was just not it wasn't the right time.
It was crazy during the original show, like if you
watch Wolf of Wall Street where he comes out of
(28:27):
the show and he's like, I got this when I
wake up, I got that in the afternoon, I got
this before I go to sleep. That was me, you
know what I mean. And I even brought it onto
a TV show, uh seven where they would try to,
you know, make sure I didn't have anything, which I
always did. So it was wild. Lastly, Lauren gets sober,
but he's still kind of a part of this crazy franchise.
(28:50):
Was it a hard sell for your family and friends
to like get back together with them and marry him.
Probably it probably was, because probably was because it's easier.
It's easier said than done. You know, when you first
get sober a lot. The statistics are against me. The
statistics are against everyone. There's very small percentage of people
(29:13):
that that recover and excel. Yeah. But but like my
family kind of went through like a roller coaster ride
with us, because when we had gotten back together, it
was twenty thirteen, so it was literally months before his
case started. So he I mean, we got back together
and he had certain people in place in his businesses,
(29:35):
and I was his girlfriend, so I had no business
you know, asking questions getting involved in that. Didn't see
red flags at the time, so I just kept out
of that business. And a few months later, like he
got you know, indicted, and we went on that roller
coaster for five years. So we lost and he lost
everything he had. So he went from having like, you know,
(29:58):
a huge home and all these cars and like you said,
like buying houses for his family members if they asked
for it, or doing this for that one and then
lost everything and then no one was there to hell.
So my family kind of like went on that ride
with us and just supported us and whatever we wanted
to do, and we've just made the right decisions to
(30:19):
get back where we are now. Yeah, I mean, you
can't blame him. I mean, the odds were definitely against us,
you know, facing addiction in a core case in United
States versus UM. But we you know, took it one
day at a time and uh, we make good choices.
For it's gonna be five years now and and now
my dad's like your biggest supporter. Yeah yeah, we turned
(30:40):
it around with and show shown everyone through action. Yeah alright, Mike,
your turn. Where did you grow up? Had the hell
do yet? Here? Oh? Damn? All right? Um. I was
born in Staten Island, moved to New Jersey when I
was seven years old. UM. I was into sports and
karate my whole life, and UM, I graduated high school.
(31:04):
I went to college at Brookdale Community College where I
did get my associates degree, where I eventually met my
now wife. UM. While I was in college, I was
in just fantastic shape and I wanted to be a model.
I think I started off maybe as a stripper to
get my beak wet a bit. You know, you got
(31:25):
to be a stripper first, um, and then I started
going on ghosties to be a fitness model. I was
eventually signed by a agency in New York City which
at the end of the day that the end of
that road would have been me being on J. C.
Penny's catalog for the rest of my life, which at
the end of the day, I think that's what I
wanted at that time period. Um, while on that journey,
(31:48):
I bunked into, um, some casting directors for v H one, UM,
and they said, you know, you're an unbelievable shape, you
have an awesome personality. We want to build a TV
show around you. Um. We want to find people just
like you, UM, that are good on camera, that are
(32:08):
you know, attractive, and we're gonna make a show about
Italian people. And this was v H one, not MTV.
We filmed a pilot in two thousand eight. Fun fact,
I was at part of the pilot when he filmed it.
She was at the pilot in two thousand and eight
and I was at the bar when which is a
short a bar down the shore, and I went with
my friends because we weren't together, but it was a
(32:30):
preview of how he was going to behave on and
that's what made me stay away from him for years.
And yeah, so UM, she bumped into me down at
the shore while I was filming the pilot and I
was that guy, you know what I mean? I was
that guy, UM, that very cocky guy, very in shape. UM.
(32:53):
You know, I was good with women and I didn't
care if the camera was on me at not, And
I think that helped me at the time. E bench.
So it took a whole year for that to be
UH picked up. Actually, UM and Viacom I think actually
had it and they took it from H one and
they gave it to MTV at that particular time period.
(33:14):
They then casted Paulie, Jenny Uh and all the other
casts for that show, and we started the show in
two thousand nine. I also, let's do a little asterisk.
I dropped out of college in two thousand and eight,
and when I had filmed the pilot, because I got
a little taste of filming, they gassed me up there like, listen,
we want to build a show around you. You got
(33:35):
what it takes. Um. So I dropped out of college
in two thousand and eight. For twelve months, they would
call me every single month and say, Mike, the show
is gonna, you know, be a hit. You know you
did awesome. The footage that we have, America is gonna
love it, Like we said we did get picked up.
In two thousand nine, the show started and that was
the roller coaster of Jersey Shore UM. It eventually turned
(33:59):
into the highest it to show on MTV UM in
two thousand uh ten, I think it hit like eight
point nine million viewers for a single ninth and I
was thrust upon fame all while all those years from
two thousand, let's just say nine until let's just say thirteen,
I was in active addiction and I just didn't know
(34:19):
about it. That that just means that, you know, I
was wild, I was partying, and eventually those type of
negative behaviors eventually start to catch up to you. You
know that the taxes didn't get done, and next thing
you know it, I caught a charge or I was
indicted maybe in two thousand fourteen, uh for you know,
(34:40):
failure to file and uh and I was in a
big situation and it was at the end of the day,
it was all my own doing, you know what I mean.
If I wasn't so careless and reckless from let's just
say two thousand nine to two thousand, uh twelve or
thirteen and made good decisions, I guess what I would
have went prison you know, but I have to be accountable.
(35:03):
Whether it was the people around me, no, it was
really me. I wasn't making good decisions. I was partying
too much, I was spending too much money. I wasn't
being my best self. I was being young, young and dumb,
and then eventually I caught a charge because of that.
I mean, listen, my story is definitely um an extreme
story because not not everyone gets caught or not everyone
(35:24):
goes through that. But I had to go through that.
I became sober in two thousand and fifteen, and then um,
I went to prison in two thousand one. In eighteen,
I went to prison for eight months, I lost forty pounds,
remained sober, and the route the reboot came back in
two thousands in January, and but the reboot came back
(35:50):
around two two eighteen, Yeah, which we filmed about seventy
one episodes right now, so up until this present day.
And we got married in two eighteen, so we've been
married for two years. But you know, my story is
just you know, the comeback is greater than the setback.
Everything happens for a reason. If I didn't go through
some of those negative things, and if I didn't have
this this beautiful uh women next to me, I wouldn't
(36:12):
have you know, lasted. You know, I wouldn't have been
the first name right now. It's kind of interesting your
downfall was also your uprising because all the partying and
the wildness and the gregarious nature of you is the
reason why the show was created. They saw that and
they said, Okay, let's build this thing around this kid.
But then yeah, it ended up being kind of the downfall.
(36:33):
A couple of questions, one did you have a stripper name?
Like were you like you know, like there's like Shasta
and like, I know I was actually believing or not.
I was a bit like timid when it came to
my shipping days because I wasn't the best dancer. I
had an unbelievable body. Um so they stuck me on birthdays,
which means like they put a girl on a chair
(36:55):
and all I gotta do is grind. Um So that
like I I got like the rookie uh like birthday
uh like chair scene all the time. Um So. But
luckily eventually I was only stripping for a couple of months,
uh doing lap dances for a couple of months before
I got discovered by a beach one, and I didn't
really have a nickname. I don't think it was probably
(37:17):
stuck with my college nickname, which was Mikey Epps. I'm
not sure what were you doing when the casting directors
or the showrunners or wherever approached you approached you? Were
you like at a bar? Were you like on I was?
I was? I caught two of them. I actually bumped
into um, someone in the city and said there was
(37:39):
gonna be a casting called down the shore. Um, And
I didn't know what it was, And I thought who
I was back then? And so I showed up. Plus,
like I said, we knew that I was going down
that road of being a stripper, also trying to be
a fitness model, trying to find my big break somewhere.
And I eventually, like I said, got the shots. So
(38:00):
I guess they say, you know, you miss all the
shots you don't take. I ended up taking a shot
and I hit a home run. What would you say?
But for both of you guys, what would you say
is like the piece of advice you give people when
they meet you, because it happens to me, and imagine
it happens to you a lot like how do you
do it? What do you do? What's the secret? Do you?
Guys have a piece of advice for people trying to
be successful? For me, I would just say to be
(38:20):
your most authentic self, as cheesy as that sounds, and
just you have to go with your gut um but
most things, because if it's not if it doesn't feel good,
and if it doesn't reflect like who you are as
a person, then it's not for you. And as long
as you're leaning more into who you are, like your
beliefs and your values, you will continue to be successful
(38:42):
at whatever you attempt to do. Yeah, if I had
any advice, I run into people all the time, and
the happiest people that I know are the people that
are in the road of self improvement, if they're trying
to improve themselves physically, mentally, spiritually, personally, professionally. Those are
the ones that are happy and satisfied in life and
going places. The people that are not are the ones
(39:04):
that are watching, pointing and commentating. So um, my advice
would be to stay in your own lane, ruin your
own race. In one day at a time, work on
improving yourself what you know in those various areas which
is a lifelong things. It's been absolutely wonderful talking to
you guys. Mike. Obviously, your ups and downs are not
unique to a lot of people's story out there, but
(39:27):
I think what's unique about yours is your ability to
rise from the ashes and completely get everything back in
like record time. By the way, you went to rehab prison.
Four minutes later, you're back on the number one show
again on MTV. So congratulations. You guys are both like
so inspirational. So this is really really fun to kind
of like get to know you a little bit differently
(39:48):
than I've always perceived you from the show. So that's
been really fun. Is there anything that I didn't ask
you that you guys wanted to talk about. I'm actually
very impressed with this whole podcast, man, because I've been
on many many interviews over the years, and I actually
am like really vibing with you. I wish we had
some more time. I'm very very impressed, and I really
(40:11):
enjoyed our conversation today. Yes, thank you for having us.
This is very nice. I appreciate that guys. Don't forget
to watch Jersey Shore Family Vacation tonight at premiers at
eight seven Central only on MTV and Honey, where can
I get some brotein some gro tricition. Get the brotein
at gro trician dot com and you can also follow
it on Instagram at gro trician official. And where can
(40:32):
everyone follow you guys on social media? Personally? I'm on
Instagram at Lauren Underscore Sarantino and I am on Instagram
at Mike the Situation Lauren Mike. Thank you guys so
much for taking the time. This has been such a
fun episode and you guys are more awesome than I
thought you'd be, so that's always. Thanks brother, thank you
(40:53):
so much for having us see you guys. Happy holidays. YouTube.
Well they're just the best, right, so cute love that.
Mike's impressive. Man, He's had some ups and downs, but
he is freaking really resilient. That's what that guy is.
That guy is resilient. Alright, I'm out of here. I'll
see you guys next week. Subscribed to Wells cast on
(41:15):
I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It's the Internet line
In a sandwich and I got something in my teeth
and I just can't get it out. I don't have time,
so let's just do the whole thing with it in
the teeth. Let's do it. Roll it. This is the
Wells Cast with Wells Atoms and I heart radio podcast.
What's going on? Myself? A delicious salami sandwich, and I
(00:28):
gotta say salamie is my favorite of all the lunch meats,
which I guess it's appropriate for me to say that
considering our our guests today, who's very Italian Italian, I
made some good freaking soup last night. I'm still go
ahead and say it, guys, big soup guy over here,
everyone's forgetting about soup. You can't forget about soup. It's delicious,
(00:51):
pretty easy to make. You throw a bunch of stuff
into a pot, throwing some stock or some water, bing
bang boom. You got soup. And let's be fair. Soup
is a great delivery man for grilled cheeses or bread's,
buttered bread's. Obviously, I'm hungry, super pumped about the episode today,
and I'll tell you why. This guy and his lady
have a crazy story. We got a caplefor you. This
(01:14):
dude was born on Staten Island, raised in Jersey. Do
you already know where we're going with that? Yeah, he
got a nickname that's stuck with him for the past
I don't know, like fifteen years after a girl commented
on his abs, which no one's ever done for me,
which is fine. He was on a reality TV show
that ran from two thousand nine and two thousand twelve,
one of the most popular shows on MTV and now
(01:36):
it is back. But he's also been on Marriage boot Camp,
Worst Cooks in America, Dancing with Stars, Relicious goes On,
and on YO. Today on the Wells Cast, we have
the situation and his beautiful wife missed the situation. This
is me trying to do an Italian accent. This is
a Portuguese kid trying to do an Italian accent? Howes
it sound? Mike and Lauren Sarantino on the Wells Cast.
(02:02):
This is gonna be a good one. Play that stupid
little cool. Very excited to have these two on the
Wells Cast today. It's Mike and Lauren Sorentino. Do you
go by Mr and Mrs? Situation? Though we do it
(02:25):
kind of Yeah, it's pretty legendary names, so we kind
of like stick with like made us or made me. Yeah, Mike,
I get that you would embrace it because it's, I guess,
been such a part of your identity for so long.
But I feel like Lauren would be like, I don't know,
I don't know if I want this. She didn't want
(02:45):
to for a long time. It took a while of convincing.
I definitely fought against it for a while, but I
embrace it in our in our TV land life exactly.
It's a part of branding though, because when you mentioned
Mr or ms this situation, there is no other person
or a couple that you think of besides the two
(03:05):
that you're talking to now, So it's a bit of
strategy as well. I mean, yeah, obviously, can you tell
the story real quick of how you got the nickname? Oh? Yes,
I was in college. I was probably uh or late
late in college. I was twenties six years old, and
I was trying to be a fitness model at the time,
(03:25):
and I was going to go seas in New York
City and I was just unbelievably shredded naturally, and I
was at a club celebrating me getting signed to a
fitness agency. Nothing crazy. Probably I was going to be
doing J. C. Penniads for the rest of my life,
and I was just so happy about it. And I
was at a club in New Jersey fist pumping the
night away, and I was just extremely shredded. I was
(03:48):
probably also on a water protocol, which means that you
dry yourself out with uh, you know, water tricks. And
a couple walked by holding hands and she said, Oh
my god, honey, look at that right there. My buddies
were like, wow, that's usually something you don't see every day.
And you don't see a wife or or or a
girlfriend a significant other pointing out another mail in front
(04:11):
of her her mail. And my buddies were like, wow,
that that right there was a situation, and it clicked
on my head, like wow, that's a pretty cool little saying.
I'm like, no, this is the situation, and I pointed
to my abs and a couple of weeks later, I
had an interview with MTV. They asked me what my
nickname was, and I didn't think mikey Apps was a
good nickname, so I came up with a situation. It's
(04:33):
like the real life version of that meme of the
guy looking over his shoulder being like, oh yeah, that's
that's exactly what happened, and I ran with it. I mean,
congratulation guys. Season four of Jersey Shore Family Vacation back
on MTV. Do you think the show will ever end? Um?
I mean, I'm sure everything has the beginning and everything
(04:54):
has an end. But because of where the show is
right now. We were in our twenties filming Jersey Shore
and that's about partying, and now this is Jersey Shore
Family Vacation, and that's more of the trajectory. Where we're
at now in our thirties, people are, you know, getting married,
people are having kids, some are getting divorced. So I
feel like definitely can go on for quite some time.
Pauli needs to get married, Vinnie needs to get married,
(05:16):
um j wow, who knows, maybe needs to get remarried.
I don't know. Angelina might need a divorce, who knows.
But um, I think there's plenty of events to happen
on that particular series. What has been more fun? Was
it more fun doing the show when you were younger
or now as kind of like a mature, settled down adult.
I do like your your questions, very deep questions. I'd
(05:39):
have to say now they're more rewarding because the money
that I'm making now, it's it's going towards building a family,
building a future, building a brand. Back then, when I
was in my twenties, I didn't know what I was doing,
you know what I mean. I was a multimillionaire on
a number one showing MTV buying Lamborghinis and Ferraris, which
(06:00):
was a monster, monster mistake. Um giving money out to
every family member that I that I even had. I mean,
you just you just can't make this up. And UM,
I'm just more mature now and experience to handle the fame,
hander handle the pressure and excel in this in this
entertainment field. All that came at a cost. Right. He
(06:21):
had ended up forcing you into prison. I realize you
probably don't want to talk about it, and it's been
beaten to death, but I do want to know. Is
prison what I think prison is like? Or is prison
not what I think prison is like? It's not what
you think, for sure. I was there every Friday for
eight months, so definite. But to his credits, it's it's
(06:43):
a lot, a lot of it's in your own mind
um and human beings don't like change, and you come
up with these preconceived notions in your brain on the
way to prison that you're about to get jumped. Um.
You know, the food actually is horrible and conditions are
not very good, but it's definitely something that you can survive.
(07:04):
So it's it's a good learned lesson that if you
can survive prison, you can survive anything. But at also
at the same time knowing that, you know, sometimes you
create fear in your own brain that doesn't even exist. Yeah.
I often wonder if, like our society has created more
fear of prison for the reason of helping people really
(07:25):
not want to go there. Last question on prison conjugal visits,
Is that a real thing or not? Actually I was
hoping there was conjugal visits, but when I got there
in federal prison, I don't think there was. I think
I think in jails or maybe county jails or things
like that, there there might be, but I can't believe
they would be at county jails allowed because that's where
(07:48):
when you think prison, like when you think the scary
thoughts and like what what society conditioned you to think?
It's more like a County Jail where he went was
a different prison. It's prison, and it was a federal prison,
so it was very different. But yeah, they didn't have contables.
And also, anybody that's listening right now, which I'm sure
(08:09):
there's millions of subscribers and fans, do not you do
not want to go to prison hashtag pay your taxes, okay,
because I'm telling you a lot of people didn't do
well in there. There was people staring at the wall.
You have to be mentally tough. You have to make
your own schedule. You have to know that you know
that you have faith in yourself and faith in your God,
that you're gonna get through it or actually you won't
(08:31):
you And obviously you're a very fit guy, hence the nickname.
Was it hard like keeping up that regiment in there,
or were you just like, screw it. When I get out,
I'll tighten it back up. No, I actually lost forty
pounds in prison. I had gained a lot of weight
on the way to prison because I knew that I
was not going to be eating good food. Hence, um,
(08:53):
you know, the nickname Big Daddy Sitch came in the
early seasons of Jersey Shore family vacation because I did
not have six pack. I was on my way to prison.
So it was pretty much, you know what, I'm already
going to prison. I might as well live my best
life with as many fun fetty cupcakes as possible because
I'm not gonna get that in prison. Um. And then
once I got to prison, I would work out twice
(09:13):
a day intermittent fasting. Uh. And I got in the
best shape of my life. Um. You know obviously also
remains sober as well. So it's just all what you do,
you know what your time? Are you more famous out
of prison or in prison? I imagine like you would
have a lot of fans in there. Uh. Actually they did.
They did love the situation. But I would have had
a problem if they didn't, because if someone doesn't like
(09:37):
you in prison, whether it's a good prison, a light prison,
a high end prison, you're not gonna get good food,
you may get into fights, you may get sent to
solitary confinements. Um. So I was lucky that they did
like me. But then again they also did like Michael
Cohen who came into prison too, and he was also
famous too for being the President's lawyer. So yeah, and
(10:00):
like when I would have visited him on Fridays, it
was not far off from one like we would be
out in public, you know what I mean, because everyone
was such a fan and in the visiting room it's
family members, so you know, constantly like the wives, the kids,
this one that one, like, it was like I was
still trying to like have privacy with him even though
he was there, so that it was nice though that
(10:22):
they were all supportive of each other there, So that was. Yeah,
the conditions weren't good, but you can probably compare it
to Oranges of New Black with famous people in it. Yeah,
pretty much. That was pretty fun. On the show of it, Lauren,
I gotta wonder do you like being a part of
this weird, crazy reality TV show? She didn't like it
for a while. Yeah, yeah, so I guess I guess
(10:43):
why didn't you like it for a while? And like
what turned the tide for you? So I was uncomfortable.
My biggest struggle in the beginning was not having privacy
in real life and being at like a convenience store
and people just not having the decency to like excuse
themselves or politely interrupt a conversation. They just like immediately
(11:06):
get in your face, and it's like, I call it
the fame glade, you know what I mean, Like they
just see a famous person and it's like, oh, like
they gotta be involved, they gotta talk, They got to
talk about how they can relate to them. And it
took me a while to adjust to that and realize,
like that's how we're able to do what we do,
and they love us and they were just supporting us.
So it was just a weird transition for me to
(11:29):
get used to that kind of behavior because I feel
like I was more of a private person. But I
think because of how strong our relationship is, I have
gotten comfortable in sharing like everything we do authentically. So
by me sharing like my personal stuff with the show
and some things that people wouldn't be comfortable with, like,
(11:49):
it made his fan base and those supporters like rally
behind me at the same time. So it was it
was a struggle at first, but I found my way.
How many seasons of reality have you filmed in Jersey
Shore alone? We're coming up to a hundred and almost
a hundred and fifty episodes. I know it was seventy
one episodes of Jersey Shore and we're just about to
(12:10):
hit another seventy one of of Jersey Shore Family Education,
so we're coming close to like syndication, which I think
is close. Is that two hundred? I think? But then
there's other TV shows that we've done for for we TV,
and other other shows and stuff Dancing with the Stars, um,
Family boot Camp, Marriage boot Camp, UM. I don't want
(12:32):
to miss anybody some shows for TLC as well. So well, yeah,
I've done well, I haven't done as many shows as you,
but I've done a bunch. And I think what happens,
like the more and more you do it, the more
you start putting your producer hat on. And I wonder
if that's the case for you, where you're like, yeah, okay,
that's a good bit, But like what if we did
it like this way? Like do you guys do that
(12:53):
on your show? Uh? That happens sometimes where I'm a
little bit more like laid back where I'll let them
do uh their job, but if they become like really amateurish,
I'll have to step in and pull my weight a
little bit and say, listen, that's that's not a good idea.
We're not doing that, you know what I mean? We've
been We've been doing this for eleven years now. So, um,
(13:14):
I'm very grateful and blessed that we have some really
experienced producers on Jersey Shore Family Vacation, But we are
are quick judge when we come across anybody in that
business that is just not up to part. Yeah, it's
always tough when someone there's always something like bright eyed, bushytail,
new guy or girl, and you're like, all right, hold on,
you're pushing some browndaries. You're asking us to do some
(13:36):
things that we're probably not really cool with. Yeah. Do
you ever get annoyed with your edit? I really don't
get annoyed with the edit. Maybe when I was younger, um,
and I did some really crazy stuff, I would be like, oh, man,
like there's a conspiracy theory against me. But now that
I'm older and more wiser and more mature, I'm like,
(13:57):
I understand the accountability aspect of everything. You know. I
signed onto this job, you know, eleven years ago to
do reality TV. I feel on one of the top
in the business, and I usually, uh, my motto is
being genuine and authentic, and that usually works. At the
same time, if you're not being a good person, and
(14:17):
you're lying and you're cheating and doing all these things
on TV, You're gonna get a bed edit because your actions,
you know, reflect that. But when you're like five years
clean and sober, like me, I work for multiple rehabs.
Me and my wife have a very healthy relationship. We
just celebrated out our second wedding anniversary. We kind of
live a life of integrity, peace and percos. So I'm
(14:40):
very excited about this whole series of Jersey Shore Flaming
in Vacation because it's been like a whole comebacks, uh
you know series for me. I come across it a
lot where people get very angry and upset about how
they're portrayed on the show, and they're upset with their edit.
And it's the same thing of like generally when you
have those feelings is you you're not very self aware
(15:01):
of who you really are, or you're trying to be
something that you're really not. It takes a while, but
after a few seasons people start to realize that there
are some flaws and then actually helps them grow in
a way. And I it seems like that's kind of
what's happened to you, is that you had to go
through a bunch of hip to get to this like
(15:21):
really wonderful place, which is which is nice. And I
guess I was going to ask, like, what's the greatest
thing that's come out of all of this for both
of you guys. I mean for me, which is very
ironic to be on a show called jerrysy Shore and
be sober, but probably me becoming sober because this has
opened up so many doors for me. I've become a
man that I could only dream that I, you know,
(15:42):
could be, and that has made me excel in in
all aspects of business, my job, my personal life with
my wife, relationships with family, any boundaries I need to
put up. I've learned so much over the past couple
of years, just from, like you said, some of the
mistakes that I've made. But again, like you said, everything
happens for a reason in life, and sometimes you gotta
(16:03):
walk through the weeds to get to the flowers. Yeah,
And I think for me, a lot of my growth
and appreciation through this whole everything we've shared has really
been sharing, like not only the most amazing and high
parts of our life, like our wedding and our engagement,
but like sharing like the moments when he wants to prison,
(16:23):
like right when he came home, through different kind of
struggles we've gone through in our own marriage, and by
sharing like those times, it kind of helped me go
through it like kind of cathartically and heal. And so
many people have reached out that it's helped and it's
touched by like sharing their own story that they could
relate to. So I feel like the show has really
(16:46):
brought so much healing to me in that sense. It
also keeps us accountable too. You know, you're going through
some serious life events and you know there's a microscope
on you, and you know everyone's watching. Even if you
want to make a mistake, sometimes you just can't and
you have to just you know, grin embarry because when
there's a camera on you and you're dealing with real
life events you know we've dealt with um, you know, prison, recovery,
(17:11):
our wedding, friendship and stuff like that on camera, you
have to hold yourself to a very high standard because
if you don't, then, like you said, you have friends
out there that watch their edit and they're like, oh
my god, I'm unhappy with the edit. Yeah, because you
didn't hold yourself to a higher standard and your behavior
reflects that. But then producers are like, hey, guys, this
(17:33):
is not interesting. Yeah, yeah, you should see my wife
when a producer comes up to her and they're like, yeah,
we think that you might want to do this. My
wife's like like hell now. But that's the thing about
Jersey Shore is about of us. When a producer comes
up with an idea that is not something we would do,
(17:53):
suck off and one cast member that will do whatever
they say. I think we all know who that is.
It's crazy that it's the most popular show and MTV,
isn't it. Yes, yep, yep, I mean that's says something.
There's a lot of shows on that network, but for
you guys to still be at the top after all
(18:14):
this time, it just goes to show you that obviously,
like the proofs in the pudding, but for the most part,
people are in love with the characters and seeing that growth,
and so that must be a really nice thing to see.
Like America doesn't really care about a bunch of crazy
kids getting wasted every week. They care about watching our growth,
(18:34):
which when I look at the news, I'm never really uh,
I'm always shocked at like Americans and what they like
and what they don't like. But for you guys, it's
proof that there are good people out there that like
to see wonderful stories and and human growth. Yeah, yeah,
we're so excited. Usually Jersey Shore is uh, it's obviously
on Thursday nights. Usually we're number one on a Thursday night.
(18:55):
So we're very grateful and very blessed to still be
at the top of the game eleven years later. And also,
I gotta give props to a lot of the cast
and crew, especially the cast, the dynamic of everyone. They
are really good at their job. They're not really telling
us what to say. These guys are coming up with
jokes and pranks and and and like these little funny
(19:15):
memes like on the spot. So you know, I gotta
give everyone credit. You're on Worst Cooks in America. I
was yes, did you win? No? No, I came third.
I came third. Yoke. Well, I don't know if anyone
told you, but I won this last season. So no
big deal. All right? That that show right there is
not an easy show to do, and I've done a
lot of shows. Dancing with the Stars was also not
(19:37):
an easy show. But there's a lot of pressure on
that show Worst Cooks to perform. The way that you
cut things, the the the materials and things that you use,
it's it's like the next level. Yeah. Yeah. They never
gave me a trophy, so my fiance made one recently
and gave it to me for my anniversary. It's the
(19:57):
only trophy I have of anything to you man needs.
You can definitely cook, which is definitely a skill. It's
definitely a good thing. I came in third. I feel
that I should have came in second. But if you're
if you're not first or last, Yeah, exactly. Is there
anything else you guys want to promote before we kind
of pivot to the other portion of the show. Well,
I'm going to talk to the boss over here, which
we just launched a nutritional line, so you tell him
(20:20):
about Yeah. So he just launched Grotriction, which is his
first supplement company. It has groteine, which is his very
and we have chocolate and vanilla, but we also have
signature fun petty flavor which is amazing exactly, and he
has a grenade pre workout. Yeah, and then he has
(20:43):
a fat burner called ABS. So yeah, we're really excited
he's been working on like the formulations all year. I
helped him like research everything to make sure it had
no like craft and filler in it. So we're really
proud to launch it. And it just came out and
today there's a special discount code if they go to
the Grotrician official Instagram page. Yes it is hunting, Yes,
(21:06):
exactly as you can see. Guys, happy wife is a
happy life. So that's the boss right there. Do you
still have your workout app? I remember that being a thing. Yeah, No,
I I have all that stuff I have. We have
like ten years of bad decisions on file in a box.
(21:27):
But now I was very blessed early on in my
career to um to get hit up by everyone. I
actually a little know. In fact, I got hit up
by actually Lamborghini to do an endorsement early on in
my career, and being as smart as I was back then,
I felt that they were trying to get one over
on me, and they was they weren't paying me enough.
But that goes to show you guys. Uh, you know,
(21:50):
when you're young and dumb, sometimes you don't make the
best decisions. But we're now moved on from that and
wiser mature. Tell everyone again the website of the promo
that's going on for the nutrition line. So the website
is Brotrician dot com and the special discount code for
today only is Jursday exactly. Love it quick, breat we
(22:12):
come back. We're gonna get into the nuts and bolts
of this show, which is Origin Stories. I'm gonna make you, guys,
tell everyone out there where the hell you came from
and how the hell you got here? Are you ready
for that? Yeah? We got a situation. Welcome back to
(22:35):
the Welles cast, Mike Lauren, Thank you guys so much
for sticking with me and chatting. I don't even know
if anyone ever told you what the mission statement of
this show is, but I'm really interested in origin stories.
I'm fascinated with how people became successful, and a lot
of the listeners out there like to use this as
a blueprint for their own lives. So I don't really
care so much that, like, you guys are rich and famous, now,
(22:58):
I want to know how the hell you got to
this point. I love doing couples because we can really
kind of bust through it really quickly, and then at
some point their stories collide so we'll do ladies first. Lauren,
where did you come from? Tell us about your life? Okay,
So I was born in uh while I was raised
in Homeville, New Jersey all my life, which is where
we live now. So it's full circle. And yeah, I
(23:22):
was raised in an Italian American family. I went to
college for fashion. I was very, very motivated and driven.
I'm a Capricorn. I think that's like one of my
strongest traits. I worked my ass off since I was
allowed to legally work, and I commuted through college to
the city. I worked in the city. I got my
dream job, being a fashion buyer for sax Fifth Avenue.
(23:45):
By the time, I was early twenties and I was
doing all that while he was um becoming famous. I'm
Jersey sure. So when people would ask me, like, aren't
you embarrassed that's your ex boyfriend, I was like, I'm working,
like I have no time for anything. I was just hustling.
And I was so proud of him that he found
(24:06):
success because if anybody knew us during our relationship, we
were madly in love, but we were both young and
like had no plan, Like I loved fashion, wanted to
go to the city, and he worked out and like
drank protein shakes and you know what I mean. Like,
other than that, like we really didn't have a plan.
So like when he became over and famous, I didn't
(24:27):
really care what he was doing because he wasn't my boyfriend.
I was just happy he found success. So long story short,
Then I moved back to New Jersey. I ran into
Mike kickboxing had a kick boxing gym in what years
at two thousand twelve or two, And then that was
(24:50):
in like NY or March of two thousand and thirteen,
and it was the first time we ran into each
other since we had seen each other years ago, and
I I was saying Bill again and so was he,
and Jersey Shore was over, so there was never that
thing of the show having to come between us, because
he would call me when the show was on air
and I'd be like, no, I'm not going to be
(25:11):
the girlfriend at home. Yeah, baby, I'm gonna fly you
out and you're gonna be in the best hotel in
bloom Service and I got you. I'm going to send
a car and a flight for you, and she would
just refuse every time. Yeah. So then once it was
like all over said and done, the stars aligned. We
ran into each other at a kickboxing gym, and then
literally from that day onward, we were just together forever. Okay,
(25:36):
so you guys were what high school sweethearts? College? What
was Mike like in college? And Mike? What was Lauren
like in college? Oh? In college, Mike was very charismatic,
very charming, very in shape, and so the same the same.
(25:57):
It was exactly the same pretty much. Uh. And my
wife was she was adorable and she was like this
really like small, like petites, beautiful blonde with blue eyes
that I was just fell in love with the first
time I met her in math class in Brookdale Community
College in New Jersey, And believe it or not, I
(26:19):
felt that I had better math skills than she did.
But she might have been spitting some game to me because, um,
she said she needed help with her her homework or
you know, she didn't know how to uh do certain
equations and stuff like that, so that definitely did so Yeah,
so yeah, I probably got a C minus or a
(26:42):
D plus in that class, but I ended up winning
because I married this beautiful girl next to me. So
did you ever try to get her on the show?
Back then? I knew how how much against she was
reality TV back then. Even when I was in Jersey
Shore in my twenties, there was a couple of times
that I wanted to put her on the show or
(27:02):
bring her on, but I was deep in my crazy
days then too. And she was also a very smart
young girl. She was like, absolutely not. She's like, I'm
not going to be that young girl on TV where
I'm crying on the phone with my boyfriend who's in
a reality house banging everyone and everything in sight. And
she was absolutely correct. Um. So it was just the
(27:24):
right time at the right place, because once Jersey Shore ended,
I was trying to like repair my life and get sober,
and that's exactly where she came in. She was like
my angel to hold the letter of the law to
make sure I didn't go over to the dark side again. Um.
And that was She's the reason why I am the
man I am today, so because she held my standards
(27:45):
very high when I was on the fence, and I
think that was like a big thing for me to
not go back at that timing. Either was that he
had struggled with addiction prior. He It's just I was
just always I was always a weld, but always like
that was always a problem and I would never go
back to that unless that was healed. So when I
(28:05):
would watch the show, like I can pinpoint episodes like
he's high, there, he's not, he's using this, there, he's
using that. They're like, I know that because I know him,
even though it wasn't being talked about on the show.
So any time like he would call me during that
time frame, it was just not it wasn't the right time.
It was crazy during the original show, like if you
watch Wolf of Wall Street where he comes out of
(28:27):
the show and he's like, I got this when I
wake up, I got that in the afternoon, I got
this before I go to sleep. That was me, you
know what I mean. And I even brought it onto
a TV show, uh seven where they would try to,
you know, make sure I didn't have anything, which I
always did. So it was wild. Lastly, Lauren gets sober,
but he's still kind of a part of this crazy franchise.
(28:50):
Was it a hard sell for your family and friends
to like get back together with them and marry him.
Probably it probably was, because probably was because it's easier.
It's easier said than done. You know, when you first
get sober a lot. The statistics are against me. The
statistics are against everyone. There's very small percentage of people
(29:13):
that that recover and excel. Yeah. But but like my
family kind of went through like a roller coaster ride
with us, because when we had gotten back together, it
was twenty thirteen, so it was literally months before his
case started. So he I mean, we got back together
and he had certain people in place in his businesses,
(29:35):
and I was his girlfriend, so I had no business
you know, asking questions getting involved in that. Didn't see
red flags at the time, so I just kept out
of that business. And a few months later, like he
got you know, indicted, and we went on that roller
coaster for five years. So we lost and he lost
everything he had. So he went from having like, you know,
(29:58):
a huge home and all these cars and like you said,
like buying houses for his family members if they asked
for it, or doing this for that one and then
lost everything and then no one was there to hell.
So my family kind of like went on that ride
with us and just supported us and whatever we wanted
to do, and we've just made the right decisions to
(30:19):
get back where we are now. Yeah, I mean, you
can't blame him. I mean, the odds were definitely against us,
you know, facing addiction in a core case in United
States versus UM. But we you know, took it one
day at a time and uh, we make good choices.
For it's gonna be five years now and and now
my dad's like your biggest supporter. Yeah yeah, we turned
(30:40):
it around with and show shown everyone through action. Yeah alright, Mike,
your turn. Where did you grow up? Had the hell
do yet? Here? Oh? Damn? All right? Um. I was
born in Staten Island, moved to New Jersey when I
was seven years old. UM. I was into sports and
karate my whole life, and UM, I graduated high school.
(31:04):
I went to college at Brookdale Community College where I
did get my associates degree, where I eventually met my
now wife. UM. While I was in college, I was
in just fantastic shape and I wanted to be a model.
I think I started off maybe as a stripper to
get my beak wet a bit. You know, you got
(31:25):
to be a stripper first, um, and then I started
going on ghosties to be a fitness model. I was
eventually signed by a agency in New York City which
at the end of the day that the end of
that road would have been me being on J. C.
Penny's catalog for the rest of my life, which at
the end of the day, I think that's what I
wanted at that time period. Um, while on that journey,
(31:48):
I bunked into, um, some casting directors for v H one, UM,
and they said, you know, you're an unbelievable shape, you
have an awesome personality. We want to build a TV
show around you. Um. We want to find people just
like you, UM, that are good on camera, that are
(32:08):
you know, attractive, and we're gonna make a show about
Italian people. And this was v H one, not MTV.
We filmed a pilot in two thousand eight. Fun fact,
I was at part of the pilot when he filmed it.
She was at the pilot in two thousand and eight
and I was at the bar when which is a
short a bar down the shore, and I went with
my friends because we weren't together, but it was a
(32:30):
preview of how he was going to behave on and
that's what made me stay away from him for years.
And yeah, so UM, she bumped into me down at
the shore while I was filming the pilot and I
was that guy, you know what I mean? I was
that guy, UM, that very cocky guy, very in shape. UM.
(32:53):
You know, I was good with women and I didn't
care if the camera was on me at not, And
I think that helped me at the time. E bench.
So it took a whole year for that to be
UH picked up. Actually, UM and Viacom I think actually
had it and they took it from H one and
they gave it to MTV at that particular time period.
(33:14):
They then casted Paulie, Jenny Uh and all the other
casts for that show, and we started the show in
two thousand nine. I also, let's do a little asterisk.
I dropped out of college in two thousand and eight,
and when I had filmed the pilot, because I got
a little taste of filming, they gassed me up there like, listen,
we want to build a show around you. You got
(33:35):
what it takes. Um. So I dropped out of college
in two thousand and eight. For twelve months, they would
call me every single month and say, Mike, the show
is gonna, you know, be a hit. You know you
did awesome. The footage that we have, America is gonna
love it, Like we said we did get picked up.
In two thousand nine, the show started and that was
the roller coaster of Jersey Shore UM. It eventually turned
(33:59):
into the highest it to show on MTV UM in
two thousand uh ten, I think it hit like eight
point nine million viewers for a single ninth and I
was thrust upon fame all while all those years from
two thousand, let's just say nine until let's just say thirteen,
I was in active addiction and I just didn't know
(34:19):
about it. That that just means that, you know, I
was wild, I was partying, and eventually those type of
negative behaviors eventually start to catch up to you. You
know that the taxes didn't get done, and next thing
you know it, I caught a charge or I was
indicted maybe in two thousand fourteen, uh for you know,
(34:40):
failure to file and uh and I was in a
big situation and it was at the end of the day,
it was all my own doing, you know what I mean.
If I wasn't so careless and reckless from let's just
say two thousand nine to two thousand, uh twelve or
thirteen and made good decisions, I guess what I would
have went prison you know, but I have to be accountable.
(35:03):
Whether it was the people around me, no, it was
really me. I wasn't making good decisions. I was partying
too much, I was spending too much money. I wasn't
being my best self. I was being young, young and dumb,
and then eventually I caught a charge because of that.
I mean, listen, my story is definitely um an extreme
story because not not everyone gets caught or not everyone
(35:24):
goes through that. But I had to go through that.
I became sober in two thousand and fifteen, and then um,
I went to prison in two thousand one. In eighteen,
I went to prison for eight months, I lost forty pounds,
remained sober, and the route the reboot came back in
two thousands in January, and but the reboot came back
(35:50):
around two two eighteen, Yeah, which we filmed about seventy
one episodes right now, so up until this present day.
And we got married in two eighteen, so we've been
married for two years. But you know, my story is
just you know, the comeback is greater than the setback.
Everything happens for a reason. If I didn't go through
some of those negative things, and if I didn't have
this this beautiful uh women next to me, I wouldn't
(36:12):
have you know, lasted. You know, I wouldn't have been
the first name right now. It's kind of interesting your
downfall was also your uprising because all the partying and
the wildness and the gregarious nature of you is the
reason why the show was created. They saw that and
they said, Okay, let's build this thing around this kid.
But then yeah, it ended up being kind of the downfall.
(36:33):
A couple of questions, one did you have a stripper name?
Like were you like you know, like there's like Shasta
and like, I know I was actually believing or not.
I was a bit like timid when it came to
my shipping days because I wasn't the best dancer. I
had an unbelievable body. Um so they stuck me on birthdays,
which means like they put a girl on a chair
(36:55):
and all I gotta do is grind. Um So that
like I I got like the rookie uh like birthday
uh like chair scene all the time. Um So. But
luckily eventually I was only stripping for a couple of months,
uh doing lap dances for a couple of months before
I got discovered by a beach one, and I didn't
really have a nickname. I don't think it was probably
(37:17):
stuck with my college nickname, which was Mikey Epps. I'm
not sure what were you doing when the casting directors
or the showrunners or wherever approached you approached you? Were
you like at a bar? Were you like on I was?
I was? I caught two of them. I actually bumped
into um, someone in the city and said there was
(37:39):
gonna be a casting called down the shore. Um, And
I didn't know what it was, And I thought who
I was back then? And so I showed up. Plus,
like I said, we knew that I was going down
that road of being a stripper, also trying to be
a fitness model, trying to find my big break somewhere.
And I eventually, like I said, got the shots. So
(38:00):
I guess they say, you know, you miss all the
shots you don't take. I ended up taking a shot
and I hit a home run. What would you say?
But for both of you guys, what would you say
is like the piece of advice you give people when
they meet you, because it happens to me, and imagine
it happens to you a lot like how do you
do it? What do you do? What's the secret? Do you?
Guys have a piece of advice for people trying to
be successful? For me, I would just say to be
(38:20):
your most authentic self, as cheesy as that sounds, and
just you have to go with your gut um but
most things, because if it's not if it doesn't feel good,
and if it doesn't reflect like who you are as
a person, then it's not for you. And as long
as you're leaning more into who you are, like your
beliefs and your values, you will continue to be successful
(38:42):
at whatever you attempt to do. Yeah, if I had
any advice, I run into people all the time, and
the happiest people that I know are the people that
are in the road of self improvement, if they're trying
to improve themselves physically, mentally, spiritually, personally, professionally. Those are
the ones that are happy and satisfied in life and
going places. The people that are not are the ones
(39:04):
that are watching, pointing and commentating. So um, my advice
would be to stay in your own lane, ruin your
own race. In one day at a time, work on
improving yourself what you know in those various areas which
is a lifelong things. It's been absolutely wonderful talking to
you guys. Mike. Obviously, your ups and downs are not
unique to a lot of people's story out there, but
(39:27):
I think what's unique about yours is your ability to
rise from the ashes and completely get everything back in
like record time. By the way, you went to rehab prison.
Four minutes later, you're back on the number one show
again on MTV. So congratulations. You guys are both like
so inspirational. So this is really really fun to kind
of like get to know you a little bit differently
(39:48):
than I've always perceived you from the show. So that's
been really fun. Is there anything that I didn't ask
you that you guys wanted to talk about. I'm actually
very impressed with this whole podcast, man, because I've been
on many many interviews over the years, and I actually
am like really vibing with you. I wish we had
some more time. I'm very very impressed, and I really
(40:11):
enjoyed our conversation today. Yes, thank you for having us.
This is very nice. I appreciate that guys. Don't forget
to watch Jersey Shore Family Vacation tonight at premiers at
eight seven Central only on MTV and Honey, where can
I get some brotein some gro tricition. Get the brotein
at gro trician dot com and you can also follow
it on Instagram at gro trician official. And where can
(40:32):
everyone follow you guys on social media? Personally? I'm on
Instagram at Lauren Underscore Sarantino and I am on Instagram
at Mike the Situation Lauren Mike. Thank you guys so
much for taking the time. This has been such a
fun episode and you guys are more awesome than I
thought you'd be, so that's always. Thanks brother, thank you
(40:53):
so much for having us see you guys. Happy holidays. YouTube.
Well they're just the best, right, so cute love that.
Mike's impressive. Man, He's had some ups and downs, but
he is freaking really resilient. That's what that guy is.
That guy is resilient. Alright, I'm out of here. I'll
see you guys next week. Subscribed to Wells cast on
(41:15):
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