What Jersey Shore's The Situation Thinks About His Legal Woes

The Situation Jersey Shore

Mike Sorrentino, a.k.a. The Situation, is returning to Jersey Shore with its upcoming revival reboot, Jersey Shore Family Vacation. But he might not be staying on TV long, thanks to his recent legal problems. The reality TV star could be facing up to five years in prison for tax evasion when he goes to his sentence hearing on April 25th. But The Situation is dealing with it head-on, and admits it'll be addressed in the revived show's newest season.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino discussed his personal problems and Jersey Shore's buzzy return during a conversation with Entertainment Tonight. As The Situation admitted at the premiere party at Hyde Sunset in L.A., the elephant in the room isn't something he ignored during the renewed series.

I discussed it [on the show] to the best of my ability. You want to have respect for the system, the judge, and things like that so I did my best to better myself, become better and not bitter. I continue to better myself and I'm like, 'How can I continue to better myself?' and I'm like, 'You know what, let me help others.' So I'm trying my best to continue to take on challenges and continue to move forward.

As Mike Sorrentino confessed, he's no longer The Situation fans knew before. He is currently celebrating 28 months of sobriety, so don't expect the same drunken antics found during the series's initial run. As he admitted, The Situation is taking things slow now, moving forward one step at a time.

I'm very proud, it's one of my finest accomplishments and it was a huge challenge. Its a 'one day at a time' thing and [I'm] just showing people that it's very possible.

These last two years have seen The Situation trying to get his life straight, especially with his legal problems. Returning to the crazy, wild-and-out world of Jersey Shore might be the last thing someone in The Situation's ... situation would want to do. But he said he kept his head down and focused on his own little world during the taping of the newest season -- particularly whenever his fellow reality TV stars were drinking and partying throughout.

The mindset was coming from a grateful standpoint, a blessed standpoint. Stay in your lane and run your own race. They could be drinking, they could be having fun, but that's not my race, because if I look over to the person next to me, guess what? I'm going to trip over my own feet and you're going to win the race and The Situation is not going to let that happen... I challenged myself to have fun, dance, and be at a club till 5 am and show people it's possible to have fun. And you'll see, because The Situation turns up more than some people do when they're even drinking.

With that grateful mindset, The Situation finds himself "at peace," even with his potential jail sentence looming ahead. He also looks forward to Jersey Shore Family Vacation reintroducing him -- specifically, this new side of him, dubbed "the new and improved Situation" -- when it airs on April 5th on MTV. The reboot was already renewed for a second season before its first one aired.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.