Jersey Shore was one of those reality shows that everyone remembers, not least because the cast were just so damn weird. Yeah, MTV managed to find some of the strangest group of people ever for their Real World-inspired series, and understandably this portrayal of the cast as tanning-bed addicts and shallow gym nuts didn't gel well with a lot of people. However, the ratings for the show were great, and the show managed to spawn a number of well-known memes during its run (like "T-Shirt Time!" and "Taxis here!" for example).
But one of the biggest draws of the series was undoubtedly rude boy Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino, who soon became infamous for his behaviour as well as his ridiculous name. Yes, ridiculously-named 'The Situation' soon became the heel of the show that viewers loved to hate, and was constantly stirring the pot and causing drama amongst the housemates, especially because of his belligerent sexual tension with Angelina in season one, and who could forget the time that he called Snooki (who had an eating disorder in high school) fat?
Strangest of all, Sorrentino seemed to be totally oblivious to his bad reputation and thought of himself as being the face of the show. In fact, on one occasion he even stated: "Everybody loves me, babies, dogs, ya know, hot girls, cougars. I just have unbelievable mass appeal." However, as it turns out, Mike doesn't exactly have the mass appeal he thought he did after all - at least, he doesn't have clout with the jury he faced this month.
Yes, it turns out that The Situation has been sentenced to eight months in prison on charges of tax evasion, after pleading guilty in January of this year. He could have potentially faced five years behind bars, but the judge was apparently lenient with his sentencing. Mike's brother Marc Sorrentino has also allegedly pled guilty to charges of aiding in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns and has been sentenced to two years in prison himself. Sorrentino allegedly didn't pay any income tax for the $2 million he made in 2011, and inaccurately reported approximately $8.9 million in his income over several years.
The Jersey Shore cast (Jenni 'JWoww' Farley, Ronnie Magro-Ortiz, DJ Pauly D, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Deena Cortese, Vinny Guadagnino and Angelina Pivarnick) all appeared at the Newark courthouse to show their support as well.
Later, Sorrentino's fiancé Lauren Pesce (whom he got engaged to back in April) took to social media to give thanks to everyone who supported the couple, captioning an Instagram photo "Thank you for all of your messages of love & support. We are happy to put an end to this chapter and excited to move forward in our future. We are blessed to have our health and the outpouring of support from family, friends & fans. We love you." Sorrentino himself wrote: "We are very happy to put this behind us. Thank you So much for all the Love & Support."
Sorrentino is also required to pay a fine of $10,000 within 30 days, and complete 500 hours of community service.
