It’s been ten years since DJ “Pauly D” DelVecchio and Vinny Guadagnino became overnight sensations on “Jersey Shore,” and so far the closest they’ve come to true love is… each other.
On the eve of their new MTV dating show “Double Shot at Love with DJ Pauly D and Vinny,” the original GTLers talked about needing haircuts at least every three days, the duck phone, and how tired they are of meaningless hookups. They also talked about what they would do if they fell for the same woman on the show.
“My love for Pauly is stronger than our love would ever be for another girl,” Vinny said. “I’m so close with him that I would be like, ‘Yo, you like that person? She’s all yours.’ I would never feel selfish. And he feels the same way.”
Would Pauly D do the same for him? “Most likely,” he said.
And they say you should never fall in love at the Jersey Shore.
The real-life best friends ditched Seaside Heights for Los Angeles for the show, which premieres with two back-to-back, commercial-free episodes Thursday. The bachelors will live in a tricked-out mansion with 20 eligible women — none of whom are named Snooki or JWoww. They will take part in a comically complicated competition in which they aren’t told which celebrity they’ll be dating until they move into the house. One woman hopes the celebrity isn’t Post Malone — another woman hopes it is.
“They were talking about Post Malone, Kodak Black and Soulja Boy and all these things, and I’m like, if these women are expecting those guys and me and Pauly walk out, they’re in for a real surprise,” Vinny said.
Veteran producer SallyAnn Salsano, who also guided the original 2009 “Jersey Shore” and “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,” returns to guide the new show.
Since the early days of the Shore, 38-year-old Pauly D and 31-year-old Vinny have done some growing up — I can report that the word “guido” was not uttered at any point in our conversations, and I’m pretty positive I didn’t hear the sound of fist-pumping over the phone, but I can’t be sure.
Pauly D was clear that when they began filming, he was, in fact, “100% looking for love.”
Vinny may have been a little more skeptical at first — the way he sees love, “if it comes, it comes” — but one thing is for sure.
“I’m over the one-night stands,” Vinny said. “They really do nothing for me, and most of the time I’m out in a club now, I come home and I just go to bed by myself. I’m like damn, I wish I had someone meaningful to share this with.”
Pauly D echoed Vinny’s sentiments. “‘Jersey Shore’ was like, I was a single guy, I was a little bit younger. I wasn’t really looking for something substantial at that point in my life. I was just looking for a good time,” he said. “Now I’m at a stage in my life where I’m looking to share all of the great things going on in my life. I’m looking for that one life partner.”
Though “Double Shot At Love” is significantly different from “Jersey Shore,” they couldn’t resist paying a few homages to the cult-classic reality show. From the looks of it, there’s no smush room — but there is a barber shop, because as any fan of “Jersey Shore” knows, one of the most important rules in the guido handbook is to always look fresh.
“When we’re on camera and performing a show for the world, I need a haircut every three days,” Vinny said.
Pauly D agreed. “I like to keep my hair on point — literally. But in real life, barbershops are where you have guy talk,” he said.
That necessity ended up working out for production as well, as they needed a place for the boys to deliberate on the mushy stuff, like who they’re interested in and who they’re sending home. So, they made the obvious choice — put a barber shop inside the house.
“Who we wanted to go home or who we were vibing with, all that went down in the barber shop every day,” Pauly D said.
And, because this is DJ Pauly D and Vinny we’re talking about, they decided to throw in a club too. Guess who was the house DJ?
“I was DJing, so for me, having a club in the house, that was the best part,” Pauly D said. “A club and a barbershop. I was in my glory.”
But the holy trinity of Shore-ness wouldn’t be complete without one final element — the infamous duck phone. Though these days using a landline is passé, it found its use as the vessel from which they’d receive challenges featured on each episode.
“I had flashbacks of the Jersey Shore every single time that duck rang,” Pauly D said of the phone’s tell-tale quack. “I swear I hear it in my sleep. That sound haunts me.”
Vinny was less sentimental.
“I would’ve done without it. I’m trying to move on to an iPhone or something,” he said. “But I can’t escape the duck phone. It’s everywhere with us. And you know what, it’s our little mascot. It keeps us humble. This is where we came from — a stupid, wooden, broken phone that never works.”
Oh, and there’s one more homage to the Shore up their sleeves — a resurgence of the Great Prank War of Seaside Heights.
“Shore” fans will remember that Pauly D and Vinny were crowned the Prank War Champions in Season 3. But this time around, instead of covering someone’s bed in various cheeses, they’ve got a subtler planned for the contestants — find out what it is during Thursday’s premiere.
No matter what reality show they’re starring in, “Me and Pauly are always in a little show of our own,” Vinny said.
The series premiere of “Double Shot at Love with DJ Pauly D and Vinny” airs April 11 at 8/7c on MTV.
You can watch the trailer below.