Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Jersey Shore Star

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Tell them big Snoop Dogg sent you. of the situation, and the situation is sitting in studio with us right now. Mike, always appreciate the time. Thanks for coming in. Yes, thanks for having me guys. We obviously have a situation, but today the new nickname is The Publication. Because we're releasing this new book over the next couple weeks, and it is my masterpiece. And you have the investigation as well while watching the show, and that investigation actually landed to Angelina finding her father, so I'm addicted to the show. I'm a sycophant to the Jersey Shore.

The new season should be airing shortly, I believe in March. Number one show on MTV on Thursdays and sometimes on cable as well. We turned 15 minutes of fame into 15 years. Yeah, it's crazy. So indeed we do have a situation, but thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks so much for coming in. You know, it's wild. Like when I first watched the show, I think I was in either high school or middle school. And now seeing you guys with families, it's wild with kids. Now you guys go on vacations. It's like, what shirt is Dina going to make you wear and make a nice family picture?

It's wild to see how you guys have grown up throughout the years. I mean, it's definitely unheard of for a reality show to be cast driven for 15 years. You can't really name any. Actually, you might be able to name one. Maybe Kardashians.

Maybe, maybe. But the fans, the viewers, they have grown up with us, and we are definitely very grateful for that. But I'd have to say, I mean, I'm a fan of the show myself. I mean, it's a funny show. It's got funny lines, funny jokes. And like, you know, it's just we get into shenanigans.

We're like the Friends version of reality TV, I think. Yeah, no, it's a great way to put it. And also, I'm a little concerned about you today because you've been doing this PR tour since like 9 a.m. I know. I'm a little tired right now.

But you can't go like 30 seconds without eating. Like when they told me that Mike was already here and you're supposed to come on at 5 20, I go, guys, we have no food for him because the way you eat on the Jersey Shore, you order everything off the menu. It's crazy. I do. I do have an obsessive personality and I love food just like everyone else. I think that's very relatable.

But it's like my thing on TV. You know what I mean? I got, you know, when I go to a restaurant, I believe in good food, even if it means ordering the whole menu. One of everything. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. So ideal meal here.

What's your ideal appetizer? You get one thing for the table. What is it?

Oh, wow. You can't just get one thing. Really? One thing? That's that's why it's a tough question.

Yeah, it is a tough. I know you would order like every single thing on the menu. Not all eight appetizers.

Just one app. All right. If I got to pick one thing.

Right. I got to go with the seafood tower. That's got you see how you see what you see. The seafood towers got about three, four levels sometimes. That's got the oyster, the calamari, the shrimp. You got to pick one thing. The seafood tower.

You got your bang for your buck right there. Yeah. All right. Now, make the appetizers go away. Main course comes out. What's the main course for you? I feel like it's a pasta, right?

It did. Pasta is my favorite. It definitely is. Pasta is my favorite. Probably then a chicken cutlet, then a surf and turf. And I don't even need to ask you the dessert. Right.

It's the funfetti cake. Yes. Yes.

Yes. I'll be honest. I would have to definitely pick pasta. I love everything. I like fusilli. I like penne, rigatoni, pesto, sundae sauce, you know, clams, oreganata. I mean, anything pasta I love. Well, November is always a tough month for us because on this show, I feel like I'm on an island. Because I don't like turkey for Thanksgiving.

You know what? I think it's an unpopular opinion to say that, but I'll be honest with you. I am not the biggest fan either of some of the menu options for Thanksgiving. I like to Italian it up a little bit.

I like to add some bagzini or something to it, which a lot of the times most families in host households don't do. Well, we flipped the bird to the bird many years ago, and now we just make sure that the lasagna is the featured dish. Oh, yeah.

And that's the way to go. And it's funny. It is. When you're on a platform like this, I feel like I'm the voice for the voices on Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how many people reach out to me and they go, Turkey just sucks on Thanksgiving.

Yeah. I mean, to be honest with you, if you want to put together the perfect Thanksgiving meal, you should throw in the lasagna or some bagzini. And to be honest with you, I wouldn't even, the turkey wouldn't be my main. I might even throw in some ham. I might even throw in some lamb or something.

That's like Dan Campbell the lion. I don't know if I'm not the biggest fan of turkey. Obviously, I enjoyed Thanksgiving this year.

But you got to jazz it up. Talking to Mike, the situation, the name of the book is Reality Checkout. I overcame addiction loss in prison. You know, some people may be like, oh, why do they have the situation on a sports show today? The reason why I wanted to bring you on, not only have we got to know each other a little bit throughout the years, but I think people hearing your story is important because it doesn't matter.

A sports fan, not, you know, a lot of people go through what you had to go through. Yes. And you've been an inspiration to many people to try to fight through some of those things.

Yeah. You know, as an early man, I was subject to a life of excess. I was I was blessed early on in life with, you know, millions of dollars in my dream job. And eventually I didn't know who I was. You know, at the core, I had an obsessive personality and everything eventually became obsessive. You know, the parties, the women, the drugs, the money. And eventually most people are unable to get out of that lifestyle of excess. And they either unfortunately they die there or they just never get out of it and never transition to family life and mature. You know, which is a tough life to get out of. You hear stories all the time that, you know, these athletes and these celebrities making millions.

Right. They're driving the Ferraris and then they just it is never get out of that lifestyle of excess. But for me, eventually I did hit rock bottom, but I used rock bottom as a trampoline. OK. And I started to rebuild my life. I'm now eight years clean and sober. Congratulations. I'll be celebrating over the next couple of days on social media. And I'm now a father of two babies with one on the way. Wow.

Married five years and a happy, healthy marriage. I also speak at rehabs and high schools and colleges across the country, sharing my experience, strength and hope. To let people know out there that, like, listen, if Mike could do it, I could I could do it, too.

If Mike can overcome certain obstacles, I can, too. And unfortunately, you know, I know it because I had two or three or two or three friends, actually, that passed away. Oh, yeah. And they weren't able to overcome the demons. And a lot of times they just didn't know how to ask for help or you knew they had a problem, but you didn't know the extent of it.

Yes. And I'm just wondering, you know, you going through it and now coming out on the better side of it. When did you realize, hey, I'm going down the wrong path.

I need help. Well, I mean, first of all, I'd like to point out that I love the fact that you said demons, because most men probably that are listening to this, we all know that we got that a demon inside of us. And some people can control it better than others. But for me, I always knew that I was always pushing the envelope and the limits for everything. And eventually, once. I guess once my behavior became too reckless and I started to put my job at risk and my friends and relationships at risk and I started to lose money, eventually I found myself almost homeless. OK, I almost found myself almost homeless. The government was coming after me for millions. I couldn't pay for the lawyer anymore. I had to put up the the hands and surrender and be like, man, I need I need to get some help. And I think it takes a lot of courage to put your hand up and be like, listen, my way has led me to almost killing myself or destruction or jail or prison. I got to try something different.

You know what I'm saying? I got to try something different. And that's exactly what I did. I pretty much changed everything about myself that was negative and realized that I had an obsessive personality and I could only feed myself positive behaviors.

So that's what I did. One day at a time. What did you gain from having to go to prison? Just wondering. I mean, you obviously gain accountability, you know what I mean? I didn't think that the judge was going to send me to prison. I was a first time offender. I was in the zone for probation and community service, which I held out with the government for almost down to my trial. And if anybody knows anything about the system, if you get a plea bargain that in you're in the level of that is recommended for probation and community service. And you're a first time offender, meaning you have no priors.

Nine out of 10 times you are going to get probation and community service. But because of who I was and I was on TV and I was, you know, this, this, this guy, this guy, the situation, they made an example out of me. And I had to take my medicine like a man.

I had to hold my head high. I didn't think I was going to go to prison. But when they first sent my brother away for two years, I'll be honest with you, I sat there. I'm like, oh, they sent him away for two years. They're not going to send me within within five minutes later. She sent me almost a year and I sat there.

I'm like, all right, I guess this is what I'm doing next. And it forced me to take total accountability. Total accountability means if you were unhappy in any spot of your life, go look in the mirror.

And that's who you need to talk to. Because if I was not guilty, guess what? The judge wouldn't have sent me to prison. But my name was on all the accounts that made all the millions of dollars.

Right. Now, if my team didn't file the taxes, it doesn't matter. I needed to file. I was responsible to do that. So the buck stops with me. You could have employees, you could have a publicist, you could have a whole team insulating you, which I did. It doesn't really matter.

You can have checks and balances, but if you don't check and balance and you're an absentee leader, then you're going to end up in prison. That's what happened to me. Tell me about the time you did heroin and then also the time when you guys were going to Italy to film. Yeah. And all the drugs that you brought over. I was smuggling.

Yeah. Which which one you want first? Go with the heroin first. Oh, man, that that that was a tough story. I always told myself, you know, I made millions of dollars, you know, yearly. I would never take this drug. This is the drug that people don't come back from. This is a drug that I felt that I didn't have to. I had the resources. I had the money. But after years and years of making bad decisions, I found myself behind the eight ball. I was depressed, anxiety through the roof. I was unemployed months behind on the rent.

Government was coming after me for millions. I was about to be evicted and I wanted to get out of feeling that way. So I had a moment of weakness and I'll be honest with you, it's relatable.

So I got I got the case of I don't know if I could say this, but fuck it. And I called up a buddy of mine and I'm like, yo, man, I'm like, you know, you know, anybody that we can get some prescription pills. He's like, yeah, sure.

All right, cool. I'll come pick you up. I come pick it up. I come pick up my boy and he goes, we got to drive to Newark.

I was like, bro, I can't drive to Newark, man. I'm on one of the biggest reality shows in the country. My nickname is the situation. Everyone knows who you are. You can't hide anywhere. You can't really hide in a housing complex or in the Straits of Newark when the sirens are going around.

He's like, man, stay in the car. I'll go. I know somebody. Don't worry.

We'll be real quick. I reluctantly went. I knew it was a bad idea. I jumped in my white Corvette at the time in 2000.

It was 2015. And we're driving down to Newark. I'm fighting with my then girlfriend, who's my now wife, and she knows where I'm going.

You know, the women in our life always know when they always know, always know when we're making bad decisions. And I get down to Newark and I just knew it was a bad, bad idea. You got sirens going around everywhere. And we parked.

He went to a housing complex. He was gone for an hour here, an hour there. We striking out.

And I just felt worse because every time that he kept striking out, I'm thinking to myself, you know what? If I don't score these prescription pills soon, I'm probably going to go into withdrawal. And if anybody knows what withdrawal means, it means you're dependent on prescription pills.

And you're probably going to get cold like symptoms very soon and you're going to be seriously uncomfortable. And it's going to be a bad situation ASAP. Eventually, my friend comes back out to the car.

OK. I was surprised we even made it that far because, you know, like I said, I'm on one of the biggest TV shows in the country. And I'm going to score drugs in a Corvette in the hood. OK. We get back in the car and he throws on my lap this almost like a this bundle of some sort. I was like, what the hell is this? And in my brain, I'm like, no, he didn't.

In my brain, I'm like, this is my boy since we were little. I'm like, no, he didn't just throw something on my lap that I said I was never going to do. He knows I didn't want to do this. He knows what I wanted. I had the money not to do this. Oh, my God.

No. And sure enough, it was heroin. And it was the first time I ever seen it.

It was like a wrapped up bundle was wax paper was like this yellowy, sandy substance. And I'm like, oh, man, like, what am I going to do? It was already hours. We're out Newark. We can't continue to search. And now we got her went on us. I mean, this is this bad situation just got worse. So I'm like, all right, man, just let's just get out of here. Let's just go home. Now we're on the way home, on the turnpike, going back from Newark, back to central Jersey.

And I got my then girlfriend blowing up my phone. Where am I at? Where am I at? Where you at?

I finally get back to the house and I still got this bundle on me. And I'm like, I told myself, I'm what am I going to do? What am I going to deep down inside? I probably knew I was going to try it. You know, I mean, because it was just I had no other option.

You know, about to go through what's called withdrawals. I get back in my room. I tell my my then girlfriend at the time, I said, I'm going to go to sleep early. I close the door and I take my key out of my pocket. And I'm about to try a keyboard. I dip it into the little baggy and I try it. And I'm like, oh, my God, I didn't die.

And then. I was like, I don't like it. I didn't like it. I'm like, oh, my God, thank God I didn't like it.

Most people don't come back from this. Oh, my God, I'm going to survive. Like, oh, my God. And then a little devil on my shoulders like, why don't you try a little bit more? You maybe you'll like it then. Maybe you'll get a little high from it. So then I'm like, all right, cool. But in the back of my head, I'm like, if I try too much, I might die.

You know, people overdose from this this type of substance. So as I was going in for this second keep up, my phone rings and guess who it is? It's my mom.

And I'm like, no way. So I pick it up and my mom goes, are you OK? There was concern in her voice to the point she knew something was wrong.

She knew something. I couldn't believe it. I looked up at the sky like I was in The Truman Show. I'm like, are there hidden cameras in my in this room?

And this is ridiculous. It was a sign from above the almighty. OK, send an angel down to try to save me. You need to stop what you're doing now. I had my eyes and I had my ears open up slightly enough. Obviously, they weren't open a lot because I went down to the Newark to get this substance, but they were open slightly enough for me to listen to this message. And at the same time, somebody at the door is knocking.

It's my then girlfriend, who's my now wife, knocking at the door. And I'm like, all right, this is this is too much. It's a wrap.

This is a wrap. This is not supposed to happen. Maybe if I would have went forward, I would have died. And right then and there, I just called it quits. I threw it in the toilet. I had tears in my eyes because I got I got to the precipice of almost passing a point of no return. I felt I stared the devil in the face and I you know, maybe I didn't come back. I opened the door, hung up with my mother. I flushed the drugs down the toilet. And then I opened the door and I had tears in my eyes.

I embraced my then girlfriend at the time and said, you know what? I'm sorry. I need help. I need to I need to go to rehab. I have a really big problem. I called my pretrial officer who was assigned to the United States versus the situation, the court case. And I had I was like, I just spilled my guts. I'm like, listen, I can't. My life was on the line. I had to be totally accountable. I'm like, I got to go to rehab. The next day I was in rehab. I pretty much never turned back. I'm now eight years clean and sober. An example of the comeback is greater than a setback.

Well, let me just ask you this before we let you run. Mike, the situation. Once again, the name of the book is Reality Check.

Making the best of the situation, how I overcame addiction, loss and prison. This is supposed to be a happy time of the year. Supposed to be about family. Yeah. Food. Yeah.

Everyone's gearing up for December coming off of Thanksgiving. I'm sure there's people listening right now that say they're saying I'm going through something that that Mike was going through. Yeah. What advice do you give them and what do you say to for them to have the courage to reach out and ask for help to try to fight these demons? I would say that it takes courage to put your hand up and say, I need help. I mean, we're all we're all human. We all make mistakes. OK, we're all sharing this human experience. OK, put your hands up. I need help. Because there are some people out there, OK, that take a substance and don't come back from it. They overdid the OD.

They pass. And next thing you know, you never see him again. OK, but you could be on the other side of that and you could raise your hand and be like, listen, enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. OK. And this right here, I could be that angel right now for somebody listening on the other side. Like that angel, which was my mother and my then wife, who's who's or my then girlfriend, who's now my wife, saved me back in 2015. And also, if if the situation can recover from such, you know, a crazy, debilitating addiction. And so can you. And if I can over overcome obstacles, so can you. Before we let you run, just what do you want people to gain from the book?

I just you know what I want. I think the book is going to presently surprise the readers and the public. I think it's going to it's going to entertain. It's going to shock you, educate you. And also it's going to inspire you and it's going to save a lot of lives. And I'm very excited to release this book over the next couple of weeks is definitely going to be a movie.

I guarantee if you read the book, you will not be able to put it down. And then the last thing I got to ask you one show question here. So we saw a lot of Ronnie and Sam on the show this year. Yes. But in separate rooms. Yes.

I saw a tick tock of them dancing again. Yes. Next season. Are we getting them in the same room? Next season is the season. OK, so we will see them in the same room on camera for the first time.

Next season is the season. How is Ronnie doing, by the way? I mean, listen, I always support a comeback.

Everyone always loves a good one. So he's doing good as far as I know. Well, appreciate you coming in once again. The name of the book is Reality Check Making the Best of the Situation. It's by Mike Sorrentino.

The Situation. Mike, thanks so much. Yes. Thank you so much for having me.

You got it. This is Zach Gilp showing CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break and we'll come on back after these short messages. I'm Tony Kornheiser and this is my show. My friends come on and you know them. We talk about the sports you care about. Football and now basketball, too. Though we don't really pay attention until later in the year and the absurdity that is our lives. Line etiquette at your local pharmacy, the current phase of the moon, the importance of talking to a human being on the phone, and most importantly, the power of a box of that.

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