Snooki Recreates Infamous ‘Jersey Shore’ Arrest 15 Years Later

Snooki Recreates Infamous ‘Jersey Shore’ Arrest 15 Years Later originally appeared on Parade.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is heading back to the scene of the crime.

The Jersey Shore star, 36, recently returned to Seaside Heights to commemorate the 15th anniversary of one of her most iconic—and infamous—moments: her beachside arrest on July 30, 2010, which turned into a viral sensation thanks to one unforgettable question: “Where’s the beach?”

To celebrate the milestone, Snooki didn’t just revisit the moment—she recreated it. And yes, she brought the original arresting officer along for the ride.

“I literally hardly got any sleep, and obviously, we were drinking a lot,” Snooki told PEOPLE, reflecting on that chaotic morning after a night out at the beloved Jersey Shore club Karma.
“So when I woke up, I was dead, like dying. I walked in with my club dress still on and a blanket. I was dying. I needed sleep.”

But instead of toughing it out during her scheduled shift at the Shore Store, she had a different plan.

“I was like, ‘Okay, if I need to finish this shift and do this, I’m just going to run away and keep the party going,'” she admitted. “I’m going to go get a mimosa, I’m going to go enjoy myself, and then I’ll go back to work’—but then obviously I got arrested.”

The day took a turn when a visibly inebriated Snooki staggered along the boardwalk yelling, “Where is the beach?” despite being steps away from the sand.

“I meant, ‘How do you get on the beach?'” she clarified. “There’s only so many ramps on the boardwalk to get on the beach. So I was so drunk that I wasn’t asking the right question. That’s why I kept running, because I couldn’t find a ramp. And then when I finally got onto the beach, that’s when the girls came and they were like, ‘You cannot swim. You need to go home.'”

It wasn’t long before production security stepped in.

“They were actually with us. They weren’t working for the town at the time,” she explained. “But then it was just like, ‘Alright, she’s getting out of hand. If this was anybody else, we would arrest them.’ So they had to arrest me. I was nuts.”

Despite the arrest, Snooki says the officers were kind and understanding—especially given how scared she was.

“I never got arrested before or got in trouble like that, so I was nervous. I was asking to call my dad. I was like, ‘What’s going to happen?'” she shared. “So they didn’t put me in a cell right away. They actually let me sit down and they offered me a doughnut. They were like, ‘Everything’s going to be fine. You just have to stay here for a little bit. It’s protocol.'”

She eventually did spend a short stint in a holding cell, but not for long.

“I thought I was in jail overnight, but I was only there for a couple of hours,” she quipped. “And then they were like, ‘All right, your friends are here. You can leave.'”

To mark the anniversary, Snooki invited Officer Joe Fastige—the very man who arrested her—to her Seaside Heights boutique, The Snooki Shop, where the two recreated the viral moment on TikTok.

“It was very funny to see him, and it was just laughs,” she said. “He was very nice. We did funny little TikToks of reminiscing and reenacting him arresting me. But he’s a nice guy.”

While the video doesn’t show Fastige “arresting” Snooki again, it does show her sporting her signature oversized black sunglasses and a trucker hat, while an Instagram capture jokingly sees the reality star resisting arrest as Fastige grabs her wrists from behind.

“HAPPY 15TH ANNIVERSARY TO ME TRYNA FIND THE BEACH 🎉 & so excited i got to hang with the cop that arrested me that glorious day 😩,” Snooki wrote alongside a screengrab of the hilarious moment.

Even the official Jersey Shore Instagram account got in on the fun, posting throwback photos from that unforgettable day with the caption: “An iconic day all should celebrate…WHERE’S THE BEACH? 🤣 #jerseyshore #imagoodperson.”

These days, Snooki has plenty of perspective on her early days of reality fame, and plenty of gratitude that she never took herself too seriously.

“I never took myself seriously, thank God, so when people talked about me bad or made fun of me, I’m just like, ‘Whatever, let me live,'” she shared. “I feel like, especially back then, everyone had something to say about us. They were judging whatever. It’s not like we were killing people. We were just enjoying ourselves, being young and single at the boardwalk and down the shore.”

And while she once feared the arrest had ruined her life, she now calls the moment—which spurred a million memes—”just a silly little mistake.”

These days, the mom of three, who shares Lorenzo, 12, Giovanna, 10, and Angelo, 6, with husband Jionni LaValle, spends much more time parenting than partying. But she hasn’t lost her fun-loving spirit, especially when she’s with her fellow Jersey Shore castmates, many of whom are also raising kids of their own.

“We still can have a good time,” she said. “But then we’re dead for a week.”

When it comes to her own children, Snooki hopes to keep the communication lines wide open—especially if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.

“I always tell my kids, ‘If anything happens, you’re uncomfortable, or something goes wrong, please call me. I will come get you. I’m not going to be mad at you. I want you to tell me everything.'”

Snooki Recreates Infamous ‘Jersey Shore’ Arrest 15 Years Later first appeared on Parade on Jul 30, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 30, 2025, where it first appeared.