You got the gabagool? Because the Jersey Shore girls sure didn't eat it ...

I don't think I truly knew the meaning of "guilty pleasure" until I saw my first episode of Jersey Shore. I had heard how absurd it was and mentioned it to the hubby, so we checked out an episode one day to see what it was all about.

Yikes. I was entertained. I laughed. And for some reason, I found myself unable to turn away and even wanting more once the episode was over. I was hooked.

When I admit my fondness of the show to anyone who knows me, they are shocked. I can't blame them - I'm shocked myself. After all, I can count the number of "shows" I've had (for which I knew the channel and time they came on) in my entire life on one hand. I don't really like TV all that much. And I HATE reality shows. I even formed a friendship at my last corporate job with a fellow reality hater as we laughed and emailed with mutual disdain for our colleagues huddling around the coffeemaker to discuss what happened last night on Survivor or who might be kicked off The Apprentice.


I was very excited for Season 4 to kick off on Thursday. After all, they were going to be in Florence, an even better destination for these idiots to embarrass themselves than high-end Miami. But when I flipped on MTV and first saw my Jersey gals, I did a double take. Snooki was skinny. JWoww, who had a great body to begin with, now looked like she was wasting away after spending all her time off in the gym and eating lettuce. And her skin might just be paler than mine right now. Deena, who basically looked like a troll last season, actually appeared attractive in some of the shots, so you know she's had some work done.

Pulling in at least $100K per episode, I suppose it was only a matter of time before these gals started to make some changes in an effort to look like actual celebrities. But people aren't watching Jersey Shore to see actual celebrities that look perfect. I don't want to watch Snooki running stairs and doing crunches in their Italian living room. I want to watch her boozing and snoozing and acting the fool. I'm sure there will be plenty of all three in the episodes to come. But for me, the show has already lost some of its luster ... just as the girls have started to gain theirs.