Heavy/Getty "Dancing With the Stars."
“Dancing With the Stars” alum Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino went to great lengths to hide his drug habit while competing on the show in 2010.
The “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” star, partnered with Karina Smirnoff for the 11th season of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition, became the fourth star eliminated that season. But in that short time, Sorrentino became addicted to prescription pills, and he opened up about it in his 2024 memoir “Reality Check: “Making the Best of the Situation.”
In his book, Sorrentino, 41, admitted that he went so far as to have a New Jersey drug dealer mail him drugs hidden in pens when he temporarily moved to Los Angeles for “Dancing With the Stars.”
Mike Sorrentino Said He Needed Pills to Get Through ‘Dancing with the Stars’
GettyDancers Karina Smirnoff (L) and Mike Sorrentino attend the premiere of “Dancing With The Stars” at CBS Television City on September 20, 2010 in Los Angeles.
In a book excerpt posted by People magazine, Sorrentino admitted that he was so desperate for drugs while on “Dancing with the Stars” that he had a New Jersey-based dealer overnight FedEx him hundreds of Roxicet pills hidden inside pens. The dealer was able to stuff a total of 250 “Roxys” into 10 pens at a time.
“I needed those pills for DWTS,” Sorrentino wrote. “That was one of the hardest shows I’ve ever done. I practiced eight hours a day, popping six Perc thirties every few hours.”
While promoting his book in November, Sorrentino told Entertainment Tonight that he was on drugs the whole time he was on “Dancing with the Stars.” “I was always high,” he said. “It was extremely hard. It consumed all my time.”
Sorrentino previously claimed that his addiction began after he suffered a neck injury while competing on the show. “I was obviously on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and I hurt my lower back and neck,” he told WLNY TV in November 2013. “And by a doctor, I was prescribed an opiate prescription painkiller. And after months, I became dependent on this medication. I had to take it just to go on with my day. And you know, because I had that prescription, I thought it was okay.”
Mike Sorrentino Also Snuck Drugs onto ‘Jersey Shore’
MTVJersey Shore: Family Vacation cast photo
In his book, Sorrentino noted that “Dancing With the Stars” wasn’t the only show he filmed while high. He shared that on “Jersey Shore,” the word “girls” served as a code word for “pills.” “If you heard me on the phone asking someone how many girls were coming to the club, chances are I was talking with one of my boys from home in code,” he wrote. “‘Girls’ meant pills, and the numbers equated to increments of ten.”
He also shared that he smuggled in drugs by planting Altoid tins in his sneakers. Sorrentino compared his smuggling antics to episodes of “Mission Impossible.” “I was jumping out of moving cars, smuggling drugs into different countries within my shoes, taking apart fat burners and reconstituting it with drugs to smuggle it into seasons in Miami,” he told Us Weekly. “There [were] many talks with executive producers and the owners of the show, and they desperately tried to help me, and the whole time I was in denial.”
Sorrentino went to rehab and has been sober since 2015, according to The Messenger.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). The free, confidential, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service is available in English and Spanish for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
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DWTS Alum Smuggled Drugs Into Rehearsal Studio