How Did Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley Become a ‘Jersey Shore’ Cast Member?

Getty Jennifer "JWoww" Farley is photographed at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.

Jenni “JWoww” Farley found fame in 2009 when the first season of the hit MTV show “Jersey Shore” debuted. The reality television star explained how she joined the show’s cast in a 2018 YouTube video. 

JWoww Discussed Becoming a ‘Jersey Shore’ Cast Member in 2018

In the video, Farley explained that when she was 20-years-old she “moved to New York City because [she] had a dream of being an animator for Disney, Pixar, or anyone that would take [her].” She also noted that she was attending the New York Institute of Technology while “working at multiple places.”

Farley shared that she worked at a nightclub called Origins, where MTV was “doing tryouts for ‘Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,'” which aired from 2008 to 2009. Her friend Joey Killeen approached her at work and encouraged her to apply to be on the reality television series. She revealed that she was contacted by a producer who liked her application and was interested in her participating in a competition reality show that eventually evolved into the MTV series “Jersey Shore.” Farley shared that producers requested her to film herself over the period of two years. 

“Every couple of months I’d get a call about ‘Send me a video of this, send me a video of that’ and it wasn’t like it is now where you have an iPhone and you could just be like whatever. I didn’t have a phone with video on it this is 2007, 2008, so I had to buy a camcorder. I was bringing camcorders into the club,” explained the mother-of-two. 

Farley was eventually instructed to go to a hotel in New Jersey for a final round of auditions. She explained that once she arrived at the establishment, she had to hand over her phone. The 35-year-old spoke about the experience during an August 2018 interview on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”

“We were never allowed to meet, talk, we all went to — it’s so funny because it was 10 years ago around this time we all went to this hotel and there were probably 15, 20 of us and they didn’t know which ones they were going to pick so we would have to like slide a note under the door of like what we wanted to eat because we were in a hotel room with no phones, we weren’t allowed to have cell phones, you weren’t allowed to like leave your room unless security took you,” explained Farley.  

In her YouTube video, the MTV star shared that she was notified she had been chosen for the show after she “went through [her] tenth interview.” From there, she drove to the “Jersey Shore” house located in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The 35-year-old shared that she was grateful for the experience because it allotted her a career. She also noted that she met her ex-husband Roger Mathews, who is the father of her children Greyson, 5, and Meilani, 7, while the show was in production. 

JWoww Revealed That Her Relationship With Her ‘Jersey Shore’ Co-Stars Strengthened Over the Years

In a 2020 video, uploaded on her YouTube channel, Farley shared how her relationship with her “Jersey Shore” co-stars has strengthened over the years. She explained that when the original series was on the air from 2009 to 2012, she was not particularly close to her co-stars. 

“Originally ‘Jersey Shore,’ I don’t think we felt like a family. I think the fame, the insecurities, being in your mid-20s, early 20s. The fact that it was like an insane roller coaster ride and on top of it we’re pinned as competition because, you know, people are going to rate us, no matter what, so it’s like you have the cool one, you have the more popular one, you have this one, you have that one, so being young and insecure, like that’s a hard pill to swallow and as much as I love someone I might be envious of them,” explained the reality television personality. 

She went on to say that since the premiere of “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” in 2018, “there has not been a day that [she has not] spoken to” her castmates. 

“Today where I stand I choose like that friendship above all else in this world, obviously not when it comes to my kids, but like they are my ride or die friends and I would do anything for them. And instead of feeling like we’re in a competition, we will truly uplift each other,” shared Farley.  

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