Buckhead Shore's Cast On The New Show, Joining The Jersey Shore Franchise, And More - Exclusive Interview
While reality television shows come and go, few take hold of pop culture quite like "Jersey Shore." The program — following the iconic crew of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Vinny Guadagnino, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Deena Cortese, Angelina Pivarnick, and more — has become synonymous with reality television success, and has solidified its place in entertainment history for decades to come.
Whether you love it or hate it, the antics of the crew make for some incredibly entertaining viewing, and given the original show's success, it's no wonder that a multitude of spin-offs have premiered in the years since. From "Floribama Shore" to "Snooki and Jwoww," the "Jersey Shore" franchise has kept its content fresh, fun, and exciting for more than a decade now, and there's no sign that the engine will run out of gas.
As for the future of the franchise, attention is now being turned to the latest show with the series, "Buckhead Shore," which follows a longtime group of friends trying to make it in Atlanta's "Beverly Hills of the South." From former flames to old friends and new romances, the gang made up of JuJu Barney, Katie Canham, Savannah Gabriel, Adamo Giraldo, Parker Lipman, Bethania Locke, Pat Muresan, Chelsea Prescott, and DJ Simmons certainly bring it to the screen. Ahead of tonight's "Buckhead Shore" premiere on June 23, we sat down with the entire cast for an exclusive interview, where they dished about how the show came to fruition, what viewers can brace themselves for, and what it means to be joining such an iconic franchise.
The cast recalls how the show came to fruition
Tell me a little bit about how this opportunity presented itself to this very long-time friend group.
Parker Lipman: Kind of a weird story — Katie and I, we've been on and off for the last four years. She's somebody that I love. We were in quarantine together at my lake house and they pitched the show to both of us.
Parker: You can only imagine — being in quarantine, we're obviously already at each other's necks, and then one thing led to another. After quarantine, they ended up filming it, and then Savannah and I are in a relationship and things definitely got messy. It was not an easy thing being in my lake house with two people that I definitely care about.
What about you, Katie? What was your initial reaction to this pitch?
Katie Canham: We were definitely excited about it and it took — from when it got pitched to when we actually started filming — [it] was probably six to eight months. As you can imagine, a lot happens within that time.
Parker and I were not together. He was dating someone else and ... we all go to the lake every year and I still wanted to go. It's still all my friends. I feel like Savannah feels the same way, so we tried our best to make the most out of it.
How did the cast react once they realized they'd be joining the Jersey Shore franchise
What was [everyone's] initial reaction to knowing that you'd be joining such an iconic franchise? "Jersey Shore" has been around since 2009. What was that realization like?
Juju Barney: It was jaw-dropping, especially. I had never watched it before. My mom grew up blocking MTV, so go figure, she went through all that trouble and I end up on the same franchise. I thought it was so awesome.
Adamo Giraldo: Yeah, it was amazing. It was an honor, actually. I watched all of "Jersey Shore." I'm a big fan of Snooki and Pauly D and all of them ... To follow in their footsteps was a blessing to me.
Pat Muresan: [It was] great, a big blessing for all of us. [To be on] TV, and it's a "Shore" series, it's a blessing.
Parker: And people keep throwing a lot of shade that Buckhead doesn't necessarily have a shore, but we take it as a blessing. We're part of the biggest franchise in TV history.
Pat: Absolutely.
The size of the franchise is impressive, but "Jersey Shore" has had such a cultural hold on pop culture and our vernacular. What was that like to know that you'd be contributing to that?
DJ Simmons: It was an honor. Like I said, we used to grow up watching that. I used to have to sneak and watch it late at night because it came on late. I had to be at school early in the morning. Snooki, JWoww, Pauly D, The Situation, we grew up watching them. We always respected them and we're happy to be a part of that franchise. It's amazing to all of us, but right now it's "Buckhead Shore."
Katie: It's definitely a surreal moment watching TV and then seeing your face being on there. [It's a] crazy feeling.
The friend group reflects on taking their bond to the screen
What was it like to take this established friend group — you all have had this past with each other — what was it like to put that on camera?
Bethania Locke: I feel like that's what made the show feel safe and authentic to all of us, because we all had that safety net with each other. We know each other's triggers and everything. We went through it okay as a friend group.
Pat: I feel like we didn't have to hold back at all. We're all best friends at the end of the day and this is what we do. We were followed around by cameras, and everyone was great on the production side. We had a good time. Cameras were turned on at all times and we did what we normally do — argue, fight, whatever it is, have a good time. That's our day-to-day life.
Parker: This is something we've done for the last 10 years, collectively go up on my lake house. [It's] something [that] always happens or unfolds, and this time they captured it on camera.
DJ: It is crazy because we used to always be like, "This s*** should be on camera."
Parker: Yes!
DJ: And then, all of a sudden, Parker was like, "Hey bro, I'm doing this TV [with Katie, and suddenly] it turns into something.
Parker: Can't blame me, though.
Pat: Every friend group feels like, "Hey man, we're cool, whatever, we should be on TV." I've always felt like our friendship is so juicy and there's so much going on, it's perfect for television.
The cast walks us through a day in the life of production
I'd love to get into what a day of filming looked like for you all, your on-set — what, if any, elements of the production experience surprised you, now that you're on TV.
Katie: I can start ... I didn't realize how exhausting it was going to be or how much it takes to really make a TV show. The schedule was definitely time-consuming, but it was very enjoyable and we loved our production and our producers.
DJ: It's more [of] a job. It's not like you're just recording with your friends, having a blast. It's like, "No, we're working, and we're not sleeping. When we wake up, we're recording instantly." We're working our ass off for this show and we're being authentic and real and vulnerable with each other and the [cameras] are there, everything's there. People will see that when the show airs.
Savannah Gabriel: It's like a job. Our whole day is focused around filming and interviews.
Chelsea Prescott: I definitely wanted to say that in the beginning — filming was different because none of us are used to having a camera in our face every single day. The production was phenomenal. Everyone there, sooner or later — it feels like you're not even filming, you don't even notice the cameras around you anymore. One of the biggest takeaways from all of it is, you hated to see them there, but you were so sad to watch them leave because when filming was over, it's like, "Dang, where are they?"
Parker: Also, too, I built almost a bond with the producers on this show and they made it [comfortable] for us. We got so comfortable that we were able to talk about our feelings on camera. That has not always been easy for me.
What can viewers expect from Buckhead Shore?
I know the show is going to be full of twists, full of turns, hookups, broken hearts, everything that goes with it. What can viewers brace themselves for when it comes to all of the on-camera drama that we'll see unfold?
Chelsea: They're going to learn about sexual health and sexual poetry and every precarious situation in the book you could think of. They're going to learn about freaking tree nuts. They're going to learn about the world.
Parker: DJ, take it away.
DJ: When we watch this show, breakups, makeups, sex, love, heartbreak, drama fights. What do you want to expect? "Expect the unexpected" is what I can say. We love to hate and we hate to love.
Pat: [It got] crazy.
It's safe to say we'll see some conflict between you all arise with time. Is that resolved? Do you feel like your friend group is stronger as a result of it?
DJ: You'll see.
Pat: None of our actual arguments really last. We're all best friends at the end of the day and we love each other and care for each other. If Parker and I get into an argument, it lasts for 10 minutes. [If] DJ and I get in an argument, it lasts for maybe a little longer with him, but you know, we all love each other. We're all best friends. We respect the girls. We love everyone and nothing is personal in this friend group.
MTV's "Jerzdays" will return with the highly anticipated new series "Buckhead Shore," premiering tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
This interview has been edited for clarity.