Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino has admitted he felt like he was in Mission Impossible as he revealed the tricks he would use to hide his drug addiction while filming Jersey Shore.
In his upcoming memoir, Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation, the 41-year-old talks candidly about how his $500,000 addiction controlled his life, and led him down a path of self-destruction that saw him smuggling drugs across the world.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the MTV star, who has been sober since 2015, revealed he would store oxycodone in bottles of fat burner and had a number of ‘close calls’ with his cast members.
‘I was never nearly caught on set because I knew that there was a camera and a microphone on me 24/7,’ he said. ‘But every season, every location, every country was like Mission impossible. Smuggling in the drugs and then obviously, I found different ways to to ingest it.’
Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino has revealed the crazy tricks he would use to hide his drug addiction from the Jersey Shore cast and crew
Mike, 41, famously starred in the hit MTV reality show between 2009-2012, before the show later returned to screens as Jersey Shore: Family Vacation (pictured in 2009)
He continued: ‘I smuggled it in a fat burner bottle so it looked like I was taking a fat burner the whole season, when in fact I was taking my own mixture of an oxycodone.
‘Who knows if it was an Oxy 40, Oxy 50, whatever I was mixing. You don’t know. It’s just craziness.’
Mike explained that he knew better than to reveal anything on camera because ‘that would have been a detriment to me… maybe they would have fired me or given me the ultimatum sooner.’
However, there was some ‘close calls’ with his cast mates during press days in-between seasons – with the star describing a particular instance with Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley.
‘There was a close call with Jenni in the book where we were doing a press day between seasons one and two, and I offered her something,’ Mike recalled. ‘She said no. Right then and there, I gave myself up so she knew.’
He continued: ‘When we had season two, I stated in the book that there was a fight at the end of the season that the editors kind of sugarcoated a little bit, but it was really about Jenni knew what was going on.’
Mike starred in Jersey Shore, which documented the lives of housemates at a vacation home in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, between 2009 and 2012.
He said finding fame and fortune on the hit show was like pouring ‘gasoline on fire’ for his inner demons, adding that he already had a ‘problem turning off the excess button.’
Indeed, the star reveals in the 296-page memoir that his attorneys once informed him he’d spent an estimated $500,000 on cocaine and oxycodone.
He previously detailed to ET that he would always keep a large number of drugs on him including ‘a couple hundred Roxicet, which are 30mg oxycodone, then I’d have probably 150 Percocets on me, which are 10mg oxycodone.
‘Then I would have about 100 Xanax on me, 100 Valium, and if I wasn’t traveling on a plane maybe I would have some weed and cocaine as well.’
Mike explained that he knew better than to reveal any drug use on camera because ‘that would have been a detriment to me’ – so he would hide the drugs in ‘fat burner’ containers
Mike was secretly going through withdrawal when he wound up headbutting a wall during a screaming argument with castmate Ronnie Ortiz-Magro in a 2011 episode
The TV star admitted that the fame and fortune that came with the show was akin to pouring ‘gasoline on fire’ for his inner demons
His addiction was still present during his time on Dancing With The Stars in 2010, where he once again managed to hid the fact he was constantly using.
Reflecting on his actions, Mike admitted: ‘When I was in active addiction, the lengths that I would go to to get high, to hide it and to perform in front of the world watching me was really just pure insanity.
His 296-page memoir, co-authored with Andy Symonds, drops on December 19
‘When you read the book, you shake your head like, “How is this even real? “Some of the things and the drugs that I used to take on a daily basis. Or me going through TSA and people would just wave me on through because I was on one of the biggest television shows in the world at the time.’
Eventually the star was slapped with an ultimatum about his behavior by MTV, which helped his road to recovery.
He explained: ‘I was surprised I was able to get that far because my behavior was so brazen. When they finally gave me the ultimatum that my job was on the line, that millions of dollars was on the line.
‘I had to report to Jersey Shore season six clean and back to being The Situation from season one that everyone loved, shredded and ready to work.
‘I did come back, I really was trying at that particular time so that definitely was the push and the start of me trying to turn over a new leaf.’
Considering the large amount of drugs he abused during the height of his addiction, Mike joked that both he and his wife Lauren, who tied the knot in 2018, were almost surprised about how much detail he was able to recall for the candid memoir.
‘I was surprised because that was high all the time,’ he explained. ‘My wife, when she read the book, she was like, “I’m so impressed how you were able to articulate each and every event in moment throughout your life and our story”.’
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the MTV star admitted that he felt like was in Mission Impossible while trying to hide his drug use from the cameras and his fellow costars
There was also some ‘close calls’ with his cast mates during press days in-between seasons – with the star describing a particular instance with Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley
He continued: ‘Those deep down memories and even in that darkness that I was living in and those memories and those details were always there. I had to really just bring them out. I could probably get teary eyed right now because I’m so proud of this book.’
Mike, who served eight months in prison for tax evasion in 2019, admitted that it was hard to delve back into those ‘dark times’ but felt it was important to share his story as a way to help those still dealing with addiction.
‘It was very important for me to be raw and unfiltered for people that are still suffering from the disease of addiction,’ he explained. ‘You see those dark times. They were my test in the testimony. We all know how the book is going to end. It’s great.’
He continued: ‘I’m about to celebrate eight years of sobriety and that’s amazing. I scream it from the rooftops.
‘My biggest flex is obviously being a sober dad, but it was very important for me to really dig down deep and find the emotions and articulate those tough times in addiction, going through the court case, going through the miscarriages, going through a baby in the NICU… I went through it all to get where I’m at today, because the comeback is definitely greater than the setback.’
Mike admitted that it was hard to delve back into those ‘dark times’ for his book but felt it was important to share his story as a way to help those still dealing with addiction
Mike went to prison for tax evasion in 2019. He has been sober since 2015. In 2018, he married his college sweetheart Lauren Pesce, and they later welcomed two children
Mike and his wife – who split for a decade in 2007 – will welcome their third child (a daughter) next March, after recently celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary on November 1.
Another shocking revelation sees the star open up for the first time ever about the day he tried heroin, something he had previously not even shared with his wife before writing the memoir.
Reflecting on his decision to share all, Mike explained: ‘I was comfortable telling that rock bottom story because I eventually used rock bottom as a trampoline. But that was my darkest moment and I wanted to tell that story because I always told myself that I would never try heroin, that I would never cross that line.’
He continued: ‘I had the money, the resources and the status. I didn’t need to go that way. But I thought it was important to tell this story because even I succumbed to it.
‘I was making upwards of almost $200,000 per episode. I didn’t have to go that low. Then once I did, my life was on the line. I could have easily overdosed. I could have easily died. And I wouldn’t be here.’
Elsewhere, fans can catch more of The Situation in the first part of the sixth season reunion for Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, which airs this Thursday on MTV.
Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation – How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison hits shelves on December 19