This sweetheart is not sour.
Filming Season 7 of “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” with ex Ronnie Ortiz-Magro wasn’t ideal, but Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola said she knew what she was getting herself into by returning to the show.
“I mean, nobody wants to work with an ex,” she told The Post ahead of the Feb. 8 season premiere.
“Listen, I knew by signing up again that he is a part of this too. And, it’s kind of like, no, I don’t want to be working with this person. But at this point in my life, he doesn’t affect me and where I’m at in my own life. He’s just there doing his job as well. And if we can coexist and work together, that’s all I can ever ask for.”
Her current boyfriend, Justin May — who used to work as a bartender at the cast’s hangout, the now-shuttered club Karma — will also be featured on the MTV series this season, and made the sticky situation easier to handle, said Giancola, 36.
“Justin is like a breath of fresh air. He’s very supportive and he’s down to earth and he’s very understanding,” she gushed. “So it makes it kind of easier for me to even be able to do this because he’s like my backbone, my support system. And he’s there for me.”
The brunette beauty, who was part of the original cast of “Jersey Shore,” did not participate in the reboot until last season, when her surprise return shocked her castmates.
“Nobody had any idea, most of production didn’t even have any clue that I was coming,” she explained. “It was kept top secret.”
When she saw the genuine reactions from her former roommates, who were elated to see her, she was touched.
“It actually made me want to cry because I was overwhelmed with such happiness,” she said. “It was kind of like a surreal moment because they all cried and they all were happy to see me.”
Giancola, a native of Hazlet, N.J. who bought a new home in the Garden State last fall, did admit to feeling some trepidation about reuniting with them after 11 years.
“I was nervous. I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I was like, ‘I haven’t talked to anybody in such a long time. I don’t know if they’re going to like me, if they want me there.'”
Once she settled back in, there was one thing she had to acclimate to — her co-stars’ penchant for partying.
“Oh my goodness. You know, I was like, ‘I got this. I still hang and party,’” she said.
“But then I came back and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I forgot.’ … And I am nowhere near as close as to what they can do, that’s for sure.”