"Welcome home": Jersey Shore Family Vacation fans react to Sammi "Sweetheart" Gioncola's return to the MTV show

Jersey Shore Family Vacation returned with a brand new season on Thursday, August 3, at 8 pm ET on MTV. The season premiere saw a much-awaited return as Sammi "Sweetheart" Gioncola was seen in a conversation with Angelina after being absent from the show for over a decade.

While Sammi will join the rest of the cast in the following episodes, she met up with Angelina when the cast member DM'd her about returning to the show, where the two caught up.

The cast, the fans, and the producers were taken aback by Gioncola's presence, as while filming one of the confessionals, a producer was heard saying "Holy sh*t" off-camera. Fans took to social media to react to Sammi's return and welcomed her back home.

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"Such an icon": Jersey Shore Family Vacation fans elated by Sammi's return

Jersey Shore Family Vacation returned with a brand new season this week.

In the episode, Mike and Angelina spoke about their upcoming trip to Poconos and since Angelina and Jenni "JWOWW" were still at odds, she wanted to invite someone else. This prompted her to reach out to the former cast member as she tried to convince Sammi Gioncola to come on Jersey Shore Family Vacation.

Sammi met Angelina at her house, which she shares with her fiance Vinny. Ahead of this, snippets of her confessional were featured. One of the producers called her presence on the spin-off "Jersey Shore history" and the "Sweetheart" noted that it's been a long time since she's done this.

"Remember me? I'm the sweetest b*tch you'll ever meet. I can't believe I'm f*cking doing this," Sammi said in a confessional.

As she drove up to the house, Sammi noted that the Jersey Shore Family Vacation season 7 cast member would die when she saw her. She was right, as Angelina was clearly taken aback by her presence.

Sammi explained that she was shocked when Angelina messaged her on Instagram because she was so "anti-coming back" on the show. She noted that she had a lot of relationship drama going on the last time she was on the show as well as several fights with the female cast.

She further noted that although there was a lot going on, she was older now and had nothing to lose, which is why she decided to give Jersey Shore Family Vacation a shot.

The Sweetheart gave the cameras a quick update about her life and told them that she has been busy living a normal life. She further revealed that she has a boutique in Ocean City. The returning cast member then spoke about Justin, her boyfriend, and said that "he's everything I could have ever wished for."

"He does not look like any of my exes but he has muscles and it's like 'Oh I have a type," Sammie added.

She noted that although they met much later, he used to work at Karma, a club the Jersey Shore cast frequently visited back in the day.

Fans took to social media to react to Sammi's appearance on Jersey Shore Family Vacation and noted that she's "still such an icon."

Jersey Shore Family Vacation season 7 is set to return next week with a brand new episode on MTV.