Ronnie returns to 'Jersey Shore,' says he's moving to Miami to open a sneaker store

How's Ronnie doing?

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro made a surprise appearance on the Thursday, March 23, episode of “Jersey Shore Family Vacation.” He was shown in his Los Angeles home with his daughter Ariana, 4, packing for a move to Miami.

He's opening a sneaker store there called Sneaker Clinic.

“I felt like I needed a change of scenery and a change of just pace in my life, so I decided to move from LA to Miami,” said Ronnie, who was shown talking to a real estate agent and interacting with daughter Ariana.

Its was Ronnie's first appearance on the show since August 2022 when he had a sit down with Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino at Patricia's of Holmdel. He said he was sober and humbled.

Those themes seemed to be still in place on Thursday.

“In the last couple of years I was in a bad situation and I almost lost everything I built,” Ronnie said. “I almost lost my daughter and I was in treatment eight or nine months, but it helped me grow and it made me a stronger person.”

Ronnie was arrested on suspicion of intimate partner violence in April 2021 in Los Angeles, but avoided jail when a judge in September 2021 determined that the time he spent in treatment was significant enough to forgo a sentence behind bars.

He had previously pleaded no contest to one count of domestic battery and one count of resisting arrest from an October 2019 incident in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, when police were called to a home where he, ex-girlfriend Jen Harley and then 20-month old Ariana were staying.

More:Sammi Sweetheart returning to Jersey Shore Family Vacation, but what about Ronnie?

MTV stated that Ronnie was stepping away from the show after the April 2021 arrest to address his mental health issues. Ronnie stated that he suffered from depression in a clip from 2019 shown on Thursday.

Ariana is keeping him grounded, he said.

“It’s a lot of hard work but she keeps me balanced. She calms my world down,” Ronnie said. “I didn't have the perfect situation with her mother but she’s turned out perfect. She's sweet, polite. It’s like, are you mine?”

Ronnie previously stated that he had a sponsor. Sponsors are used in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and related programs to help guide addicts on their journey to sobriety. Ronnie's sponsor made an appearance on Thursday's show, although his image was obscured, as it was during a 2022 appearance.

They talked about the progress he's made.

“You’re ready to be Ron again,” the sponsor said.

What does Ronnie's re-emergence on the show mean to the return of Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola? The two had an on-again, off-again tumultuous relationship on the original run of “Jersey Shore” from 2009 to 2012.

Sammi stated she's returning next season after opting out of the “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” reboot in 2018 due to an aversion of “potentially toxic situations.”

Is there still a danger of “potentially toxic situations” for Sammi on the show? Time will tell.

More:Jersey Shore Family Vacation: Ronnie Ortiz-Magro returns, wants to apologize to cast

The rest of the roomies were in New Orleans on Thursday, where DJ Pauly Delvecchio has a gig coming up. The first night in the Big Easy was a real spiral, with Angelina Pivarnick jumping in the hotel pool, then throwing a cake at a King Creole statue in the confessional room inside the hotel where the cast is staying.

Chris Buckner, Deena Cortese's husband, started chanting “What a waste of cake!” while banging on the furniture. An employee from Juggernaut Security filmed a confessional.

“Yeah, I'm tired now,” the Juggernaut employee said. “Tired as hell.”

“Jersey Shore Family Vacation” airs 8 p.m. ET Thursdays on MTV.

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers music and entertainment for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore: Ronnie Ortiz-Magro moving from Los Angeles to Miami