Earlier this week we got to meet the charming Mike The Situation Sorrentino and classy Paul Pauly D Delvecchio from the new HIT MTV show Jersey Shore and today we learn that said program managed to amp up its ratings in just one week’s time. Apparently all the buzz about the show has inspired a whole lot more people (50% more, to be exact) to tune in to watch the show:

The cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore may seem oblivious to the outside world as they party, pump their fists, and work out, but viewers are taking note of them: The show’s second week ratings were up 50 percent in its second week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jersey Shore nabbed 2.1 million viewers, a big boost from the 1.3 million viewers that tuned in for the show’s debut. The series follows eight twenty-somethings living together in a rented beach house in Seaside Heights, N.J. It has gotten widespread attention in part because of objections from Italian-Americans who say it portrays their culture in a negative light.

Much of the buzz that the show is enjoying stems from a preview aired by MTV of new eps of the show, one in particular shows female castmember Nicole Snooki Polizzi getting punched in the face by a large man. MTV has decided to pull that infamous punch from airing on the show but a clip of the incident has already gone viral and has spread far and wide on the Internets. After the jump, find out why MTV decided to pull the clip, find out who the douchebag puncher is and check out the clip that MTV no longer wants you to see …

Jersey Shore has only been on the air for two weeks, but there’s almost as much drama off screen as there is on … MTV has decided to pull footage from next week’s episode showing housemate Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, 21, being closed-fist clocked in the face by a man during an altercation at a local bar. Network execs ordered the cuts after downloaded copies of last night’s on-air promo showing the sucker-punch went viral. “What happened to Snooki was a crime and obviously extremely disturbing,” MTV said in a written statement. “After hearing from our viewers, further consulting with experts on the issue of violence, and seeing how the video footage has been taken out of context not to show the severity of this act or resulting consequences, MTV has decided not to air Snooki being physically punched in the face.” However, the fight and its aftermath will be addressed in the episode, which will also end with a message from the loveisrespect and Teen Dating Abuse Helpline organization. An MTV rep says no further cuts are planned for the series.

And who, you may ask, is the idiot douchebag who decided to punch a young woman in the face? Well, it’s a New York schoolteacher named Brad Ferro … here is the mugshot he posed for after he was arrested for punching Snooki in the face:

Of all the shocking behavior on MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” perhaps the most disturbing image fans of the reality show have seen so far came in a teaser at the end of the first episode. In the clip, which has also been posted to YouTube, “Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi gets punched in the face by a man at a bar. Now, the man doing the punching has been identified as Brad Ferro, a New York City high school teacher. Ferro, 24, was arrested for assault and disorderly conduct in August after hitting Snooki at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill, according to The New York Post. Despite the offense, he continued teaching gym at North Queens Community High. Administrators were not notified of his arrest because it was out of state. He has since been taken out of class and into one of the Department of Education’s teacher reassignment centers, the paper reports. Seaside Heights Det. Steve Korman told the Post that on the night of the incident Ferro was cut off by bartenders at the Beachcomber for being too drunk, so he took alcohol that belonged to Snooki and her friends. “That started a verbal altercation after which he struck her in the face,” Korman said. “She sustained an injury to the inside of her mouth due to the punch.”

Up until just last night, MTV had been airing promos for this episode which features Snooki gettin’ punched:

Nicole Snooki Polizzi herself doesn’t seem to mind at all that she got punched or that MTV planned to air it. She seemed even proud of it in a recent tweet on her official Twitter profile:

Negative and Positive feed back are great publicity! Don’t stop now…Watch Jersey Shore Thursday night at 10pm. My infamous punch finally.

If Snooki has no problem then I don’t know why anyone else should. That being said, I can appreciate that MTV has decided that airing the punch might prove too controversial for a show that is already steeped in controversy. They know they’ve got a hit on their hands and they don’t want to jeopardize the show any further. I cannot get enough of Jersey Shore … even without anyone getting punched, watching the show is like watching a trainwreck. It’s trashy but very entertaining. What more can you ask for from MTV programming?

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