Hold on to your hats, y’all … cuz I gots some sobering news for all y’all. According to a new report from Entertainment Weekly, each of the castmembers of MTV‘s Jersey Shore has successfully negotiated a pay raise for the upcoming new season of Jersey Shore scheduled to be filmed in Italy. According to EW, each JS castmember will be paid $100,000.00 an episode for the new season. If you consider that each season of JS is usually 13 eps, that means Snooki, JWoww, Pauly D and the rest of the overly tanned cast will be paid over one million dollars for the next season of Jersey Shore. AND they get to film that season in Italy!! Sobering, right?

The good news for the Jersey Shore cast: They’re getting a huge raise. The other good news: They get to spend it shooting next season in Italy. And the bad news is … actually, for the Shore cast, there is no bad news. Didn’t you read the above? The cast is being paid a massive amount of money to get drunk and screw around in Italy. For the Shore stars, there is no downside. As has been reported, the eight-member cast has just finished their salary negotiations. Multiple sources close to the matter tell EW the deal has members of the “core group” now pulling down at least $100,000 per episode, especially once you factor in their bonus structure. Each season is usually 13 episodes. (MTV had no comment.) That’s a quantum leap for a group that once made headlines by haggling a raise to $10k per episode for season 2. And, of course, the per-episode salary from MTV is only part of the group’s income, with appearances and product endorsements tacking on additional large sums. (One tally puts The Situation’s annual income at $5 million.) Regardless of what you might think of Snooki, Sitch and Co., they’re not pulling a robbery — on the balance sheet, they’re worth the money. Jersey Shore is like the American Idol of basic cable, delivering huge adult demo numbers that are higher than many, if not most, broadcast shows. The season in Italy, which starts shooting in May and already has the locals lining up to criticize the show, could bring the series to a whole new level.

It sounds like this deal for the “core group” will not include Dina Deena Nicole Cortese. Because she’s a newcomer, she will likely be paid much less than the rest of the cast … but will still make a considerable chunk of change. It is amazing to me that the cast of Jersey Shore gets paid SO much for acting like gross morons on TV. Think about it … a big part of last season’s “drama” revolved around the fact that the JS cast defecated so much into the toilet that it was plugged for days. Other highlights include, JWoww urinating on the floor in bars and on the street and pet dogs defecating all over the house. And let’s not forget how much screen time was devoted to the abusive relationship between Sammi and Ronnie. From the degrading verbal abuse to the actual PHYSICAL abuse, MTV happily aired it all … repeatedly. The end result? An astronomical pay raise for another season of the show where — HOPEFULLY — the cast will get up to even more outrageous behavior. Here in California, teachers are losing their jobs because the State can’t afford to pay them. I’m just really dumbfounded sometimes about the way things work in this country. I have no doubt that the upcoming new season of Jersey Shore will attract the viewing audience to justify this kind of pay raise … which is really the most sobering thing of all.

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