The INSIDER Summary:

• "The Jersey Shore" ended back in 2012 and the cast has moved their seperate ways but they're coming back to do a reunion.
• The cast memebers have been posting some hints on their social media about the reunion and would love for it to happen.
• Eye witness posts on Twitter spotted the cast members on the beach in Jersey and speculated they're filming.

Reality TV just hasn’t been the same since the Jersey Shore cast packed up and moved out of Seaside. While Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenni “JWoww” Farley still work on projects together and remain BFFs, and all the Shore girls still get together to celebrate big occasions, such as Sammi Sweetheart’s 30th birthday, we miss the days of t-shirt time, family dinner Sundays, and hungover shifts at the Shore Store. Recently, JWoww said she’d be open to the idea of Jersey Shore reunion, and had even been texting the show’s creator — and given some recent events, we’re starting to think *something* is actually happening.

In late June, Snooki posted a few pics of the girls — JWoww, Sammi, Deena Cortese, and herself — posing together (and looking AMAZING, might we add). As noted above, this isn’t entirely out of the ordinary, as the ladies do still get together from time to time.

But Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino has been dropping some not-so-subtle hints too, posting Instagram pics of headlines from USA Today and other outlets suggesting a reunion is in the works. “We have a Situation,” he captioned one of the pics, complete with that sly winking emoji.

Earlier in June, eyewitnesses in the Asbury Park and Point Pleasant Beach areas of New Jersey tweeted their excitement over spotting the cast filming along the boardwalk.

The Asbury Park Press even reported that the cast was up to something, although the details on what exactly it was and who’s behind it are still unclear. “They were here for a couple hours and had dinner and played boardwalk games,” the director of marketing for Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, Toby Wolf, said.

Asbury Park Mayor John Moor further clarified that while a filming permit was obtained, it caught everyone off guard to see the Shore kids back at the boardwalk, as the permit was from a different production company than the one that originally made the show, and it was for something called “Roadtrip Reunion.” An MTV rep told the Asbury Park Press that it is not an MTV project. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, Snooki and JWoww have been giving fans sneak peeks at whatever it is they’re up to on Snapchat, and while so far all the photos only feature the ladies, earlier in June, one eagle-eyed fan claims to have spotted the Situation and Pauly D in tow as well. Eee!

JWoww and Snooki have both said that a reunion would have to accommodate their lives as moms of young kids who love to go to bed early, but even without a wild night at Karma, there’s no doubt this group would be able to find some fun on the boardwalk. Fingers crossed!

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The INSIDER Summary:

• There have been reports stating that MTV is bringing back the cast of "Jersey Shore" for a new series.
• Those reports are wrong.
• An MTV representative told INSIDER that the network isn't attached to the reunion show.
• The rep said that the new show is a special produced by E! and part of a larger series that reunites casts from popular shows.

Sorry, "Jersey Shore" fans. Reports that MTV is bringing back the hit reality show are totally wrong.

News outlets and blogs have been reporting that MTV is reviving the raunchy and previously high-rated "Jersey Shore" after the show's cast were seen shooting together at different locations in New Jersey and sharing photos on social media.

But they're not reuniting for MTV or a revived "Jersey Shore" series.

"The 'Jersey Shore' filming is actually tied to an E! series," an MTV representative told INSIDER. "MTV and [the original show's producers] 495 Productions are not involved."

The rep also said that she believes the cast is shooting for a pilot that reunites reality show casts.

Though TMZ didn't report which network was shooting the "Shore" gang, its sources said that the reunion special will be one or two episodes and air in August. As the MTV rep told us, TMZ's sources also said it would be part of a larger series that reunites popular shows.

"Jersey Shore" had a similar premise to MTV's "Real World" where young strangers were brought together to live in a house. But in this case, the house was in New Jersey and the cast continued on season-to-season with very few recastings.

It's easy to see why people would get pumped for a "Jersey Shore" return. At the height of its popularity in 2011, the show was viewed by more than 8 million people each week and it was MTV's most-watched show of all time.

INSIDER contacted E!, whose rep asked for some time to put together a response. We'll update once they do.

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LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A driver was forced to gun his engine and jump a drawbridge that began rising as he crossed it with his family.

Terence Naphys, of West Deptford Township, had paid the toll to cross the Middle Thorofare Bridge with three family members in his vehicle on Aug. 1. The bridge links Cape May with the Wildwoods near the Jersey shore.

As he was crossing the steel grate, it began to rise 3 to 6 feet (0.9 to 1.8 meters) because a vessel was trying to cross, police said.

"My wife said, 'I think the bridge is opening,'" Terence Naphys told KYW-TV in Philadelphia.

"He accelerated, and of course then we landed with a big impact on the concrete on the side," said Jackie Naphys.

Police said the landing caused minor damage to his vehicle. No one was hurt.

Authorities said the operator of the bridge was to blame for the scare.

"An employee for the Cape May County Bridge Commission stated that a large vessel was approaching the bridge and they had no contact with that vessel due to their radio being down," police said in their report.

The bridge tender told police he activated the bridge's lights and gates in anticipation that all vehicles would be clear. However, he wasn't sure because of sun glare.

Terence Naphys said he would never cross the bridge again.

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• MTV announced that its reality TV show "Jersey Shore" will be returning for a multi-episode reboot.
• The program will be called "Jersey Shore Family Vacation."
• It's set to premiere in 2018.

MTV's successful reality TV show "Jersey Shore" is returning for a multi-episode reboot called "Jersey Shore Family Vacation."

MTV announced the return of the show on Monday.

"Jersey Shore," which ran from 2009 to 2012, had an average of 9 million viewers per episode at its peak in 2011, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Most of the show's original cast is reportedly returning, including Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, and Deena Nicole Cortese. The only actor not returning is Sammi Giancola.

The show is set for a 2018 premiere, though no date has been announced. 

SEE ALSO: The ocean off the Jersey Shore looks like it's straight out of the Caribbean right now — here's why

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• When "Jersey Shore" was in its prime, it was the most-watched show on MTV.
• MTV recently announced that the cast is going to reunite for "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation."
• The cast was known for their iconic tans, outfits, and hairstyles. And some of them haven't changed much.

"Jersey Shore" was a phenomenon. People loved it, people hated it, people loved to hate it.

These nine guidos and guidettes were among the most recognizable people on the planet. And people have been so passionate about a reunion that MTV finally listened.

From the days of GTL, grenades, and smush rooms, to parenthood and marriage, the cast of Jersey Shore has grown up along with us. Let's see how their lives have changed since the show premiered back in 2009.

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Nicole Polizzi, better known as Snooki, became one of the breakout stars of the show.

When "Jersey Shore" first began, the housemates did not particularly like Snooki all that much. Of course, everything changed with the Punch Heard 'Round The World, when an (ex)-gym teacher punched her in the face. The outrage was national, and turned this guy rightfully into a villain.

After this incident, the housemates and America both decided to love Snooki for who she is: a ridiculous, hilarious human being. Everything she said was instantly quotable; "Where's the beach,""It was like trying to fit a watermelon into a pinhole," and "Meatball problems."

She goes by Nicole now.

Now, Nicole is a wife and mother of two. She's still close with her castmates, especially Jenni. In fact, the two of them had their own show "Snooki & Jwoww" which lasted for four seasons.

She also has her own podcast ("It's Happening with Snooki and Joey"), clothing line (The Snooki Shop), Etsy store (Nicole's Craft Room), and has written three books. She's turned herself into a brand. Not bad for someone whose original claim to fame was getting punched in the face.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino also shot to fame after the show premiered.

Mike's antics got him into a lot of, for lack of a better word, situations. During his time on the show, he got in fights with every single other member of the cast. He actually put himself in a neck brace by ramming his own head into a wall before Ronnie could do it to him. 

However, his personality and tendency to expose his abs all the time made him one of the most recognizable faces from the show. By season 6, The Situation was taking home $150,000 per episode.

• Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino proposed to longtime girlfriend and college sweetheart Lauren Pesce.
• The pair announced their engagement — after many years of dating — through a series of Instagram pictures.
• A "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" episode of the proposal is forthcoming.

We’ve got a situation on our hands: Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino is officially off the market.

The 35-year-old reality star who had once famously warned the world to "Lock up your daughters, handcuff your wives" announced on social media Thursday that he’d popped the question to longtime girlfriend Lauren Pesce — and she said yes!

Us Weekly was first to report the news.

"I have always dreamed of proposing on Jersey Shore, the show that introduced me to the world," Sorrentino told the magazine. "I’m currently living the dream and proposed to my college sweetheart, Lauren Pesce, amongst my best friends on the biggest reality show in the country"

"We are so proud and excited to share this chapter of our story with the world."

The Situation’s Instagram caption situation was decidedly more...Situation-like.

"GYM TAN WE’RE ENGAGED!!" he wrote underneath a photo of the couple on a carousel.

"THE FUTURE MR & MRS SITUATION," he captioned a photo of himself on one knee.

"SHE SAID YES !!! 🙏🏻❤"

Pesce shared the news to her own Instagram via selfie and a close-up of her baller ring. "I said YES 💍 love you forever."

So what's the back story with the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Situation? The couple dated in college, split up before Sorrentino’s appearance on Jersey Shore, and rekindled their romance in 2012. Pesce stood by her man’s side throughout prescription drug addiction (he’s now 28 months sober!) and pleading guilty to tax evasion (he’s awaiting sentencing.)

"She is the one for sure. She's been through you know good times and bad times, the ups and downs," he said to ET in March. "She saw me at my worst and she deserves me at my best."

We’ll be impatiently waiting for this proposal to air on "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation."

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"Jersey Shore" is the reality TV show that you either love uncontrollably, or absolutely can't stand — but either way, you can't ignore the impressionable cast. The MTV reality series originally debuted in 2009, and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. It followed a group of people who called themselves guidos and guidettes, a cast we know now on a first name/nickname basis: Nicole (Snooki), Jenni (JWoww), Mike (The Situation), Pauly D, Vinny, Sammi Sweetheart, Ron, and Deena.

This past April, MTV brought back the iconic show with a revival called "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," bringing back a slew of memories for many viewers. But no matter how much you love the show, there are probably some secrets you don't know about the cast and what happened during filming.

Here are a few surprising facts about "Jersey Shore" that will make you see the show in a different light.

The show was originally supposed to be a competition show.

Although "Jersey Shore" is a fly-on-the-wall reality show much like MTV's hit "Real World," it was actually meant to be a competition show called "Guidos," according to The Hollywood Reporter. It wasn't even supposed to be on MTV — it was originally a VH1 project. As casting searched for the perfect guidos to compete for who was the "best guido," they eventually changed course, and "Jersey Shore" became the reality show we know today.

It was supposed to have an all-male cast.

The show was originally supposed to have all-male cast of "guidos," but producers quickly changed course because they knew making the cast co-ed would introduce more drama.

"Girls entered the mix, because I kept saying, 'Look, the boys preen' — you know, they're peacocks — 'but the girls fight,'" casting director Doron Ofir later told Vulture.

Polizzi showed up to her audition drunk.

Although it may not be too surprising, one of the reasons Nicole Polizzi, affectionately known as Snooki, made such an impression is probably because she was drunk at her audition. In an interview with Vulture, Polizzi said, "I went there drunk, because it was at a bar, and the rest is history."

Ofir said, "Nicole showed up in a miniskirt and she literally did cartwheels and flips. She was extraordinary. Her application was smudged with fingerprints from her bronzer to the point that I was like, 'What happened to her application? What spilled on it?'"

• A 67-year-old woman was impaled by a beach umbrella on the New Jersey shore.
• Margaret Reynolds, who was a tourist from the United Kingdom, suffered a serious injury when the metal portion of the umbrella pierced her ankle.
• Reynolds was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment.

Margaret Reynolds was enjoying a New Jersey beach when a freak accident destroyed her vacation.

Reynolds, who was a tourist from the UK, was sunbathing on the Seaside Heights beach.

Strong wind picked up a beach umbrella sitting in the sand and hurled it toward Reynolds. Then, a metal portion of the umbrella pierced the 67-year-old woman’s ankle. One of the sharp, metal tips went completely through her ankle.

"It was a beautiful day and a gust of wind blew the umbrella. It was just an accident,"Reynolds told the Asbury Park Press.

Seaside Heights Assistant Fire Chief William Rumbolo was able to cut the aluminum part of the umbrella to free Reynolds.

Another beachgoer took photos of the police and fire response at Seaside Heights and posted them on Instagram.

Reynolds was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for medical treatment. A spokesperson from the center shared that she was in good condition.

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Love can bloom in the least likely places. These couples all met on reality shows and proved that true romance can happen on-camera. Though reality TV romance doesn't always have the best track record, these stars turned a few moments of fame into years of commitment.

1. Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi and Jionni LaValle met on 'Jersey Shore.'

This reality show couple may have started out more interested in their tans than each other, but Snooki and Jionni have gone the distance since they met in 2010 at a club on the "Jersey Shore." Digital Spy reports that the couplehad son Lorenzo in 2012 and daughter Giovanna two years later. They married in 2014 and are still going strong.

2. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt found love on 'The Hills.'

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are a divisive TV couple, with Pratt earning a spot on Yahoo's list ofgreatest reality TV villains in 2015. However, the couple remained together after meeting on "The Hills" in 2007 and married in 2009. Their son Gunner Stone was born in 2017, and despite publicity stuntdivorce rumors and Pratt's2010 arrest for possessing an illegal firearm, the couple are still together.

3. Robert "Boston Rob" Carlo Mariano and Amber Brkich kept love alive after Survivor.

Boston Rob and Amber became reality TV royalty afterMariano proposed to Brkich on the live season finale of "Survivor: All-Stars" in 2003, as reported by AOL. After an over-the-top televised wedding, they started a family that now includes four daughters. The couple also starred in a 10-episode series called "Rob and Amber: Against the Odds" that chronicled Rob's attempt to become a professional poker player.

Viewers came to love MTV's "Jersey Shore" over its six seasons for the wild cast members, ridiculous drama, and interesting lingo.

Something "Jersey Shore" is also famous for is the fashion worn by the cast members of the show over the years.

The cast, who all worked at a t-shirt shop on the boardwalk, wore t-shirts and flip-flops by day, and blinged out, cheetah print club attire by night.

From skin-tight cheetah print to baggy sweatsuits, here are the most iconic outfits from MTV's "Jersey Shore's" original seasons. 

When Angelina wore a metallic dress and sunglasses inside.

While Angelina was known mostly for causing unnecessary drama and having a boyfriend, the self-proclaimed "Kim Kardashian of Staten Island" wore this outfit the night she completely ostracized herself from the rest of the cast. After clubbing, skin-tight metallic dress, sunglasses and all, she slapped The Situation, which ended her friendship with both him and Pauly D.

When Snooki wore animal print and neon.

Snooki loved a good skin-tight dress with a loud print, particularly animal prints. She also rocked neon heels showing she isn't afraid to take a fashion risk. 

When Snooki wore a "sorry for partying" shirt.

Snooki wore a "sorry for partying" shirt while seemingly partying. Her boots combined her two closet staples: fur and animal print. 

• Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino was sentenced to eight months in prison on Friday. 
• The "Jersey Shore" reality star pleaded guilty to several charges in January related to tax evasion. 
• His castmates were in the Newark, New Jersey court room as the decision was read. 

With many of his "Jersey Shore" castmates in the courtroom, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino was sentenced to eight months behind bars on Friday for tax evasion. 

The 36-year-old reality star got off relatively easy compared to his brother Marc, who pleaded guilty alongside him in January to filing bogus tax returns on nearly $9 million of income. 

Sorrentino's lawyers had asked the court for probation, while prosecutors pressed for a 14-month sentence. 

Sorrentino was supported at the sentencing by his fiancée, Lauren Pesce, and all but one of his former "Jersey Shore" castmates.

Dressed in black, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Deena Cortese, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Vinny Guadagnino, Pauly "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio, and Angelina Pivarnick met Sorrentino outside the courthouse before the hearing. The only original "Jersey Shore" castmate not in attendance was Samantha "Sammi Sweetheart" Giancola, who wrote on Instagram last spring that she would not be joining the reboot of the show to "avoid potentially toxic situations." 

Friday's sentencing brings to an end a four-year-long legal battle for Sorrentino, who was initially indicted in September 2014. 

Speaking about the case to US Weekly in August, Sorrentino said: "We live our life one day at a time and we're praying for a positive result. You know, my current situation is not my final destination." 

It's unclear when Sorrentino will have to report for prison. He scheduled his wedding for sometime in the coming weeks, despite the sentencing hearing, according to Fox 5 NY. 

The first season of "Jersey Shore" debuted on MTV in 2009 and featured a group of strangers living together for a summer at a house in the popular beach town of Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The show was immensely popular and went on to run for five more seasons, inspiring several other shows including "Geordie Shore" in the UK and "Floribama Shore." 

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• Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi opened up about motherhood and wanting to have more children with husband Jionni LaValle.
• LaValle and the "Jersey Shore" star have been married since November 2014 and have two children together, son Lorenzo (born in 2012) and daughter Giovanna (born in 2014).
• "We're definitely trying to have more," Polizzi, who's promoting her partnership with megabus.com, told INSIDER. "It's just not happening right now. But I would love to be pregnant ASAP."
• Reflecting on her younger years on the MTV reality show, Polizzi added that she would have done a lot of things differently, but she has no regrets. 
• "I was just young and dumb, having a good time, no priorities or anything, just enjoying life to the fullest," she told us. "And I'm glad I did that, because now I just love being a mom, staying home, and being with the kids and not drinking — well my wine, I love my wine. But just not going out and all that stuff, I'm so over it and I'm glad that I got that I got out of my system."

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi loves being a mother, and she'd like to have more children with husband Jionni LaValle.

"We're definitely trying to have more," Polizzi, who's promoting her partnership with megabus.com, told INSIDER. "It's just not happening right now. But I would love to be pregnant ASAP."

The "Jersey Shore"star married LaValle in November 2014 and the couple has two kids together, son Lorenzo and daughter Giovanna. 

Polizzi rose to fame after starring on the hit reality TV show (which first premiered in December 2009), and says that when they bring the show up, she plans to be open with them about the experience. 

"I feel like it's going to happen regardless," Polizzi told us. "My kids are on YouTube already, so eventually they're going to see it and be like, 'Mommy, what the heck?' But I'll just explain to them, 'Mommy was young, way before you and I was silly and drunk and stupid, and do the total opposite of what I did.'"

In retrospect, the 30-year-old says there are plenty of things that she would have done differently on "Jersey Shore," but "if I didn't do it that way, then I wouldn't be the person I am today."

"I was just young and dumb, having a good time, no priorities or anything, just enjoying life to the fullest," she continued. "And I'm glad I did that, because now I just love being a mom, staying home, and being with the kids and not drinking — well my wine, I love my wine. But just not going out and all that stuff, I'm so over it and I'm glad that I got that I got out of my system."

For Polizzi, the decision to partner with megabus.com was an easy one. The transportation service is known for being affordable and accessible, and has been used by many of her friends and fans. Megabus also employs safe driving procedures, like being mindful of speed, checking the vehicle's mirrors, and staying alert. 

"Obviously since I'm a mom now, I'm all about safety and megabus, their first priority is safety, so it kind of just fit in with me," she said.

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• Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jionni LaValle  first met in 2010. 
• The couple has two children and Snooki is currently pregnant with their third. 
• They got married in 2014. 

Ever since MTV's hit reality series "Jersey Shore" began in 2009, the main cast members have been in quite a few different relationships. But out of all of them, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and her husband Jionni LaValle have been together the longest. From meeting at a club in New Jersey to having two kids (and one on the way), Polizzi and LaValle have been through a lot.

Here's a timeline of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jionni LaValle's almost decade-long relationship. 

Summer 2010: They met for the first time during the filming of "Jersey Shore."

While filming season three of "Jersey Shore," Polizzi met LaValle during a drunken night out at one of their favorite clubs, Karma. She brought him back to the house, where the two had sex. Polizzi later told Larry King in an interview that she "hated" LaValle at first.

October 2010: The two were officially dating.

Despite Polizzi's declaration that she wasn't a fan of LaValle in the beginning, the two eventually began dating, and in October 2010, she tweeted a photo of pickle pancakes that he had made her, calling him "amazing."

September 2011: Polizzi and LaValle broke up after an argument in Italy.

Things started to go south for the couple while Polizzi was filming season four of "Jersey Shore" in Italy. During the trip, LaValle came to visit her, but he ended up leaving early after they got into a heated argument.

• The two first met in 2009 and they got married in 2015. 
• After less than three years of marriage, Jenni "Jwoww" Farley filed for divorce from Roger Mathews in September.
• In December, Jenni said she was granted a temporary order of protection against Roger.

Jenni "Jwoww" Farley found fame on "Jersey Shore" and that's also where she met her future husband, Roger Mathews. The pair first met in 2009 and have since had two children. Recently, the two have been in the process of getting divorced.

Here's a timeline of Jenni "Jwoww" Farley and Roger Mathews' relationship.

In 2009, Jenni Farley met Roger Mathews in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

Although viewers didn't meet Roger until season three, the two actually met while Jenni was filming season oneof "Jersey Shore." At the time, Farley was still dating Tom Lippolis.

According to the Daily Mail, Farley and Lippolis split a few months later in August 2010. 

In November 2010, Farley hosted an event at Studio 54 in the MGM Grand.

According to Haute Living, Farley attended the Las Vegas event with Mathews by her side.

Read More: 13 of the most iconic outfits from 'Jersey Shore'

Although she didn't publically talk about it until 2018, in May of 2011, Farley had a miscarriage.

Farley revealed that she had a miscarriage right before filming of season four of "Jersey Shore," which took place in Italy. She didn't open up about this on-screen until "Jersey Shore Family Vacation."

Earlier this year, she told "Jersey Shore" co-star Mike Sorrentino, "Right before Italy, like three or four weeks before Italy, my grandmother passed. And me and Roger actually lost a baby, like I ended up pregnant. Not a lot of people know."

• Kona Surf Co. is a family-owned business in Wildwood, NJ.
• The shop has been making surfboards for over 50 years.
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Following is a transcript of the video:

Narrator: About 158 miles south of New York City, you'll find Kona Surf Company, a surf shop run by a father-son team. Located on the coast of New Jersey, Kona is a surfer's dream, as the shop makes custom surfboards.

Chris Sciarra: Surfing has been in our blood. The whole culture has been in our blood. I've seen my father come back from surfing and he's got a black eye or the board hit him, and our life was built around this sport.

Narrator: Here's how Kona makes its custom surfboards. The process begins by creating a template for each surfboard using 3D software. During this part of the process is where a customer can totally customize their board.

Chris Sciarra: They're able to change what rocker they wanted. They're also to look at the profile, the outline of the board, what type of rail template they want. They're able to see the whole board, shape it in, shape 3D with us, see the water flow. They're able to see all the elements of the board.

Narrator: From there, the surfboard blank, a piece of foam that is in the rough shape of a surfboard, is placed onto a machine designed specifically for shaping surfboards. Back in the day, board shaping used to be done all by hand, and now, this tool can shape 90% of the board on its own.

Chris Sciarra: The process of surfboards has changed a lot in the 21st century. Surfboards is a, you know, artisan craft that is done by your hands. The 21st century, there is a machine element that people never thought that would come about, and that element is relative now. And you're able to cut a board within 25 minutes, and there still is a hand-shape element in it.

Narrator: Mike Sciarra, Chris' father, started shaping boards in Hawaii in the late '60s and then later took his craft to New Jersey. But making surfboards was a tough business, and it didn't last too long for Mike.

Mike Sciarra: I originally started as a garage shaper in my garage at the end of Crest. And then we moved into like a small factory and started our store. And basically, I stopped making surfboards once my family got going. And it's pretty tough to make a living building surfboards.

Narrator: It wasn't until years later that Chris found this new technology and convinced his dad to get back into the surfboard-making business. Once the board has been shaped on one side, it's flipped over to do the other side. Another advantage to machine shaping is being able to easily replicate the board.

Chris Sciarra: To replicate the same board, it's almost an impossible feat to do that hand-shaping. The machine gives you the opportunity to change it by the millimeter and to recreate the same, your magic board, multiple times.

Narrator: Hand-sanding with a very fine grit finishes the shape, which can take up to an hour.

Mike Sciarra: This is the rail guide. So this shows me what I have to choose here. So in other words, from the middle of the board, which is like 4 1/2 feet. My rail should look like that. It doesn't right now, but it will when I'm done.

Narrator: After the board is finished being sanded, it's sent out to be glassed. The glassing process consists of creating the fiberglass that seals the shaper's design. This is the skin of the board that protects the foam. Color can be added to the board either by spraying on paint or staining the foam.

Chris Sciarra: To be able to work in this industry and be able to create boards on a daily basis is a really cool thing to be a part of.

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• MTV has been on a mission to revitalize its brand and restore its reputation with young viewers and women through a mix of unscripted shows and reality-TV shows.
• The network has seen an early lift in linear-TV ratings since reviving unscripted franchises from the 2000s like "Jersey Shore" and "The Hills."
• "We had a strategic blueprint that was really built around, how do we create surround sound over a long period of time so that when we do launch the show on linear we're successful," Jacqueline Parkes, the chief marketing officer of MTV, told Business Insider.
• Parkes also explained how MTV was selling nostalgia to audiences old and new and discussed the data-oriented mindset that the network's president, Chris McCarthy, had brought to the marketing team.
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Turn on MTV during any weeknight and you might think it's 2010, with new episodes from old reality-TV franchises like "The Hills,""Jersey Shore," and "Teen Mom" rolling out weekly.

The Viacom veteran Chris McCarthy has spent the past three years as president of MTV trying to revive the ailing network, which had lost touch with viewers amid the scripted-TV boom. The network renewed its focus on unscripted series — as well as the brands that hooked viewers back in the 2000s — to bring teens and women back into the fold.

As chief marketing officer, Jacqueline Parkes oversees marketing at MTV, VH1, CMT, and Logo and serves as executive vice president of Viacom's Digital Studios. Parkes is charged with getting MTV shows in front of the right audiences, including fans who may have forgotten about the network and those who never tuned in to begin with.

Parkes spoke with Business Insider about selling nostalgia with revivals like "The Hills: New Beginnings" and the "Jersey Shore" spin-offs as well as courting the next MTV generation. It comes down to diligent, long-term planning, knowing audiences, and finding ways to connect with them emotionally.

"We've seen a lot of other companies try to bring back revivals without success," Parkes said. "We had a strategic blueprint that was really built around, how do we create surround sound over a long period of time so that when we do launch the show on linear we're successful."

Selling nostalgia

When MTV premiered "The Hills: New Beginnings" in June, for example, Parkes and her marketing team started planting seeds about the franchise's return in audiences' minds about 10 months out, when members of the original cast reunited at the MTV Video Music Awards to announce the revival.

Parkes had identified three key audiences for the revival of "The Hills," a reality-TV series about a group of affluent young adults living in California, which originally aired from 2006 to 2010. She targeted fans of "The Hills" who still watched MTV, fans who were no longer watching the network, and people who may have been too young or old to see the original series but enjoy similar programming.

"We call them social Sophies," Parkes said of this last group. "They like to be a part of the social conversation. They like fashion, dating, reality TV." She added: "We sized up each one of those targets, and then we strategically identified how we could connect with them."

The announcement at the MTV Video Music Awards reached fans who were still watching MTV. The network cultivated those fans further by airing marathons of the show leading up to the June 24 premiere and launching a pop-up channel on Viacom's free streaming-TV service, Pluto TV, which played episodes of "The Hills" and its predecessor series "Laguna Beach" around the clock.

Parkes used social media and other platforms to pursue fans of "The Hills" who had ceased watching MTV. The show's stars promoted the series on their social accounts. In one example, MTV partnered with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant to have the "Hills" star Audrina Patridge answer questions from users about what they should wear in the morning.

Reaching the 'social Sophies'

On social media, MTV highlighted quintessential moments from the original series and looked for emotional pulls that might resonate with people, even if they hadn't seen the show.

"We tapped into emotional truisms that enabled us to connect with people on a much deeper level," Parkes said.

For those "social Sophies," who weren't familiar with "The Hills," Parkes had to get more creative. Her team worked with the social music app Smule and the artist Natasha Bedingfield to perform the show's theme song, "Unwritten," on the platform, where people could sing along.

During the week ahead of the premiere, a group of young men — who were almost certainly too young to have watched "The Hills" when it first aired — got in on the challenge. Their video went viral on Twitter with more than 26,000 likes and 90,000 retweets.

When "The Hills: New Beginnings" premiered on June 24, it became 2019's second-highest live-and-same-day cable-TV debut among MTV's core 18- to 34-year-old demographic. It followed another MTV revival, a dating spin-off of "Jersey Shore," called "Double Shot at Love with DJ Pauly D and Vinny."

The first metric Parkes looks at for any show on TV is the percentage of the audience watching for the first time. A healthy benchmark is 10% to 12%, she said. For the premiere of "The Hills," it was 24% — close to the 25% the "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" spin-off had.

Ratings of "The Hills: New Beginnings" have slipped since launch, but the show still routinely ranks among the 25 most watched cable shows among 18- to 49-year-olds on Monday nights.

Parkes is now applying the "Hills" formula to the coming reboot of "Making the Band," which originally aired on MTV from 2002 to 2004. Its star Sean "Diddy" Combs kicked off promotions by announcing the return on his Instagram account on July 15. And MTV is holding casting auditions for the series on Smule.

Digging into the data

Parkes, who joined MTV in the spring of 2016, shortly before McCarthy took over as president of the network in the fall, said a lot of the audience targeting the marketing team was doing stemmed from the data-oriented mind-set McCarthy introduced.

"He gets the art and science like no one I've ever seen in entertainment," Parkes said, crediting McCarthy's Wharton business school background for that talent. "We do a lot of data and analytics on every element of what we do."

Parkes works closely with Viacom's research arm, run by Colleen Fahey Rush, to identify the target audiences for each show and where best to reach them. "We do micro-market media buying," Parkes said.

The marketing team may notice, for instance, that "Jersey Shore" is popular with viewers in New Haven, Connecticut, and then work with the research team to pinpoint 10 look-alike markets around the US to buy media for the show in. Those markets could be elsewhere in New England or in places like New Jersey, Arizona, or Southern California that are less obvious.

The rest is still unwritten

In 2018, a year after McCarthy laid out his plan to get the network back on track, MTV was one of the fastest-growing networks among 18- to 49-year-olds with a 17% viewership lift year over year, according to Nielsen data published by IndieWire.

The network has also grown prime-time ratings year over year for the past eight quarters, thanks to shows like "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," which is also ruling Thursday nights (dubbed "Jerzdays" by MTV) in cable ratings in its current season.

MTV has landed a few new reality-TV hits under the leadership of McCarthy and the programming president, Nina Diaz, including "Floribama Shore,""Ex on the Beach," and "Siesta Key."

An acquisition of Viacom by its sister company CBS, a possibility that could be announced as soon as August 8, could offer MTV even more scale and the opportunity to bring its brands to new platforms, like CBS' subscription services, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

"We're launching 55 shows this year," Parkes said. "If I add digital, that's hundreds more ... so we all have our heads down."

The early boost on the cable-TV side is encouraging, but it's MTV's platform-agnostic approach to extending its nostalgic brands —and creating fresh ones — for audiences on digital platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook that are most promising to Wall Street.

"They're not just trying to play the same game of driving ratings on the cable networks," said Tim Nolan, an analyst at Macquarie Capital, which upgraded Viacom to a "neutral" rating in February because of the network turnaround effort that's most apparent at MTV. "If they can turn this around, it's because they know their users, they have mobile, digital-first content, and they can monetize it more effectively through targeted advertising."

SEE ALSO: Netflix doesn't have ads, but it's working with brands in many other ways. Here's what we know about its marketing efforts and partners.

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• New Jersey will be opening public and private beaches starting May 22, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced at a press conference on May 14.
• Earlier this month, the state reopened its golf courses and state parks.
• As of Thursday, New Jersey had over 140,000 cases of the coronavirus, though Gov. Murphy announced that the state has flattened its curve of new infections.
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New Jersey's Jersey Shore, made famous by the MTV reality show of the same name, will be open in time for Memorial Day weekend, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced at a press conference on May 14. The popular strip of beaches will reopen starting May 22 with "social distancing guidelines in place." Murphy wrote on Twitter that "The Shore is central to our Jersey identity and we want to ensure that families can safely enjoy it this summer." 

"The Jersey Shore, after all, is where memories are made,"Murphy said at his daily press briefing."The last thing any of us wanted was for a summertime down the shore to be a memory."

Effective May 22, all public and private beaches in Jersey must enforce capacity and admission limitations and six feet demarcations in certain areas; special events are still banned, and playgrounds, rides, picnic areas, and other water play areas are to remain closed. Restaurants can also to remain open, but for takeout or curbside pickup only, according to NBC Philadelphia. 

Murphy also said that face masks will not be required, but officials "highly recommend" that people wear them, "particularly when social distancing is difficult to maintain, such as waiting in line for a slice of boardwalk pizza."

The governor also noted that the shore towns along the coastline are "a tremendous driver of local jobs and revenues" during the summer season.

Earlier this month, Gov. Murphy announced that golf courses and state parks could reopen with limited capacity. As of Thursday, New Jersey has over 140,000 cases of the coronavirus, with nearly 10,000 reported deaths. The state passed its peak last month, with recent data showing a decline in hospitalizations. 

 "The data we are seeing gives us confidence that we can begin the careful and responsible restart of the economy to get people back to work and begin to set the stage for the steps to come," Murphy said.

SEE ALSO: A Texas mayor apologized after violating her state's stay-at-home order to go to a nail salon

DON'T MISS: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp went on Fox News to defend his plan to start reopening the state

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A house in the Hamptons rented for $2 million for the summer, according to a report from CNBC.

A broker told CNBC the rental was done discreetly, without an official listing, but it's not the only sky-high summer rental property.

Summer rental homes are going fast this year, and are costing more money, as the COVID-19 vaccination rate picks up and more people look to travel as the pandemic wanes.

85% of vacation rentals in Cape Cod, the Outer Banks, and along the Jersey shore, are booked through August, according to online rental hub Vrbo. This time last year, 30% of inventory in those areas was available. 

The company's 2021 trend report found that 65% of people in the US plan to travel more than they did before the pandemic started and 82% of families have already made 2021 vacation plans. 

Last summer, a Hamptons mansion also rented for nearly $2 million, but real estate brokers said it will be even tougher, and more expensive, to rent a home this year in locations like the tiny New York beach locale.

Another broker told CNBC that on behalf of a client he had offered a Hamptons property owner $2 million for a summer rental — and was rejected.

Rental home shortages are directly tied to the shortage of available homes for sale in the US, brokers told CNBC.  Last week, a new report from Freddie Mac revealed that the US housing market is short by 3.8 million homes.

In the past year alone, the median cost of a home in the US shot up 15% from $300,000 in 2019 to $340,000 by the end of 2020, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. That measure does not even begin to account for hot housing markets like Austin, Texas, where the average home went for over $800,000 in March.

Vacation areas have also been hit by the shortage. Home sales in the Hamptons are hitting record highs, up 50% from this time last year, according to data from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The number of homes available for sale is at its lowest level in 13-years, according to the report.

The median sales price of Hampton home — which leaped 31% to $1.3 million — is now 20% higher than the median sale price in Manhattan.

Prices for rentals in the area are skyrocketing as people scramble to find vacation spots amidst the shortage.

"I've never seen the Hamptons market like this — ever," Hampton broker Gary DePersia told CNBC. "As soon as a property comes up for rent or sale, it's snatched up right away."

Read the full story by CNBC.

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