Sober Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino Admits Fame Was Like Adding 'Gasoline to the Flame' as He Struggled With Substance Addiction

Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino got candid about some of his darkest days.

During the Tuesday, May 5, episode of the “More Life with Carl Radke” podcast, the Jersey Shore star, 43, reflected on his drug and alcohol addiction.

Sorrentino, who has been sober for nearly 11 years, is proud of how far he has come.

“I embody the comeback is greater than the setback. My story, my book, is probably like Wolf of Wall Street, but with a better ending…” he told host Carl Radke. “I get tingles just thinking of my trajectory because it's just, it's wild, you know? I used to be the biggest partier on TV, right? You know, I also had my own vodka company. I was essentially maybe even like the villain that you love to hate for a little bit, but that really wasn't me, you know?”

The Summer House star asked whether it was difficult for Sorrentino to tap into his persona of “The Situation.”

“No, it really was at that time when I was in my 20s. You know, I only knew one speed, and that was…that was me,” he replied. “But then when you added substances and you added alcohol and you added fame and you added money, it was gasoline to the flame.”

Sorrentino’s drug addiction was exacerbated at the time by the overwhelming, sudden fame surrounding Jersey Shore.

“It was like a rollercoaster that you really just had to hold on, and you couldn’t control it. The money was coming in at an excessive level. The parties were excessive. The women were excessive. Drugs were excessive,” he explained. “Do you understand the theme of it all? That was sort of the beginning of the end I guess.”

During his early days of filming, Sorrentino was never worried about his substance abuse getting out, because he was “always one step ahead of the producers.”

“It was like Mission: Impossible every season…to try and get past production,” he joked.

The reality star would hide stuff in his shoes in Italy, when he would try to get past TSA at the airport, and even in the bottles of fat burners in Miami.

“When I was being filmed 24/7, I was smiling 24/7, because they didn’t know. How could they know what was inside those pills?” he said.

Every season, the MTV producers would reportedly sit him down to call out his behavior, yet he was “in denial” and would “play the victim.”

“I would call the lawyer and be like, ‘Oh, my God. They’re saying I’m on drugs,’” he recalled. “Meanwhile, when they left talking to me, I would escape. They’d be like, ‘Listen, it’s okay. We want to help you.’ And I’d be like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ As soon as they left, I would call the drug dealer.”

MTV eventually amended his contract to the point where Sorrentino would get penalized if he escaped on set.

Now, nearly 11 years sober, Sorrentino recognizes his negative past behaviors. In November 2025, he started his own treatment center in Tinton Falls, N.J.

“I was inspired probably by my own pain. I felt like they made an example out of me and they tried to bury me, but they didn’t know that I was a seed,” he expressed. “I was just determined to prove the haters and the naysayers wrong.”