It’s difficult to describe the allure of MTV’s ‘The Jersey Shore.’ Simply said, t’s a train wreck. And yet, so captivating that the show’s stars, self-proclaimed Guidos and Guidettes, have been catapulted into stardom overnight. The qualities that make the show so horrifying – the clothes, fights, language – seem to be the very ones that make it so enticing.
Still, more than once in an episode, viewers might wonder “where did these people come from?” or, “who raised them?” when confronted with the cast’s total lack of decorum.
In their newest issue, Harper’s Bazaar takes a stab at deconstructing their image by teaching the girls – Snooki, JWoww, and Sammi – a little etiquette.
The magazine sent Lizzie Post and socialite Tinsley Mortimer to teach the Jersey girls some lessons:
“Etiquette is about making people feel comfortable,” says Lizzie. Tinsley — who has her own reality show, High Society, on the CW — says of the Jersey girls’ arrivals, “There were some walls up.”
As the tutorial continued, Post and Mortimer encountered additional obstacles:
As a session on handwritten notes begins, [Snooki] doodles, “Thanks, bitches!” and draws hearts around her “boo’s” name (Emilio, together two months).
While the girls claimed to know a thing or two about manners, in the end, they seemed ready to ditch their elegant surroundings and head back to the Shore:
“Which fork do I use? There are, like, four of them!” Meanwhile, JWoww uses her knife as a mirror. “I do that,” admits Tinsley, “but I keep the knife down.”
Whether Post and Mortimer’s efforts resonated with the girls remains to be seen. They are currently filming the second season of their hit reality show, set to air Thursday, July 29, at 10 p.m.
Here are some photos from the shoot, courtesy of Bazaar: