After her drink's stolen, MTV star gets punch

A cast member of an MTV show filming at the Jersey Shore got a fistful of reality Wednesday when an inebriated New York man punched her in the face during a taping at an Ocean County bar.

Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd confirmed yesterday that the woman who was hit inside the Beachcomber Bar & Grill a little after 2 a.m. Wednesday was part of MTV's latest foray at the popular resort town.

"It's a reality series," he said. "I think it's about Italians at the Shore."

MTV declined to comment on the incident or the show, which according to several casting Web sites is titled "The Guidos," a not-so-complimentary reference to young Italian-American men who frequent the Jersey Shore in Ocean and Monmouth counties.

Seaside Heights Detective Steve Korman said the suspect, Brad Ferro, 23, of Deer Park, N.Y., was told to stop drinking by bouncers at the Beachcomber Wednesday morning because he appeared intoxicated.

The bar's bouncers let Ferro stay, however, and he eventually stole the female cast member's alcoholic beverage from the bar and guzzled it down.

That apparently caused instant drama. Korman said Ferro punched the woman - who was not identified - with a closed fist in the face.

Ferro was arrested on simple-assault and disorderly-person charges. The cast member was not treated.

A man who answered the phone at the Beachcomber declined to comment, saying, "You'll just have to watch the show," before hanging up.

On a recent blog post announcing the show's arrival, Seaside Heights Public Information Director Peter J. Smith wrote that the reality-based show was being kept "hush-hush."

"I can however say that the show involves a group of people who are working in the local nightclub scene," he wrote.

Smith, who could not be reached for comment, said the show included a single, closed set that has been built atop the "Shore Store" on the Boardwalk.

MTV has filmed in Seaside Heights twice before, hosting its Summer Beach House programming there in 1997 and 2002.

Last year, in Belmar, Monmouth County, Mayor Ken Pringle took some heat after he poked fun at female tourists from Staten Island and well-tanned "guidos" who he claimed wear designer jeans and Armani Exchange shirts.

On July 25, American Idol contestant Alexis Cohen, of Allentown, was killed in Seaside Heights by a man fleeing police after an accident in a nightclub parking lot.