Relax, Sea Isle: MTV's "Jersey Shore" not on its way

Sea Isle City, resume patrol.

MTV's Jersey Shore reality show has not decided to relocate Snooki and the gang to your town this summer.

Not that Sea Isle wants them.

Rumors flew from Cape May County to Los Angeles yesterday that the attention-grabbing series, whose finale debuted last night, would transfer operations to a beach house way down the Shore, in Sea Isle.

Though having Snooki Polizzi at Sea Isle's Ocean Drive nightspot seemed like a natural - with Bryen, lead singer of club favorite Mr. Greengenes, belting cover tunes - Mayor Len Desiderio said he wanted nothing to do with the cast of self-described Guidos and Guidettes, whose stay in Seaside Heights, last summer has been chronicled blow by blow, drink by drink, on the show.

"It would have been quite a situation down here," Desiderio quipped yesterday, referring to hard-abs cast member Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino - who, like most of the overly tan crew, hails from up north (in his case, Staten Island, N.Y.).

Desiderio said his office had been flooded with calls from businesses and residents aghast at the idea of MTV's colliding with all of Philly on the town's no-beach-tag Wednesdays. Sea Isle is a bad fit, he insisted.

"These guys are getting into fights every night," he said. "It's not what we wanted to portray for our town." Seaside Heights, in upper Ocean County, "is more of a New York-North Jersey thing. Sea Isle is more Philly. We're Eagles fans, Flyers fans. It's not a good mix all around."

The town, which promotes itself as a family resort despite its bar scene, is researching permit regulations for filming on public streets, just in case MTV does have its eye on Sea Isle, the mayor said.

Even the owners of Ocean Drive had called him to register their opposition, he added. (At the club, only the woman cleaning the place was available for comment yesterday, and she said she did not watch the show.)

In Los Angeles, MTV media person Lina Schade was fielding calls from Desiderio and a lot of other people with 609 and 732 area codes. She said MTV had not announced that the show would have a second season, much less where it might be taped.

"I'm on with the mayor's office," Schade said. "It hasn't even been renewed."

It was not clear where the rumor started. It appeared on a blog called "Satellite TV Guru," was dissected all morning by Angelo Cataldi on WIP-AM (610), and was circulated around the globe on various Internet sites.

Cataldi wants the cast in Avalon so members can pick fights with the beach-badge checkers, with whom he famously tangled a few summers back.

Others said they would love to see MTV in Sea Isle. On his blog yesterday, Philly journalist Brian Hickey - who used to live at the Shore - gave Snooki a shout-out in a post titled "Please Say It's So."

"I mean, I'm not Guido, but I was Sea Isle's 1998 Irishman of the Year, so I can fist-pump about that all day and night long, yo," Hickey wrote.

But as of yesterday afternoon, with the town - or what's left of it in January - abuzz, the hubbub appeared unfounded. Just to be sure, Desiderio said he would watch the season finale.

"One of them said, 'Let's get together for next summer,' " he said. "I want to make sure they don't say, 'Let's get together in beautiful Cape May County.' "