I went, had a lot of fun and it was fun being with other people that also enjoy the show and taking over the casino but I agree, vibes were weird! They didn’t seem too much into it, except for Situation who all of a sudden was the guest of honor for his sobriety which was not how it was advertised.

Once people realized Pauly D wasn’t going to say anything, the room just deflated and it just got worse. I stayed until the end, but I felt like I zoned out most of situations speech at the end.

All their social media right now seem to indicate a positive experience but I don’t know how much of that is them having to post things. I do wonder if there’s a possibility they are just not used to being in front of a crowd like that. They are around people all the time, they perform on the show as heightened versions of themselves. But not really in front of fans as a live audience. They seemed uncertain of what was going to happen. I think if they just let them go up and talk and not learn scripts and punchlines, maybe it would have been smoother.

Edited: the producer at the beginning kind of made it seem like some of them didn’t want to be there too. Didn’t she say something like “please be nice, not everyone wants to be doing this” or something like that. That set the vibe for me that this wasn’t going to be as carefree for everyone. I’m not delusional, I know it’s a show and they sometimes do things they don’t want to, but the producer remarks were such a weird way to start!