- "You like the boobs?"
- —Jersey Shore opening
Deena Nicole Buckner (née Cortese) (born January 10, 1987) is an American reality television personality who has appeared on the MTV reality show Jersey Shore since 2011. She was originally casted in Season 1 but dropped out at the last minute due to a family emergency. She was brought in to replace Angelina in Season 3 and was introduced as a friend of Snooki, whom she met during auditions. She has since returned to the Jersey Shore franchise by starring in the reunion series, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
Deena describes herself as a "blast in a glass". She is always looking for fun and to have a good time. This walking holiday will surely make things entertaining at the Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore[]
Season 3[]
Since Angelina isn't returning, Deena was invited to join the roommates at Seaside by longtime friend Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi. Nicole describes her as another Snooki, who likes to get drunk, be loud and obnoxious, and just to have a good time. When Deena entered the house she was well liked by all the housemates except Sammi. On the first night she accidently stripped down to nothing in front of Mike to which she regretted. Tensions collided that night once Deena referred to Sammi as a c*nt after she laughed at her trying to cuddle with Mike. This argument between the two girls escalated once Snooki got involved and eventually turned into the second fight of Sammi and JWoww's heated rivalry.
Eventually, Sammi apologizes to Deena for her attitude when she first came into the house.
Season 4[]
The show moves locations again from Seaside to all the way in Florence, Italy. Deena is excited to go to Italy and meet a ton of hot Italian men, as well as party hard with her Meatball.
Season 5[]
Season 6[]
Deena finally has her own boyfriend, Chris Buckner, and immediately starts missing him as soon as the first day in the house. Deena also struggles with not having Nicole to drink with due to her pregnancy. She goes back to her old meatball ways and gets drunk numerous times. One day she gets too drunk and starts dancing in the busy street and is arrested. Her mother is furious with her and even threatens to take her home if she continued drinking.
Snooki & JWoww[]
Season 1[]
Snooki and JWoww invite the roommates to their new apartment for dinner.[1]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation[]
Season 1[]
Since the original show ended, Deena married her boyfriend Chris Buckner in 2017. She is still a Meatball and ecstatic to reunite with her roommates. Sadly, it was also revealed her father had passed away, but Ronnie was the only roommate to not send his condolences. Deena was also sad that Sammi chose not to return, but she promised she would defend her if anyone made fun of her.
Season 2[]
Deena is finally pregnant with her first child with Chris, something she has been wanting for awhile. This causes her to miss the Las Vegas trip and is absent for the next few episodes.
Season 3[]
Deena is no longer pregnant and is excited to start drinking again. She is also becoming closer friends with Angelina.
Season 4[]
Deena, Nicole and Jenni have been dealing with the backlash from fans over the speech they did at Angelina's wedding. While she says she feels bad about the speech, the girls are angry at Angelina for feeding into social media. Nearly a year goes by and the girls and Angelina are not speaking. RSVP invites Deena to Los Vegas where Pauly rents out at entire hotel so it's COVID safe. The boys secretly double-book Deena and Jenni's arrival with Angelina, hoping they squash the drama once and for all. Jenni backs out of the trip because she's getting emergency TMJ surgery. Not wanting to be the only girl, Deena invites Lauren along as the two have gotten close. They decide to surprise Mike with the news when they land - which is a few days earlier than expected since Mike gave Deena the wrong date, promptly ruining guys weekend.
When Deena and Lauren arrive, the guys prank them with a bunch of lifelike dolls (like the Sammi doll but one for each girl). Deena finds it funny but also disturbing. She announces her pregnancy with a second child, explaining that's why she's been refusing to deal with Angelina the last few weeks. She makes it clear she doesn't want to sit down with Angelina because of how early into the pregnancy she is. Feeling bad about the double booking, the boys invite Chris and CJ to Vegas to make up for it. This makes Deena feel better, but she still refuses to sit with Angelina. Tired of the drama, the boys decide to throw Ronnie his own dating show. They invite a bunch of girls and Deena helps them interview the girls, hype Ronnie up, and she has a lot of fun. The group vacations together in a fun yet peaceful way for a few days.
Angelina arrives and the boys try again to get them to speak, to no avail. Deena hangs out in the pool with CJ and Chris, instead. Lauren also hangs out with Deena a lot. After a day or so of Angelina being there, Deena pulls Mike and Lauren aside in the hallway, forgetting they were mic'ed up and that the cameras in the hall are on. Deena got a text from Jenni telling Deena not to give-in at all to the boys sit-down request or Jenni won't come at all. Mike texts the boys to let them know what happened, and they break the news to Mike that they're on a reality TV series that filmed everything. For Deena's sake, they agree not to tell her they know about the text. Pauly is also in a new relationship with Nikki Hall and wants everyone to meet her, but only when the drama is settled. He asks Deena and Angelina if they can both sit at the same table for the sake of meeting Nikki. Deena agrees but only if Angelina doesn't talk to her. The dinner goes very well, and the girls have lunch the next day where they bury the hatchet. They admit to hurting each other, accept what they did wrong, and hope to move forward with a friendship in the future. Deena even tells her about the pregnancy. They prank the boys into thinking Deena is leaving over being blindsided with the Angelina drama. With most of the family back together, they go to a nearby waterpark and celebrate.
Jenni arrives in Vegas a few days later and is still adamant on not sitting down with Angelina. Now at their wits end, Ronnie suggests calling his friend Dr. Drew, whose number he has in his phone. Dr. Drew agrees to come to Vegas and help put the family back together. The "intervention" goes very well with grievances aired and feuds ended. The boys reveal they know about the text, which upsets Deena, who cries because she didn't want to hurt Jenni or betray her trust. She feels terribly, though the boys are all on her side because she was put in a bad spot. Jenni denies sending the text at first, only admitting that she could have worded it better. She's happy for Deena that she moved past the Angelina drama. The family slowly starts spending time together as a group to rebuild their relationships. RSVP decides to throw Angelina a wedding redo, inviting Uncle Nino down to be the minister. Deena isn't happy about the idea of a redo because the last time she was at Angelina's wedding it went so bad. She decides to go but sit in the back and not say anything. She does just that, attending with CJ and Chris. Vinny gives his speech at the redo and it's hysterically bad, which ironically, brings everyone back together. The Vegas trip ends on a high note with the family back together and Lauren announcing her pregnancy.
A few months pass and Deena prepares for the birth of her second baby.
Season 5[]
Deena and Chris have their second baby, Cameron. During Roomies Week, Deena shows her support for Angelina when she's going through her martial issues with Chris. She, Nicole, and Jenni see a pet psychic at Ang's house, where the pet psychic tells Deena she has an iron deficiency. Being the hypochondriac she is, Deena starts to worry about her health and she gets hyper focused on what the psychic told her.
During the Florida Keys trip, Deena takes the reins on activities and plans to prank the roommates. She and Chris decide to do a Murder Mystery Dinner and make the roommates think someone got murdered. They get production involved and hire actors to play along. The prank goes well, almost too well; shocking all the roommates and even making some of them cry. Despite that, the roommates have a good time when Deena reveals it was a prank and try to figure out who "killed" the victim. Deena finally got her revenge after 12 years of getting pranked.[2]
Season 6[]
Deena has to miss the Atlantic City trip due to her son getting a virus. Although he gets better, Deena attempts to go on the trip but her flight keeps getting delayed. She ultimately decides to not go and returns home.
Nicole plans a girls trip to Wine Country in California to pitch a new wine for her Messy Mawmas line. Before the trip, Deena and Snooki invite Jenni over to practice their pitch for their "Meatball Merlot". They struggle to get through their pitch as they forgot to think about the important questions and they’re a little drunk. Deena and Nicole head off to California first as Angelina misses the flight and Jenni is coming later. The Meatballs and Jenni meet up at the wine tasting but they’re already drunk before they can even pitch the wine.
Relationships[]
Nicole[]
Deena is Snooki's fellow Meatball and a close friend. The two are very similar in behavior, both like to drink and party. Sammi commented that Deena looked exactly like Snooki when she first entered the house. They often got into mischief together such as ditching work to go drinking or dancing around Italy and falling over each other. They never had an on-screen conflict with each other.
Jenni[]
Both girls had Nicole as a mutual friend, so they naturally they clicked as well. Jenni was also at odds with Sammi and Deena didn't off on the right foot with her so they had a common enemy for a little bit. They both get along great with one another, rarely seen fighting with each other, however Jenni does get a little bit annoyed when Deena and her fellow Meatball get way too drunk.
They remained friends throughout the series run, but there has been a few times in Family Vacation when Jenni was a bit snarky to Deena, usually unprovoked. An example of this is when Angelina came back, Deena made a comment trying to diffuse the arguing but JWoww snapped at her. But Deena has been seen snapping back at Jenni and defending herself as well.
Sammi[]
Sammi did not get off on the right foot with Deena when she entered the house. Because Sammi was on the outs with Jenni and Nicole, it caused her to feel outnumbered and she immediately was cold towards Deena, despite her trying to introduce herself nicely. Eventually Sammi apologized to Deena for how she acted towards her, to which Deena accepted. During their time together on the show, the two have become close, both having supported each other in their time of need. Sammi was probably the closest to Deena out of all the other girls.
When Sammi initially didn’t return for Family Vacation, Deena promised to defend her against all the jokes, and she did just that. Deena was uncomfortable with the Sammi doll and made it known to the roommates, which Sammi appreciated. However, Sammi said their contact with each other faded as the show went on, but upon her return, Deena was ecstatic.
Angelina[]
Deena replaced Angelina during the third season of the original show. Although Family Vacation made it seem like they didn’t meet until Ang's return, photos from 2014 showed they have actually met prior to that and were friends. Out of all her relationships with the girls, Angelina's bond with Deena is arguably the strongest. Deena tries to give Angelina advice on handling certain situations, but very rarely does she take it. On several occasions, Deena comforted Angelina during her hard times. An example of this is after Angelina's fight with Nikki Hall and Vinny, Deena talked her down and told her several times to take a shower to feel better. However much like Angelina's relationships with the other girls, they too have had their share of conflicts. One of their biggest rifts is the infamous speech Deena, Nicole, and Jenni gave at Angelina's wedding and they started going at each other on social media.
Pauly[]
Deena had a huge crush on Pauly during her first couple seasons of being on the show. Pauly never saw her more as a friend, and he also likes that they could pull pranks on her and she'd be a good sport about it.
Vinny[]
In Season 7 of Family Vacation, Deena admitted she hooked up with Vinny "a long time ago".
Mike[]
On her first night in the house, Deena showed Mike her kooka and wanted to sleep with him.
Ronnie[]
Because Ron was dating Sammi at the time and she was at odds with the other girls, he took her side in the argument with Deena and he got up in the newbie's face and yelled at her. They were able to get over that and Deena came to see Ronnie as a brother.
However when Family Vacation started, their friendship became strained when Deena's father died and Ron was the only roommate that didn't reach out to her. Ronnie was also angry that Deena was defending Sammi and they got into multiple fights during the first season. She called Ron a narcissist, and told him to stop talking about Sammi constantly, to which he tried to turn it on her by accusing her of playing both sides.
Quotes[]
- "You like the boobs?" (Jersey Shore opening)
- "Get the frick out of here, you crazy!" (Family Vacation opening)
- "I am a walking holiday"
- "Blast in a glass"
- "Not a good time"
- "A good time"
- "Not classy!"
- "Ooh, look! I have a stone house!"
- "Family Fun Day!"
- "I can lose weight for free! You need about 10 grand to fix your fucking face!"
- "Party two's here!"
- "You laughed at me for no reason! GET REAL!"
- "I mean, I know I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but this isn't rocket scientist."
- "Mike, put down the fire. He's like one of those people, a hermaphrodite or whatever."
Trivia[]
- She is a hypochondriac.
- While she has kissed a lot of girls and finds them attractive, she says she is not bisexual.[3]
- She appeared in 8 episodes of Snooki & JWoww.
- Deena initially auditioned for the first season of Jersey Shore and got the "role", but she had to back out at the last minute for "personal reasons". She was replaced with Angelina Pivarnick, whom Deena would later replace in Season 3.[4]
- Deena met Nicole in the auditions for the series and they partied together a few times afterward, seeing each other at the shore. However, production made it seem as though they had been "best friends forever" when Deena joined in Season 3. They also had Nicole claim to be the one bringing Deena in, when production had reached out and facilitated the invite after deciding Angelina wouldn't be invited back for the third season. MTV thought Deena would add a "lighthearted" addition to the cast.
- On the Meatball Pod, Deena said regardless of Angelina had left or not, she was going to be brought in, but was originally going to come during the second season. However, producers decided to wait and bring her when they went back to Seaside.
- She was interviewed by the New York Post ahead of her Season 3 appearance.[5]
- Deena's sister Joni was adopted out to a neighbor by their mother, and Deena didn't know about her sister until she was seven, which was when Joni wanted to know about her birth parents.
- Deena has several business ventures outside of her reality TV appearances.
- Nicole and Deena have a podcast together that they started in 2023 called, "The Meatball Pod".
- Deena owns a handmade matching family outfit clothing line called Christopher John Clothing, named after her eldest son. She created the line after noticing there weren't many matching outfits for moms and their sons. The brand is set to be re-released in 2024.
- She has a cooking-dedicated Instagram page where she offers recipes and hacks.
- According to Deena, the reason she was in the streets at the time of her arrest is because she was "listening to the music in the cars" since the cast couldn't listen to any music in the restaurants. She didn't realize she was in the streets getting in the way of traffic or doing anything illegal until her arrest.
Appearances[]
| Season One | |||||
| "Sorry Neighbors, 'Cause These Bitches Are Moving In" | "What Did I Get Myself Into?" | "It Looks Like a Little Meatball" | "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" | "Sober Party of One" | "Calm Down, Hormonal!" |
| "Meet the In-Laws" | "Cancun Is Not an Island" | "Sitting Alone in a Hotel Room Sucks" | "Couples Hell" | "My Baby Is Boring!" | "The End?" |
| Season Two | |||||
| "New Beginnings" | "Pregnant Problems" | "Last Call at Club Uterus" | "Now What?" | "Maine Squeeze" | "The Honeymoon Is Over" |
| "Turning Over a New League" | "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" | "Taking the Plunge" | "I'm a Good Fiancé and I'm a Mom!" | "I Might Not Be Engaged After This" | "All's Well That Ends Well?" |
| Season Three | |||||
| "We're Back Bitches" | "Movin on Up!" | "Mommy" | "Liars!" | "I Want a Veil!" | "Let the Planning Begin!" |
| "Baby Boot Camp" | "Oui Can Cook!" | "Welcome to the Dude Ranch!" | "What a Drag!" | "Couples Weekend" | "My Baby Is Growing Up!" |
| Season Four | |||||
| "We're Back, and We're Pregnant!" | "That's Not Very Namaste of You" | "And Baby Makes Six" | "Welcome Home, Meilani!" | "Got Gatsby?" | "I Feel Like a Pregnant Virgin" |
| "Little Hos on the Prairie" | "Summer's Over…Back to the Basement" | "It's Like a Rollercoaster of Pain" | "Welcome Home, Giovanna" | "It's My Bachelorette Party… I'm Single and Ready to Mingle!" | "I Do. Now What?" |
| Season Two | ||||||
| "It's Complicated" | "Oh Canada" | "The Truth About Ronnie" | "Heartbreak Hotel" | "Frenemies" | "The Designation" | "Four Guidos and a Baby" |
| "Back to Seaside" | "Vinny and Angelina: A Love Story" | "What a Drag" | "Awkward City" | "Where's the Beach?" | "Staten Island Smackdown" | "Jewish Barbie" |
| "Pork Roll or Taylor Ham?" | "Wallopin' in Manalapan" | "Ronnie Magro's Series of Unfortunate Events" | "The United States vs. The Situation (Part 1)" | "The United States vs. The Situation (Part 2)" | "Secaucus!" | "The Dude Ranch" |
| "Ranchelor Party" | "Not Again" | "Where's Ronnie?" | "Tuxedo Time" | "The Hitch-uation (Part 1)" | "The Hitch-uation (Part 2)" | |
| Season Seven | ||||||
| "Paparazzi, Poppas, and Publications" | "Reality Check" | "Snooki Night" | "Jersey Shore Day" | "Straight to Seaside!" | "Jets Day" | "Family Meeting" |
| "Rhinestone Cowboy" | "Music City Meatballs" | "Sam and Ron" | "Jersey Hot Chicken Challenge" | "Are You Friends with Her?" | "Jersey Shore Fan Club?" | "Ronnie, Sammi and Justin" |
| "OG Night" | "Happy Birthday, Snooki!" | "The Meatball Party" | "Pauly's New House" | "The Bunker" | "The Meme" | "TBA" |
| "TBA" | "TBA" | "TBA" | "TBA" | "TBA" | "TBA | "TBA" |
| "TBA" | "TBA" | "TBA" | ||||
Gallery[]
Promotional photos[]
Videos[]
References[]
[]
| JERSEY SHORE FRANCHISEe | |
|---|---|
| Cast | Pauly D • Nicole Polizzi • Mike Sorrentino • Sammi Giancola • Ronnie Ortiz-Magro • Jenni Farley • Vinny Guadagnino • Angelina Pivarnick • Deena Nicole Cortese |
| Recurring Cast | Danny Merk • Caitlin Ryder • Jionni LaValle • Roger Mathews • Paola Giaimo • Nino Giaimo • Lauren Sorrentino • Chris Buckner • Chris Larangeira • Zack Carpinello • Nikki Hall • Jen Harley • Vinny Tortorella • Saffire Matos • Justin May |
| Jersey Shore | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 |
| Snooki & JWoww | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 |
| Jersey Shore: Family Vacation | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 |
| Other Shows | The Pauly D Project • The Show with Vinny • The Sorrentinos • Moms with Attitude • Cooking in the Crib with Snooki & Joey • Floribama Shore |
| Locations | Shore House • Metropole South Beach Hotel • Shore Store • Lecca-Lecca • 6 Via Vecchietti • Pizzeria O'Vesuvio |