Snooki’s ball drop to ring in 2011 from New Jersey
NEW YORK — Turns out there wasn’t room for Snooki in Times Square this New Year’s Eve. MTV’s plan to put “Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi inside a ball to drop from the network’s Times Square headquarters has been dropped after an objection by the group that oversees the world-famous celebration.
But Snooki will still drop in as part of “The MTV New Year’s Bash.” Her stunt has been relocated to Seaside Heights, N.J., according to Diane Stabley, borough clerk for the Jersey shore town made famous as the setting for MTV’s hit reality show.
“Like the ball that drops in Times Square, there’s going to be a Snooki ball,” Stabley said Thursday. She said an MTV network crew was in town to pre-tape the spectacle Thursday night.
“We love our Times Square home,” MTV said in a statement confirming the change of venue, “and while we’re disappointed there won’t be a Snooki ball drop there, she cannot be denied!”
Snooki was sent packing earlier in the week by the Times Square Alliance, whose annual gala includes the century-old tradition of dropping its own illuminated ball at the stroke of midnight.
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“It was never intended or requested for Snooki to be in the actual New Year’s Eve Ball in Times Square,” said Alice McGillion, the group’s spokeswoman. “The request to have her in a separate ball on a set-back roof came too late and was too impractical to fit in to our outdoor events.”
Even so, the remainder of the 90-minute special will stay put at MTV’s Times Square studios, with other “Jersey Shore” stars expected to lead the multitudes in a collective fist pump in hopes of setting a world record. The program airs Friday at 10:30 p.m. EST.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
