NEXUS CONFIDENTIAL FILES

Ray_Robinson: Today we'll go in-depth into the topic of celebrities having a cameo on TV - but more specifically Snooki making an appearance in Supernatural. Why is this a thing, who is 'Snooki' anyway and what was she doing on Supernatural? All your questions will be answered in our special Confidential Files today.

Ray_Robinson: Alright so a little rewind. I can hear you say "duh, of course celebrities appear on TV" and that makes complete sense. But the point of cameo's is usually that famous actors or even singers take part in a show where they are not part of the usual cast and only appear once. In some cases with a special character, like Brad Pitt appearing in 'Friends' of Hugh Laurie on 'Family Guy'. In other cases they actually play themselves or an Alternate Universe version of themselves, like Robin Williams on 'Sesame Street' and indeed Snooki in 'Supernatural'. The point of these cameo's is to surprise viewers and maybe make some cross-overs happen, though on a smaller scale than actual cross-overs (such as the collaboration between 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Bones', where Brennan and Booth hunt the supernatural, and Abbie and Ichabod investigate some.... Well, bones). Sometimes cameo's are even used to draw audiences from other shows for higher viewer numbers.
 

Ray_Robinson: Back to the case we were actually talking about. I can well understand that some of you may be thinking "okay great, but who even is this... 'Snooki'?" I feel you. Because I had no idea either when I saw her in that Supernatural episode. Her actual name is Nicole Polizzi and she was a reality star on the show Jersey Shore. More question marks? I got you ;) It was a reality show set by the beach of New Jersey where the lives of 8 flatmates were filmed for TV. It ran for 6 seasons between 2009 and 2012 and Snooki was one of the 8 people living in the apartment. Apparently things were pretty wild and the star got quite rowdy, which a line from Dean in the Supernatural episode references. Snooki played a crossroads demon inhabiting her body, which Dean says "explains a lot".
 

Ray_Robinson: As explained above, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi appeared as a version of herself. The episode was filmed in 2013, just after her last season on Jersey Shore and aired on TV in 2014. Titled 'Blade Runners', the episode focuses on the Winchester brothers trying to chase Crowley, King of Hell. In order to do so, they summon a crossroads demon for help. Quite to their surprise, this brings the body of Snooki to the crossroads. The demon inhabiting the body even requests the boys to call her 'Nicole' rather than Snooki, taking back her own name after the reality series' end. According to an interview, Snooki was incredibly excited about appearing on Supernatural - as a demon no less - quoting she's "always been a fan of sci-fi shows like Supernatural". Initially hesitant to collaborate with the Winchesters, the demon agrees to help them when they pull a knife, saying: "Woah, not the face! Are you crazy?"