MTV Warned 'The Situation' About His Problems

Didn't see Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino landing in rehab coming? His bosses did.

Behind the scenes, MTV bosses had apparently spent several years warning the "Jersey Shore" housemate about his prescription drug addiction's impact on the show. In fact, TMZ reports, the network wanted him replaced long before he landed in a treatment facility earlier this month.

He allegedly promised early on that he would get his head screwed on straight, but had to be approached again while shooting the show's third season. By the fourth season, he'd apparently found some balance while shooting in Italy with his castmates, but had regressed again during the just-aired fifth season.

"Jersey Shore" is set to start shooting a sixth season this summer, and castmate Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi has claimed publicly that he's already burned through the millions he's earned from his combined MTV salary and various endorsement-revenue streams.

After the fifth-season shoot, Sorrentino's bosses sat him down again and this time threatened that if he didn't straighten up and fly right, he'd be recast - and it's not like phasing out the original cast isn't an option MTV has already considered.

That brings us up to now, and MTV and 495 Productions reaping what they've sown. It's a show rooted strongly in emphasizing hard-drinking, fun-loving twenty-somethings. Acting surprised at something like this happening to someone eventually is like practicing yoga on a busy freeway, then being surprised when bits of your forehead get stuck in a semi's grill. One would hope that if MTV is so willing to be the enabler here and load this gun, they're also willing to foot his rehab tab and pry it from his hand along with the pills and can of Four Loko.