If you meet any Auburn students from New Jersey, don't expect them to give you a fist pump.
While the media's latest obsession is following the antics of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, of MTV's "Jersey Shore," natives from New Jersey say that's not how the Garden State really is.
"Visitors are kind of disappointed to see that the people there aren't like they're presented on the show," said Melissa Edwards, senior in special education.
Edwards, from Princeton, N.J., said she is indifferent to the show.
"I can see why it's entertaining," Edwards said. "It's good to sit and laugh at it, as long as people know that's not really how it is."
Edwards said when people hear the words "New Jersey," they automatically think of tan and made-up people.
"Once people get to know me, they realize that I'm not like that," she said.
Edwards said she thinks part of the reason why there's such a stereotype is because producers choose one club and one beach and only film that.
Parts of the Shore are like that, but not all of it, Edwards said.
Madelyn Timmins, junior in animal sciences, grew up on the actual Jersey Shore and said many of the people on the show are exaggerated.
"Nobody is actually like that on the Shore, except for some of the guidos," Timmins said.
Timmins said she thinks the show is entertaining and enjoys watching it with her friends.
"It's one of those shows that you mock while you're watching it," she said. "We have to see what's going on in 'Jersey Shore' so we can tell people what's right about it and what isn't."
Even though she is able to laugh at it, Timmins said she thinks the show has cast a bad image and made New Jersey the butt of everyone's jokes.
"It's not like other reality shows, such as 'Rock of Love,' because on those shows only the contestants are ridiculed," Timmins said. "With shows like 'Jersey Shore,' the whole state is put in the spotlight and made into a laughingstock."
Other shows, like Oxygen's "Jersey Couture," Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" and Style Network's "Jerseylicious," are all cashing in on the public's recent obsession with all things Jersey-themed.
Edwards has been to the store from "Jersey Couture" and said the owners seem to put on more of a performance since the cameras are there.
"The show gives New Jersey a slightly better reputation, since the customers don't behave over-the-top like the owners," Edwards said.
Edwards described the women of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" as "crazy."
"I personally do not know anyone like them," Edwards said. "Not everyone in New Jersey is rich or acts like that."
Timmins watches "Jerseylicious" and said the people on the show act like some of the people she knows.
"I know some people who are actually like that," Timmins said. "You don't see anyone else like that around here."
Edwards said she thinks it's funny how people are obsessed with the shows and are amazed there are now at least five shows out there all about New Jersey.
"Don't judge New Jersey off of the people you see on television," Edwards said. "We're not all Italian, and we're not all rude."
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