274. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino: From Hustling & Jersey Shore Fame to Prison, Sobriety, and Building a Legacy, BTS of Authenticity, Financial Highs & Lows, and his Superpower

Summary

Trading Secrets – Episode 274: Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino

From Hustling & Jersey Shore Fame to Prison, Sobriety, and Building a Legacy: BTS of Authenticity, Financial Highs & Lows, and His Superpower
Host: Jason Tartick | Release Date: January 19, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this candid and revelatory episode, Jason Tartick sits down with reality TV legend, entrepreneur, and advocate for sobriety, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. Together, they dive into Mike's wild trajectory—from hustling as a stripper and drug dealer, to international stardom on MTV’s "Jersey Shore," to the tribulations of addiction, legal battles, prison time, and redemption through sobriety and new ventures. Mike opens up about his financial highs and lows, lessons learned, the importance of authenticity, and the trading secrets that propelled (and at times, hindered) his journey.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mike’s Life Before Jersey Shore – Hustling Days

[02:02]

• Jason asks Mike about his jobs before fame, mentioning rumors of stripping and drug dealing.
  • Mike: “I wore many hats. Okay. And you are correct, I was a stripper. I was a drug dealer. I was an aspiring model, and I’ll be honest with you, around that time I didn’t really make that much money and I didn’t even have to file taxes.”
• Biggest earnings came “off the books” from drug dealing.
• On transferable skills from hustling:
  “To be a good drug dealer, you have to be a people person...you also need to learn how to pivot very quickly because problems arise, fire drills happen, and you need to know what to do.” [03:46]
• Lessons learned in the streets carried over into business and TV: Networking, alliances, loyalty.

2. Lack of Financial Education and Hard Lessons

[02:37]

• On not learning about money or taxes:
  “In school, they don’t teach you any of that. You know, they might teach you the plum theorem, but I don’t think we use that today...Uncle Sam is your partner whether you like it or not.”
• Mike admits he learned about taxes “the hard way.”

3. From Jersey Shore Auditions to Brand-Building

[07:52]

• Jason: Did you have a branding strategy going in?
• Mike: “I think my strong suit was my authenticity. I feel that authenticity is the most powerful vibe that you can emit in any area of business in any industry...I wanted to bring a larger than life personality that was based on my own, but was just a little bit amped up. And that was The Situation.”
• Modeled persona after WWE icons (specifically, “The Rock”).

4. Financial Highs: Earnings and Branding

[10:10]

• First seasons: $25/hour slinging t-shirts; later, $179,000 per episode (Season 6) + $500k rating bonuses.
  Mike: “So you’re talking about 2.8 million bucks...I had never in my life seen checks like that.”
• Estimated Jersey Shore total earnings: “Probably 20 plus million” (from 2009–2012). [11:48]
• Too busy “holding on for dear life” to invest wisely at first.
• Additional brand deals: Vitamin Water, Reebok, guest appearances (Dancing with the Stars, Jay Leno).
  • Guest appearance fees: $500+ per major talk show spot.

5. Addiction, Mental Health, and Authenticity

[13:22]

• Percocet/Oxycodone addiction discussed openly; prescription drug use began as experimentation, became dependency.
  • Memorable quote: “When you’re wearing many masks or multiple masks in life, I’m here to tell you you’re gonna lose. The best way to win in life is to wear one mask and to be authentic in every area of life, to every single person.” [15:07]
• Struggles with sudden super-stardom: “It’s like getting the keys to an F1 car... and it's the first time you're driving and someone says, hey, take it for a spin, you're most likely gonna crash.” [14:25]
• Now lives by full transparency: “To this day, I don’t drink, I don’t drug, I don’t tell a lie. I try not to even speed, you know? I mean, I can’t afford any mistakes these days.” [17:03]

6. The Jersey Shore Negotiation & Royalties

[17:57]

• First contract: tiered—different cast, different pay. Later seasons: “Most favored nation” for equal pay.
• Mike: “The only reason I was able to [negotiate royalties] is because they gave me an ultimatum and they said we're gonna rep—I said, good luck. So...we told you we're not replaceable. And then we got the royalties.” [19:46]
• Royalties:
  • Paid quarterly; “probably every year it amounts to six figures. Over six figures...You get it for the rest of your life.” [20:04]

7. Tax Evasion, Legal/Life Consequences, and Comeback

[20:21]

• Jason: “Do you feel they were making an example out of you?”
  • Mike: “They did. Even though I handled my sentencing with grace in class. I never complained. I did my bid, I did my community service, my probation, I even did my jail time, paid my restitution. I did everything right.”
• Chose to wait to plea-bargain, hoping for minimal consequences as a first-time offender.
  • Instead, sentenced to 8 months in prison, probation, community service, and $1M fine.
  • First-time offenders in same “zone 11” rarely, if ever, get jail time.
  • Handled prison “like another job I had to do,” drawing on resilience.
• Legal/attorney fees: “Over seven figures.”
  • On financial fallout: “The accountants and the lawyers went through my funds, and they said that you spent upwards of 600,000 do [on] drugs in a short period of time...you’re just wondering if that mistake is going to bury you.” [26:01]
• Despite hitting rock bottom, focused on “the comeback,” using every lesson for growth.

8. Prison Insights and Trading Secrets

[27:07]

• Prison economy: “The money system in prison is like commissary. So people are exchanging, you know, cans of tuna, cans of mackerel, food, nuts, snacks.”
  • “If you’re a people person, you’ll be fine. The same thing in business...If you say the wrong thing in prison, you’re gonna get smacked, you know.” [27:07]
• Celeb status in prison got him respect and “certain amenities.”
• “If you didn’t move correctly in prison, your stay is going to be a very long stay. It’s going to be very uncomfortable.” [28:52]

9. Living Authentically: Advice for Others

[17:03]

• Mike’s advice to find authenticity: “The first thing to do is be honest. Be honest with yourself, totally honest with the man or woman in the mirror, and be honest with everyone.”
• “The reason why I have a successful marriage—Honesty, transparency, accountability. All these things...are characteristics of a successful anything, a successful business, a successful marriage...marriage is probably the most important business of them all.”

10. Legacy, Sobriety and Superpower

[24:23]

• “I wouldn’t have the [addiction treatment] center, right, where I’m helping millions of people now. I wouldn’t have 10 years sober now, which—that is my superpower.”
• “I have things that money can’t buy, and that’s when you’re rich...My sobriety’s earned. My body, my six pack—earned. My family, my kids, my wife, my story—earned. That book is best selling. It’s my legacy. It’s my life. It’s earned.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Authenticity is the most powerful vibe you can emit in any area of business in any industry.” – Mike, [07:52]
• “To be a good drug dealer, you have to be a people person...a lot of the principles in drug dealing can be easily carried over to any business.” – Mike, [03:46]
• “I was not prepared for super-stardom that happens like that. You’re just not.” – Mike, [10:47]
• “When you’re wearing many masks or multiple masks in life, I’m here to tell you you’re gonna lose.” – Mike, [15:07]
• “I never drank my own Kool Aid again after that.” – Mike, recalling getting booed at Trump roast, [13:01]
• “The best way to win in life is to wear one mask and to be authentic in every area of life, to every single person.” – Mike, [15:07]
• On royalties: “You get it for the rest of your life.” – Mike, [20:13]
• Legal low point: “Over seven figures for attorney figures. And they eventually came up to me and said, Mike, the world loves you, but you can’t pay for us any longer.” – Mike, [25:12]
• “I’ve turned my struggles into my strengths.” – Mike, [24:17]

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Timestamped Highlights

• [02:02] – Mike’s hustling past: stripping, drug dealing, and early hustles
• [03:46] – Transferable street skills to business and TV
• [07:52] – Building the “Situation” brand; authenticity and aspired persona
• [10:10] – Salary evolution: $25/hr → $179k/episode
• [13:01] – Downside of fame: addiction, mental health; Trump roast and substance abuse
• [15:07] – Authenticity vs. mask-wearing, advice for listeners
• [17:57] – Jersey Shore contracts and royalty negotiation
• [20:21] – Tax evasion, plea-bargain process, sentencing, and financial fallout
• [26:01] – Upward of $600k spent on drugs; mental load of facing prison
• [27:07] – Prison economy, respect, negotiation, and trading secrets from behind bars
• [24:23] – True wealth: “Things that money can’t buy” and building a legacy through recovery

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode is raw, unvarnished, and inspirational—a real “comeback is greater than the setback” story. Mike is candid about the lowest lows: addiction, financial ruin, legal jeopardy. But it’s his relentless honesty, authenticity, humor, and focus on betterment that define the conversation. The lessons for listeners are hard-won but profound: the importance of living authentically, hustling with integrity, and never taking your foot off the accountability pedal—especially when money and opportunity flood in.

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For Next Week / Teaser

The conversation continues in Part 2, where Mike and Jason promise even more candor, stories, and hard-won financial secrets.

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Summary by Trading Secrets Podcast Summarizer

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by a reality television icon, entrepreneur and one of the most recognizable TV personalities of the past decade, Mike the Situation Sorrentino. Mike rose to global fame as an original cast of MTV Jersey Shore and continues to star on Jersey Shore family vacation with over 15 years of television beyond reality TV. He's a Best selling author of Reality Check make the best of the Situation. He's a successful entrepreneur, investor and a leading voice in addiction recovery. Now with his own addiction centers, Archangel Centers inspiring millions with his platform. Now he's also known as Saint Michael. He lives and dies by comeback is greater than the setback. But also now it's cookies and comeback with bang cookies. They're on the desk if you're watching on YouTube. We'll talk about that too. But Mike, so much action. What a story. Welcome to Trading Secrets.

[A]

I'll be honest with you. That intro was fire.

[B]

Let's go. You deserve. Your life has been. Fire. Your life has been.

[A]

I'm very grateful to. To be here. Yeah. And I'm very excited to have a very interesting and intriguing conversation.

[B]

I love it and we're excited to have you and I want to let everyone know. Go give us five stars in a review and put your email address in the review because we have a copy of Mike's book that we are giving away. If you're watching on YouTube, it's right here. And a lot of the stories we're going to talk about are in your book.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So we're. We'll. This is a big promotion for the book and everything that going on. But let's start with where it all started. And that's before Jersey Shore.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I mean you have. I was digging through things online. I saw all kinds of stuff. I saw that you might have been a stripper, you might have been a drug dealer, you were a personal trainer. Talk to me about like what was the professional life of Mike the situation before?

[A]

Well, I had quite well. I wore many hats. Okay. And you are correct, I was a stripper. I was a drug dealer. I was in aspiring model and I'll be honest with you, around that time I didn't really make that much money and I didn't even have to file taxes.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Of all those areas, where was like.

[A]

Where were you making the most probably off the books. Yeah, yeah. Drug dealing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was pretty good at that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So when like that actually starts from the onset, were you ever taught anything about taxes or finance from your.

[A]

No, no. I'M I'm very glad you brought that up. No, in school, they don't teach you any of that. You know, they might teach you the, the plum theorem, but I don't think we use that today. But I do think that they should teach the kids about taxes filing quarterly, that Uncle Sam is your partner whether you like it or not. And if you don't file taxes, Uncle Sam will come knocking on your door three, three years later. Teach you about the statute of patience. There's so many things that you just don't learn. And I eventually learned the hard way.

[B]

Yeah. And we'll talk a little bit about the indictment of tax evasion and all the takeaways that you can bring to the, to the audience that listens here today in those careers. You know, I always, we have so many different professionals on from so many different backgrounds, and I, I, we haven't had anyone that's been or has any experience in like, in drug dealing or stripping or anything. But let's take away some, like, potential interesting learning lessons. Yeah. What are some things you learned in those careers that, like, maybe you actually still bring to other areas of your life that such impact? Where are some things you might have learned in those?

[A]

I guess that's a very, very good question no one has ever asked.

[B]

I'll take it.

[A]

Well, I mean, listen, to be a good drug dealer, you have to be a people person.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Okay. You have to be a people person. And I have taken that through my whole life into reality TV and into business as well. Also, when it comes to drug dealing, you also need to learn how to pivot very quickly because problems arise, fire drills happen, and you need to know what to do and act very quickly. You need to make alliances, just like in regular business, Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You need to be loyal or else you won't have a customer base or anyone that works underneath you as well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so a lot of the principles in drug dealing can be easily carried over to any business. And that's why you hear a lot of times, I think they said Jay Z and certain people, you know, also used to be drug dealers are super successful billionaires today.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you're, you're clearly a very successful entrepreneur if you, and you run addiction centers. So I'm sure you interact with previous drug dealers, right?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Do you, what do you think the biggest disconnect is between drug dealers taking that path of their career and actually becoming big business leaders in America? Is it education? Like, is there anything that you.

[A]

It could be, it could be the cards that they were dealt. Yeah. And. And that was the hand that they were playing, right? Yeah. But it's a very risky hand that you play. Yeah. Because if you play the hand of becoming a drug dealer, it's a very risky occupation, which those risks sometimes outweigh the positives.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And also I think the shelf life on being a drug dealer is, you know, minimum.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Did you ever get in trouble when you were like, you're caught dealing?

[A]

Oh, yeah. In my book, all the time. I mention a number of close calls. Yeah, I was, I was writing scripts. You know, we were, we had a number of capers that probably aren't the best to, to, to try to pull off. Thankfully, I got out of drug dealing and then into tv and then this is the result.

[B]

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[A]

I think my strong suit was my authenticity. I feel that authenticity is the most powerful vibe that you can emit in any area of business in any industry. But how I evaluated reality TV at the time was that there was no larger than life personality in reality TV at the time. Almost like the Rock was for wwe. Yeah. And I looked up to the Rock at the time and I was like, I just thought the way that he branded himself was amazing. So my idea was to bring a larger than life personality that was based on my own, but was just a little bit amped up. And that was the situation. So everything was based on my life experience, but just turned up a notch.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I like that. And. And then once I introduced it to America, it just exploded. You know, nobody has ever seen characters name the situation, characters named Snooki, characters named jwoww, and the world just fell in love with it.

[B]

It's so interesting to hear about you connecting, like the WWE branding because they've done such. You think about the. The geniuses, right. The Hulk Hogan's, the Ric Flairs. And then you reference the Rock.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that you kind of had that attitude. And so did you like all the characters of the show? Like, did you ever get the chance to meet the Rock?

[A]

Yes. I had met him around 2011 and I had just been named GQ man of the year.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which was amazing. I was on Dancing with the Stars and I ran into the Rock at the airport, and he didn't know that I had looked up to him. He didn't know that I had essentially modeled my reality TV personality after him. And he saw me in the airport and he stopped me and he was like, situation, America loves you. You branded yourself and nobody taught you how. Congratulations. Shook my hand and he left. And I was like, oh, my God, that is amazing. And it was just such a. Such a really, like, pinch me moment that I just, you know, obviously keep. I keep with me to this day.

[B]

Yeah, I love it. And it's also genius because you're like three steps and your three steps ahead. Because in your book, you talk about 2009, the first season, Right. You guys are slinging T shirts and you're making, I think, 25 bucks an hour.

[A]

25 bucks an hour. Yeah.

[B]

But the interesting thing that you said in season six, though, you guys had. I'm looking right now, 13 episodes. So season six at 179K, an episode that's going to be like, that's like.

[A]

2.3 million bucks plus add in a half a million dollar ratings bonus as well. We hit the rating bonuses every year. Jersey show was the biggest show in the country.

[B]

The biggest show. So you're talking about 2.8 million bucks.

[A]

The 500.

[B]

So yeah, so the 2.3 extra 500, you're talking about 2.8. This was in 2000, you know, 9 to 13. So if you take in just inflation, that's around like three and a half million. That's why that's a huge.

[A]

It was. The checks were coming in. They were like $675,000 per check. I had never in my life seen checks like that. You're talking to an ex stripper, an ex drug dealer who didn't have to file his taxes the year before. And then you start making upwards of $5 million per year deals. We got Vitamin Water, we got Reebok, you got extra shows like Dancing with the Stars and other things like that. I. You are not prepared for super stardom that happens like that. You're just not.

[B]

If you think about those years, this first six seasons, if you had to guess in total, like high level, how much you made from your power of being on the show. So being on the show and all the endorsements, like how much in total. If you had to guess how much you made in those years.

[A]

I mean, I never even thought about. That's a very good idea. But we were making upwards of 5 million a year. Right. You know, for a few years straight. So at least from 09 to, to 12, you know, just quickly like that, it was probably like 20 plus million.

[B]

Probably 20 plus million. With that earnings, you know, going from drug dealing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Stripping. What are some talk to. I know right now you're an active investor at that time. Did you make any investments that sore or flop?

[A]

No, no, I didn't. I was trying to hold on for dear life on the roller coaster that was Jersey Shore. The brand deals super bowl appearances. I was on jay Leno Probably 10 plus times. I remember counting. I was on his show 10 plus times when, you know, he was at the helm.

[B]

You get paid when you're on those shows.

[A]

You actually do. You do get paid probably like 500 bucks.

[B]

Okay. Like an appearance shot.

[A]

Yeah, you get like 500 bucks on some of the talk shows, you know, so it was just at that particular time period you're so busy on flights going from this, you know, Donald Trump roast, you know, that was the first time in my career I ever got Booze. Right. And I got booze because I didn't look at the material. I thought who I was. I drank my own Kool Aid, thought I was Mike the Situation, biggest reality star in the country. They gave me the script. I got this, went up to my hotel room at the Trump Tower, took about six Percocets, and then came down when I was ready.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And sure enough, if you don't prep, if you don't do tone, you don't do delivery, you don't practice, if you don't. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And I had to learn the hard way. And that was the first time my career I got booze. Wow. With.

[B]

With the Percocets you just referred to in the opioid addiction, was there any connection to the hardship mental wherewithal that reality TV brought to your life that had you disassociating in that way?

[A]

You asked some good questions. Yes. Yes. I thought I had it under control. But when you are torn and being pulled in every which way, no one's saying no to you. You're walking into a mall. You need to leave, because you're being chased. Okay. You're pulling in so much money you don't even know what to do with. And then you're just also questioning yourself in your life. How did I get to this point? And why do people love me so much? What is so special about me? And I write that in my book. And it's just something that you would. You sort of try to reconcile with yourself, and all while, you know, you're also trying to. You're really just trying to hang on. On a roller coaster that's just going way too fast. It's like this. It's like getting the keys to an F1 car. Yeah, right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's the first time you're driving and someone says, hey, take it. Take it for a spin, you're most likely gonna crash around your first corner for sure.

[B]

Y. It makes sense, actually. It's an unbelievable analogy. When you take the six Percocets you take before the Donald Trump roast. I'm just trying to.

[A]

There were six. There were six 30 milligram rocker sets.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So essentially, if a Percocet could be a 5 or a 10, but a rocket is a 30 milligram oxycodone. So it's like three Percocet tens in.

[B]

One, and the hat is a. That's a. That's. Yes, That's a. Fucking God.

[A]

Yes. Yes.

[B]

That's a Lot of action. When you take that though, are you taking it because. Because you're getting nervous for it. Does it help numb you? Does it cool you out? Like, what was the thought?

[A]

It started out as just experimentation. Yeah. I was always the leader of bad decisions. You know, no one had to tell me to do anything. I was just wild. I was curious. And as you know, curiosity killed the cat. Yeah, right. So I started out as experimentation, turned into a dependency. So now you're one of the biggest reality stars in the country. You have all these brand deals, millions of dollars coming in, but you have this debilitating addiction that you're hiding beneath the scenes. You're hiding it from production, you're hiding it from family, friends, your team. And when you're wearing many masks or multiple masks in life, I'm here to tell you you're gonna lose. The best way to win in life is to wear one mask and to be authentic in every area of life, to every single person. Transparency, accountability, integrity, strength and honor.

[B]

Deep. Those are trading secrets in itself. I think it's so cool, even from where we started with you talking about your stripper drug dealing days, to this conversation now to now, owning and having a huge impact with Archangel's Centers impacting so many people. Like, without going through that path today, you aren't impacting the people that you are and helping inspire people. And I think it's. It's really just a testament to growth, learning, and everything that you just said. One quick follow up to that though. I think you clearly live in a state of authenticity. I think you have since day one. Honestly, I just think you've grown. It feels like you've grown so much as a human. So your current state of authenticity is helping so many people today. A lot of people overuse the word like raw and unfiltered and authentic. You actually do it, though. You do it in your life. You've done it for decades. You do it in your job, you do it in your and your marriage. You do it as a father. People that are struggling to find their authentic self.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How. What advice would you give them to find their authentic self?

[A]

That is a very good question. I would have to say you. The first thing to. To do is be honest. Be honest with yourself, totally honest with the man or woman in the mirror, and be honest with everyone to this day. I don't drink, I don't drug, I don't tell a lie. I try not to even speed, you know, I mean, I can't afford any mistakes these days.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know the reason why I have a successful marriage, Honesty, transparency, accountability. All these things that I'm mentioning to you are characteristics of a successful anything, a successful business, a successful marriage. And essentially marriage is probably the most important business of them all.

[B]

Yeah, that's true. We'll talk about that love and money in just a minute. Before we do, I kind of want to wrap up the earnings of Jersey short. I want to wrap it up with your strategy of negotiation. I believe that Jersey Shore contracts were most favored nation. Right, right.

[A]

The second one, not the first one.

[B]

The second one was. Okay, so with your negotiation strategy and your branding, what are things you did within a 4 year period to go from 25 bucks an hour, 5k a season to 2.5 million in a season?

[A]

Yeah. The first one, which was Jersey Shore franchise, that one was not favored nations. That one was a, a tiered contract.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Certain people got paid certain amounts and others got paid a certain amount. And then also there was royalties attached to that as well.

[B]

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[A]

It's very, very hard to do that.

[B]

It's pretty much impossible. And you were able to do that.

[A]

The only reason I was able to do that is because they gave me an ultimatum and they said we're gonna rep I said, good luck. So when we came to the deal table, we said, ah, we told you we're not replaceable. And then we got the royalties.

[B]

And so how do Royal do royalties still pay out today? How does it look?

[A]

100%.

[B]

How much you get for that?

[A]

You get them quarterly.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Probably every year. It amounts to six figures. Over six figures.

[B]

Wow, that's unbelievable. That's like a pension right there.

[A]

It is. You get it for the rest of your life.

[B]

That is a beautiful thing. All right. Moving a little bit from Jersey Shore. We talked a little bit about your financial education. You are indicted for tax evasion.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And it felt like. I remember, I'll never forget when I saw that. It felt like they were making a little bit of an example of you. Do you feel that they were?

[A]

They did. Even though I handled my sentencing with grace in class.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I never complained. I did my bid, I did my community service, my probation. I even did my, my jail time, paid my restitution. I did everything right. Right. But facts is facts. I held out up until about a week before the trial for my tax evasion case. And I held out on purpose because I was holding out to get the best plea bargain. So the reason why you do that is because you want to get in the zone where the judge can afford to give you probation or community service without a variance means. Variance means to go from other one level to another. Okay. So I held out to the last week and they gave me the zone, which was zone 11, which afforded me probation, community service, and then at worst case, some jail time. When they gave me that information, I was in my apartment in New Jersey with my, my fiance at the time, who's now my wife. And we were so happy because we're like, oh, my God, we're going to survive this thing, you know? And I took a picture. I believe it's in my book. And with me signing my plea bargain. Because essentially you thought along with being a first time offender.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No one ever in the state of New Jersey has gotten jail time in that zone 11. Right. And has been a first time offender. So I was all but guaranteed.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So when it came time for sentencing, I sat there with my suit like, oh, my God. I. I held out the whole time, you know, I'm gonna survive this thing. And judge just laid down the hammer and she gave me a combination of all the above. Probation, community service, 500 hours jail time, and a million dollar fine.

[B]

And it was. And it was eight months. Right.

[A]

And it was eight months in prison. Yeah. And I'll be honest with you, I handled it like it was. I'll be honest with you, I handled it like it was just another show I had to go do. Wow. I was so used to being sent to this show, being sent to that show, Big Brother across to England, and I. I used to call myself the air support. I was just flying over and I was a great earner, making good money, flying here to that show, this endorsement. And when I had to go do prison, I was like, this is just another job I gotta do. And I held my head high with grace in class, and I completed every single thing that I had to do. I actually had my probation officer reach out to me recently and tell me how proud she is of me and my story and my progress and my sentiment. It's a really beautiful moment for me.

[B]

Given where you are today. And you think about 2010, your GQ Sensation of the Year. You're making 5 million bucks. Plus, I think your brother's your manager at that time, comes to you and be like, mike, should we file?

[A]

And you're like, that was my fault.

[B]

That was right. And you were my fault. No, my question is, knowing what you know now, what like, like verbatim, what would you tell that Mike? What would you tell him?

[A]

I mean, listen, if you've ever watched, like, time travel movies, if you change something in the past, you change something in the future.

[B]

That's a good point.

[A]

Right? So.

[B]

That's a good point.

[A]

I wouldn't be the man I am today. Right. If I didn't learn from my mistakes. Right. Right now I'm the hardest worker in the room. I'm an amazing husband. I'm an amazing father. I'm an amazing employee. I'm an amazing. I try to be amazing at everything that I do. When I was younger, I was like a C student. I was like half assing everything. And I just thought everybody loved me, you know?

[B]

That's a good point. Because if you told that Mike to do something differently, that mic then wouldn't be this mic today.

[A]

Yeah. Ye. Yeah, I've. Listen, I've turned my struggles into my strengths.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

I wouldn't have the center, right, where I'm helping millions of people now. I wouldn't have 10 years sober now, which. That is my superpower. Right? I have seven years of marriage in a happy, healthy marriage. I have things that money can't buy, and that's when you're rich to have things that money can't buy. My sobriety's earn My body, my six pack. Earned. My family, my kids, my wife, my story. Earned. That book is best selling. It's my legacy. It's my life. It's earned. So I actually just got tingle saying all this. It's true.

[B]

It is true. It's the reality. And it's all earned. I love the idea that you would tell that person to do nothing because you wouldn't be who you are today. How much. If you had to analyze that entire process, how much between attorney fees and everything, how much did that cost you?

[A]

Yes, over seven figures for attorney figures. And they eventually came up to me and said, Mike, the world loves you, but you can't pay for us any longer. And they shook my hand and they had to leave me. And I had no attorney going into this case, this giant case, United States versus Mike situation. And the stress is, and anxiety is. It's unimaginable when your fate lie in the balance, your freedom lie in the balance, and you're on reality tv, which, you know, your, your employment is, is, doesn't have the most long, sturdy, foundational longevity.

[B]

Yeah. For sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When. So when you, you're making 20 plus million, all this, we talked about that you're spending this on attorneys. By the time you actually go to prison, have you depleted most of that money?

[A]

Yes. The, the accountants and the lawyers went through my funds and they said that you spent upwards of 600,000 do drugs in a short period of time. And my eyes just widened like, oh, wow. You know, and you're, and you're just wondering if that mistake is going to bury you. Right. But you got to have that warrior spirit inside to just never give up. And, and just, just you're like, you know what? I know I'm going to find a way somehow. And long story short, I just never gave up. And I eventually found a way out of, out of that. And now I'm like the poster child for the comeback is, is greater than.

[B]

The setback a comeback is greater than. And we got bang cookies on the side of it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

While I have someone very close to me in my life that went to prison for roughly around a year. And he has talked very openly about what he learned in prison and how it shaped him. We talked a little bit about each of your chapters.

[A]

Yeah. You got to know how to move. Yeah.

[B]

What in prison is something maybe behind the scenes or a trading secret that you learned that like, you might still carry today. Or you think about, you're like, I wouldn't have learned that if I didn't have that experience.

[A]

Well, it all comes down to knowing how to move in prison. And if you're a people person, you'll be fine. And the same thing in business. And, and it just, if you say the wrong thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In prison, you're gonna get smacked, you know.

[B]

Did you ever have to fight in prison?

[A]

No, no, I never did. I was, I was very well liked in prison. You know, they, you know, I was afforded certain amenities. So did they respected you for your celebrity? They respected me because of my celebrity, but also they real was a, a bad boy trying to turn good. And that was respected in prison.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Yeah. And they looked out for me. I got, you know, certain amenities and certain TV rights, certain extra food and nobody, nobody messed with me.

[B]

How does a money show and career show. How does money work in prison? Like, do you have access to your money? How does that work?

[A]

Yes, it's. The money system in prison is like commissary. So people are exchanging, you know, cans of tuna, cans of mackerel, food, nuts, snacks.

[B]

How are you getting those goods there?

[A]

There is essentially like a store in prison and you get a certain amount of money per week and you can go to the store and get stuff.

[B]

Can wealthier people put more money on, like, their card?

[A]

Yes, yes, you can. But I'm sure there's a cap so.

[B]

You could buy like more goods to trade.

[A]

Yeah, there, there's. And then people.

[B]

That's business. Like, that's business. Right. Like those are more business.

[A]

Less people would be trading things and making food, trading other things and trading TV rights, you know, like the, you know, like that TV's mine. I want to watch my nine o' clock show. And if somebody didn't put that show on, there could be a fight, you know. Yeah, yeah. If you didn't move correctly in prison, your, your stay is going to be a very long stay. It's going to be very uncomfortable.

[B]

Unbelievable. It's so interesting to learn this stuff. Ding, ding, ding. We are at Denver Airport. It is zone three. Actually boarding my plane right, right now. So we're going to have a five minute recap because it is mayhem. Coming from Denver, Colorado, heading to Miami in partnership with Dell for the national championship. One of the best episodes I think we've ever had on Trading Secrets. Of course, this is a part one. Part two coming next week. Remember to give us five star review because we have a signed book to give away from Mike the situation from Jersey Shore. David, what are you thinking?

[C]

I love that it's a part one. I love that it's a quick recap because we only got five minutes and I don't want. I don't want to share all my thoughts. I need the anticipation to build until next week. Because, Jason, I'll say this really short and sweet. This is my favorite episode of Trading Secrets we've ever recorded.

[B]

Wow, that is cr. I mean, for. For a little tease. This might even be a tease recap in the next. In the next episode, you get tears, you get chills, you get laughs. You get such intense emotion. That's the part two. Even the part one's intense. I mean, David, what from the top, top. Like, you think the beginning of this episode when he comes out firing, talking about stripper, being a stripper, being a drug dealer, being that, you know, a personal trainer. Like, I mean, just the. The precipitate, like, yeah, it's great.

[A]

He.

[C]

He's everything we've ever wanted out of a guest in terms of transparency. Okay. That's one of his four core values to his being transparent. So everything we've ever want to guess is transparency. He goes. And honestly, like, he's so just confident in where he is. He is self reflective. He is. His self assessment is bang on. He doesn hide, he doesn't run. Trading Secrets is Trading Secrets. It's. At the end of the day, our podcast is a self help podcast. We try and give secrets of null. Of institutions, of. Of industries, of people's behavior, people's successes to take into our lives to better us. Here is someone who's done that in his own life, and he's so transparent about it, and it's so beautiful and it'll bleed all the way until part two. But, yeah, he come out swinging. He had my attention early and, man, I just. I just respect the hell out of him.

[A]

The.

[C]

It just captivated me. Like, I am fired up to go into a deep dive about this after part two.

[B]

And it's even crazy how, like, each part of his story connects, right? Like, his time as a drug dealer connects to his negotiation tactics when he was negotiating for how much they got paid episodically, to how that, you know, served him his skill set in prison to his full turnaround, recovery and growth to where he is today. And a lot of that you see in part two, it was crazy to see, you know, from the early standpoint, they go from making, you know, 25 bucks an hour, $5,000 a season to upwards of 179,000 per episode. What he stated some of the seasons going 30 episodes. I mean, this Is. I mean, it's unbelievable. It's royalty. In reality tv. We see, you know, Dance with the Stars. We've had people come on, talk about, you know, they make around 250,000 plus incentives, right? We've had special forces come on and talk about how much they make. I mean, this is next level.

[C]

This guy's resume is insane. GQ man of the year. He's just casually drops. He's been on Dancing with the Stars. He's making, you know, 5 million a year in his prime. He's got 35 episodes. He's getting 100k in royalties. He's so open to about, you know, tax and how unprepared he was for tax. And he was so open about his, you know, his failures. First time I was booed go, you know, on Percocets or rock sets or whatever the hell he called them. I didn't know those existed. Listen, at the end of the day, I think it was a masterclass of a guest. And I will also say it's a masterclass for you as an interviewer. Here is someone who has been on a press tour his entire life. His entire life, he's been sitting there and he's been selling himself and talking about his experience and he's got this award winning book that's coming out. He's working on a documentary and all these things, things I've never heard a guest say. Good question, good question, good question. Here's a guy who's at a point in his life where he is just craving to be asked these questions. He doesn't want to be asked about the questions. When he headbutted the Wall in Italy on Jersey Shore Season 4, I remember that one. It was crazy. It was nuts, right? Like, he doesn't want to be. He's past that. He wants to be asked about these questions because it showcases where he's at in life. Kudos to you. Kudos to him. This episode fired me up, man. Fired me up.

[B]

This recap feels like a lot of teases, so I'll tease some more. David. I appreciate that because compliment. It was really cool because after the episode he said, he said, I feel like goofy saying this, but this is what he said. It's reality. He's like, listen, I go on a lot of podcasts and he kind of talked to his, like, PR person. He's like, usually I'm like, that podcast sucked. He's like, this was literally one of the top 10 interviews I've ever had. And I've had thousands like I've had thousands. He's like, like the way you're prepared, the questions you ask, he's like, you're really good at this. And I don't say that lightly. And like, to me, it's like I walked me and Evan walked away. I was like, dude, that meant a lot to me. Like, that meant a lot. Like that really did.

[C]

You could tell he was complimentary of your questions. You could tell he commented that he'd done your research a couple times and he appreciated that. He's a man where he says he's the hardest working man in the room right now. So it was all good. Listen, I'm going to end this by this, all right?

[B]

Yeah, you end with your thought, I'll end with mine. I'm going to catch this plane to get out of what is a great city, Denver, Colorado. But right now makes me want to puke. Giving me me the Bills fan, David last thought.

[C]

Go having Mike the Situation on I was and, and, and I was the biggest Jersey Shore fan in the history of Jersey Shore when it came out. I listening to this interview took me back to the days, the good old days where you had to sit in front of your TV at MTV at 8 o' clock and watch the episode live. There was no streaming, there was no recording, there was no I'll see the, I'll see the clips on Tik Tok. It was good old fashioned 2010 in Geneseo, in college, sitting my coach, waiting for Jersey Shore to hit the team and then we go, go to the bars and fist pump our night away. This brought me back. I thought you guys crushed it. Can't wait for part two. Great job on part one.

[B]

Can't wait for part two. The recap will be much more intense much, much longer. And I will say too, a little tease. When I wrapped up and he told me that, right, he said those compliments. I said, you know, there was something I was going to bring up on this episode, but I didn't want to. And he's like, what? He goes, you and I have one thing. I go, you and I have one thing in common. He goes, what? I go, I have been on an episode of Jersey Shorts very unintentionally, I was suckered into it, coerced into signing a contract they didn't know I was signing. We'll talk about that in part two. But David, anything else before we wrap and I catch this plane.

[C]

Go catch that plane. Get out of Denver. Our season, next season. Go Bills. Ref screwed us. We screwed ourselves. It is what it is. Great episode. I love where we're at 2026. We're moving, we're moving on. We're moving on and we're moving up. Just like Mike, the situation.

[B]

We're growing, we're growing. The Bills will get there. We screwed ourselves. The ref screwed us. We're going to national championship here with Dell. And we got Jesse Solomon, I'm interviewing next week. Amanda Batula, I'm interviewing next week. And so many more coming on the docket. David, we had the Federal Reserve CEO and president of Chicago. That was a fascinating episode. Trading Secrets is ripping and roaring and boy, do we have a big announcement coming for you. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Trade Secrets, one you couldn't afford to miss. Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a [e-mail] Switch limited time 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms.

[A]

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[A]

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Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life again gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a [e-mail] Switch limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy, see terms.