'Jersey's' Snooki and Pauly D are pumped

They're living their dreams.

It's become sport to poke fun at the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore," returning for a fourth season Thursday. But exclusive interviews with two of its top stars reveal Snooki and DJ Pauly D to be thoughtful -- albeit a bit orange.

MTV allowed Zap2it rare access while shooting the fifth season in Seaside Heights. On the Friday before July 4, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, DJ "Pauly D" DelVecchio and SallyAnn Salsano, executive producer, talked separately on the roof. The cast usually talks to the press only while the show isn't in production.

Remnants of the previous night's party litter the turf. The hot tub is silent, pillows on the outdoor beds askew, ashtrays overflow and bottles lie drained.

"We don't drink as much as people think we do," Snooki says. "There is a lot of downtime, like normal time.

"At 26, I want to get married and start popping out the kids," adds the 23-year-old. "I'm getting old. I can't party like I used to. I might as well enjoy it now."

She doesn't seem to be enjoying it at the moment -- she's been skewered in the press and has learned the downside of fame.

"You can't go anywhere," she says. "You can't go to the mall or to Chili's. The opportunities we get are insane. I am fixing myself up for life. I don't want to work again. Honestly, I never liked to work, anyway."

Snooki's animal attraction

Snooki, who prefers Nicole, always wanted to be famous. Granted, she has no discernible talent, but she has something that cannot be taught in a studio: People want to watch her. She intuitively gets that.

She also is more self-aware than people realize. An animal lover, she thought she would be a veterinary assistant. Now, she wants to fund an animal shelter and is famous, which happens when you're the breakout star on cable's top-rated show.

The cast does not stand out on the Jersey shore, except for their fame. People here are tanned -- whether from booths or the sun -- to burnished shades. Neon, animal prints and bling are what people wear -- to breakfast, which can be fried Oreos.

Though some Italian-Americans are angry over the group's use of "guido" and "guidette" to describe themselves, Salsano, who grew up in Farmingdale, explains she wore "guidette" spelled out in diamonds on a necklace while in high school and wouldn't disparage her heritage. Salsano shoots 700 hours for each hour shown, capturing the housemates as they are.

"My job is to tell a true story," Salsano says, likening the show to a John Hughes coming-of-age film.

They are coming of age. Snooki is a brand, and she wants an empire. Her novel, "A Shore Thing," written with Valerie Frankel, made it to The New York Times bestseller list. It's a thinly veiled roman à clef, which, in itself, is part of the charm. Snooki has nothing to hide.

Italians in Italy

In the new season, the gang is in Italy, where Snooki had a fender bender with their police escort.

"Italy was different," she says. "Being so far away in a different country, it was just different. I get homesick here, and I am only three hours away."

She shopped for souvenirs in Italy but didn't do something that would have made headlines. "I would have loved to have hugged the pope and fist pump," she says.

In Italy, as tourists, "we really rely on each other," says DJ Pauly D.

The group's collective mantra of GTL (gym, tan, laundry) was more difficult there. It took 45 minutes to get to the gym, and there were no tanning salons, he says.

The best part of Italy, though, Pauly D says, is "all we did was eat, eat, eat. Every restaurant tasted like your grandmother's home cooking."

Pauly D's gelled hair, which takes 25 minutes to blow-dry to standing perfection, is under a red cap turned sideways. His tank top reveals the muscles cut in those many hours in the gym and a tattoo of his late friend DJ AM.

As Pauly D talks, the aerial tramway over the well-worn boardwalk goes right past the rooftop. Guys point and scream at him. He smiles but keeps his focus.

It's early enough that hangovers are being nursed as the boardwalk comes to life. Those in line to get into Shore Store snap photos of Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino posing, uncharacteristically, in a shirt. He's next to displays of panties emblazoned with "Fist Pump" and "Jersey Girl" and T-shirts with "I started the ---- pouf."

He's supposed to be attending to customers, but Pauly D laughs and says, "Mike doesn't like to work."

Like Snooki, he embraces this life in a fishbowl that brings fame and wealth.

"The best thing about this is you are yourself," he says. "And you can't hide anything."