MTV had threatened to replace The Situation on “Jersey Shore” many times over the past two years due to his excessive drinking — sources connected with the production tell TMZ. According to sources, producers from MTV and 495 Productions sat Situation down for the first time while shooting Season 2 in 2010 — explaining his drinking had become such a problem … it was making it hard to shoot the show. We’re told Sitch promised to pull himself together — but it quickly unraveled during Season 3, and producers had to speak with him again … this time threatening to replace him on the show if he didn’t clean up his act. Sitch agreed again — and made a concerted effort to reel in his bad habits between Seasons 3 and 4. We’re told Situation showed promise in Italy during Season 4, but once the crew got back to the States … he was back to his old ways. This prompted another sit-down … and another threat of recasting. Now, MTV’s got the opposite problem — Situation’s in rehab and sobering up completely. As a result, sources tell us 495 Productions is looking for new castmates to add to the show … in the hopes of phasing Sitch out entirely. We reached out to MTV for comment … which insists, “There are no plans to replace the cast of ‘Jersey Shore.’”

TMZ