Johnny Bananas On Hosting '1st Look,' Becoming One Of Reality-TV's Biggest Stars On 'The Challenge'

Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio is known for being one of the greatest competitors in reality-TV history. Now, the star of MTV’s “The Challenge” is going from contestant to host, becoming the new face of NBC’s “1st Look.”

Bananas, 36, has spent the last few weeks filming for the travel series, which will premiere on Sept. 29 following “Saturday Night Live.”

“‘1st Look’ is giving me an opportunity to challenge myself in ways that I never knew were possible,” Bananas told International Business Times. “I thought I’d seen it all. After being on ‘The Challenge’ I thought I’d done it all, seen it all, there’s nothing you can do that’s gonna scare me or take me out of my comfort zone. Damn was I wrong.”

In some ways, Johnny Bananas is “The Challenge.” “Final Reckoning,”—currently airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on MTV—marks his 17th season, giving him the most in the show’s history. He’s got a record six championships, and his last title in 2016 made headlines that made him an even bigger name in mainstream pop culture.

Having done it all on “The Challenge,” Bananas had been looking for other opportunities in TV.

“I love ‘The Challenge.’ That’s my baby. That’s my home. That’s my thing, but let’s be real, I can’t continue beating myself up—my mind and my body—on these shows forever,” Bananas told IBT.

Bananas approached MTV a few times about getting his own show, but his ideas “fell on deaf ears.” So Bananas looked elsewhere in order to expand his horizons, and he found an opportunity with NBC in a show similar to one that he once pitched to MTV.

“1st Look,” has taken Bananas all across the United States, presenting him with challenges he’s never faced in his years as a reality-TV star. In his first season as a host, he’s used an ice axe to climb a glacier in Alaska and tried out for the Los Angeles Rams’ cheerleading squad. Bananas recently trained with CrossFit Games legend Rebecca Voigt and competed in football drills against top NFL players like Travis Kelce, Carl Lawson and Mike and Maurkice Pouncey.

“Working out next to these guys, doing the same workouts as them, then grabbing pads and having to try and get past one of them. It was unbelievable. What world am I living in here?” Bananas said.

“I walked out of that place, I felt like Rudy. I went in and all these guys were ripping on me. There was an entire football squad there like, ‘Who the f*** is this guy?’ And then I walked out of there and it looked like I had earned all of their respect. I’m a competitive guy. I’ve always been. To be able to work out, compete against, and train with some of the best NFL athletes in the world was incredible.”

It’s a life that Bananas probably couldn’t have imagined a little more than a decade ago when he made his MTV debut as a cast member on “The Real World: Key West.” Bananas parlayed his 15 minutes of fame into an entire career, not only becoming a mainstay on “The Challenge,” but turning into a bonafide reality-TV star and creating his own brand.

After his first few “Challenge” wins—Bananas won his first “Challenge” back in 2008—the “1st Look” host began to make enough money where he didn’t need a “regular” job. He created his first piece of merchandise in 2013, selling Johnny Bananas bobbleheads almost as a joke.

“It was $3 a bobblehead and I bought 1,500 of them. I figured, ‘This is probably gonna take me a while.’ I created my website and I put bobbleheads on and I sold 1,500 bobbleheads at $30 a piece in like six months. It was unbelievable that people wanted to buy my bobblehead. So after that I was like, ‘There’s something to this,’” Bananas said.

“I have my website and I have my store. To this day, every time I get an order in and someone wants a t-shirt, it still blows my mind. It’s pretty amazing that people wanna wear clothing with my brand and my logo on it.”

In addition to his uncanny ability to outlast his “Challenge” castmates, Bananas is one of the most charismatic contestants that’s ever appeared on the show. He’s also not afraid to stir up controversy, making him one of the most likable or hateable characters on reality-TV, depending upon your viewpoint.

“I literally consider myself a producer first. I think that’s one of the many things that separates me from the other cast members is I don’t think like a cast member. I don’t do necessarily what’s best for me,” Bananas said.

“When me and CT had this rivalry going on and when we didn’t get along, I’d show up Day 1 and I’d be like, ‘This guy is gonna be a pain in my ass all season. I would love to get rid of him.’ However, I know what a huge draw he is and what a fan favorite he is and how important he is to the show. And I’m thinking about the show. I’m thinking about, not what’s best for me, but what’s gonna make this show better. What’s gonna make this season awesome? How do we get higher ratings? How are we gonna draw more eyeballs to it? That’s why I’ve always been a go-against-the-grain kinda guy, because I wanna create the storylines. And I’ll go above and beyond to do things that nobody else is doing.”

Bananas’ success on “The Challenge” led to his “1st Look” hosting gig, and it could create even more opportunities down the line. That doesn’t mean he plans to stop competing on the show that he’s become synonymous with anytime soon.

“I get ‘The Challenge’ and I get to continue doing that, but I now also get to do another show where I get to challenge myself in completely different ways,” Bananas said.

“This is just something that complements ‘The Challenge,’ and I think this might actually make me a more dangerous player than I already am. Because now I am doing things, meeting people, adding more tools to my toolbox just by experiencing all these new things.”