Johnny Bananas Says Entire 'Challenge: Final Reckoning' House Targeted Him On Latest MTV Season

If the first few episodes of “Final Reckoning” are any indication, the latest season of MTV’s “The Challenge” could be the craziest in the show’s history. It’s been just two weeks since the season premiere, and several twists have already been introduced to the game.

It isn’t just the Redemption House and the new way elimination votes are cast that will have a major effect on the game. “Final Reckoning” is made up of a lot of new faces, which could be trouble for some of the show’s established veterans.

“In 17 seasons of ‘The Challenge’ that I’ve done, this hands down was the most grueling, just absolutely mind-numbing mental test that I’ve ever been through. Day 1 I show up and it’s Bananas vs. Everyone,” six-time “Challenge” champion Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio told International Business Times in an exclusive interview.

“It’s the entire house and it’s like, ‘How do we get rid of this guy?’”

Nearly half of this season’s cast is made up of players that entered “Final Reckoning” with either one or no “Challenge” seasons under their belt. Only one of the 14 teams—Chris “CT” Tamburello” and Veronica Portillo—has two players that have won traditional “Challenge” championships.

Having success on “The Challenge” can sometimes make for a harder path on future seasons. The strongest players are often at risk of being voted into elimination, and that will be the case again in the show’s 32nd season.

Bananas—the record-holder for both most “Challenge” titles and most money won—is all-too-familiar with other cast members looking to send him home early. The target on his back seems to get bigger every season, especially since his last first-place finish in 2016.

“These new guys come in, and the disturbing trend now is...and it’s mostly these ‘Are You The One?’ guys, who are just so hungry for camera time and for attention and for celebrity. Before people would come on ‘The Challenge’ and they were from ‘The Real World’ and they weren’t going on ‘The Challenge’ to try and become a celebrity or make a name for themselves. They were just there to compete and knew what it was. We have this new generation of a lot of these kids from these fly-by-night reality television shows like ‘Are You The One?’ who are just attention-hungry, who are just fame whores and that’s all they want to do,” Bananas told IBT.

“‘How can I make a name for myself? How can I get my Instagram following up?’ And what they’ve realized is, ‘We start an issue with the biggest name in the house and that’s a guaranteed storyline. It’s gonna get us an episode. It’s gonna get us attention. It’s gonna get us notoriety.’”

It was former “Are You The One?” cast member Devin Walker who sent Bananas home last season on “Vendettas,” making it clear from the start that he wanted a chance to eliminate “The Challenge” GOAT. Bananas also developed rivalries in recent seasons with former “Are You The One?” castmate Hunter Barfield and Cory Wharton from “Real World: Ex-Plosion,” who made it known he was targeting former “Challenge” champions.

Devin, Hunter and Cory all made their “Challenge” debuts within the last three years. None of them are among the original “Final Reckoning” cast members, though previews indicate that they will make appearances as mercenaries this season. All three contestants have come close to winning in previous seasons but are still looking for their first titles.

Bananas won his first “Challenge” a decade ago on “The Island” in the show’s 16th season. He’s since become the show’s biggest star, competing in more seasons than anyone and making seven appearances in the finals.

“What they don’t understand is that what I have, what I’ve created, didn’t happen overnight. And I didn’t take this from somebody else. The Johnny Bananas brand, it’s 13 years. It took me 17 seasons of ‘The Challenge’ to create this brand and who I am,” Bananas said.

“I didn’t get it from, ‘Hey, there’s CT. Let me go against him and try and steal his thunder,’ or ‘There’s Brad (Fiorenza), there’s Darrell (Taylor), there’s Derrick (Kosinski), there’s Kenny (Santucci), there’s Evan (Starkman).’ Whatever I’ve created is unique to me and I created it myself. And these guys get it twisted where they think, ‘Well if I start an issue with him, I can take a shortcut and gain notoriety and popularity and make a name and make a brand off going against him.’ That’s kind of become the go-to.”

But it wasn’t Cory or a former “Are You The One?” castmate who MTV decided to pair with Bananas on “Final Reckoning.” During a season in which teams are made up of two contestants that share bad blood, it was Tony Raines who was pegged as Bananas’ partner.

Tony made one of the biggest moves in recent “Challenge” history on “Vendettas,” voting Bananas—with whom he had an alliance—into elimination in hopes that Devin would send home the show’s winningest player. The risk paid off and Bananas was sent packing, though Tony ultimately fell short of winning his first title by finishing tied for fourth place.

While he’s still looking for his first championship, Tony has proven to be a strong competitor. He made deep runs on “XXX: Dirty 30” and “Vendettas” before winning “Champs vs. Stars” with CT as his partner.

On paper, Bananas and Tony might be the strongest team on “Final Reckoning.” If they can overcome their personal differences, it’d be hard not to put them among the favorites to reach the finals and ultimately finish in first place.

“I knew that we were gonna be a dominant team. It’s just gonna be us overcoming that mental area where we gotta work together. There’s still this animosity towards each other,” Bananas said. “So I knew from a physical standpoint we had no problem. It was just more a question of can we work together? Can we get past what happened?”

Bananas has an interesting history of working with rivals, to say the least. Two seasons after Sarah Patterson sent Bananas into elimination right before the “Battle of the Exes II” finals, the former friends were paired together. The teammates made amends and actually won “Rivals III,” but Bananas infamously decided to keep the entire $275,000 grand prize for himself instead of splitting it with his partner.

“That’s what was in the back of everyone’s mind from the day we got there. Is this gonna be another Johnny Bananas-Sarah situation? And people were trying to put that into Tony’s head, too. Like, ‘Tony, Bananas is gonna f*** you over at the end,’” Bananas said.

Since his victory on “Rivals III,” Bananas has competed on “Invasion of the Champions,” “XXX: Dirty 30” and “Vendettas,” failing to reach the finals in any of those three seasons. He did win “Champs vs. Stars” as part of a team with CT and Emily Schromm.

Looking to maintain his status as the greatest competitor in “Challenge” history, Bananas seems to be more motivated than ever.

“People say, ‘But you’ve won six times and won all this money,’ but I don’t give a s***. I still feel like I have so much to prove. I’ve proven it in the past and I need to prove it again. ‘Well, you’re not the same guy that you used to be.’ I want to keep proving people wrong, and I want to keep on elevating my status and who I am and what I’ve accomplished.

“I’m my biggest competition. Showing up every season, it’s not the rest of the house. I’ve done that. I’m not following in anyone’s footsteps. I’m creating my own footsteps and I’m blazing my own path.”