With a fan debate constantly raging over who The Challenge’s all-time greatest competitor is, Johnny Bananas said fan “biases” make some choose other players over him.
Bananas just reached his 11th MTV final on Battle of the Eras and is looking to add to his record of seven seasons won.
However, he’s up against MTV finals newcomers Derek Chavez and Kyland Young and another player mentioned among the greatest: Jordan Wiseley.
In the earlier part of Season 40, viewers saw Chris “CT” Tamburello from the Era 1 team bow out after getting upset during an elimination battle against Nehemiah Clark.
CT’s five championships rank him with Bananas in fan discussions and debates about who the all-time greatest competitor is.
During a recent podcast chat with fellow Season 40 finalist Kyland, Bananas discussed why more fans do not consider him the show’s greatest.
Bananas shares why he’s not considered the greatest on The Challenge by more fans
While on the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast, Kyland asked The Challenge’s winningest player why there are even fan debates about who the show’s greatest is. Bananas said he believed several things impacted that discussion amongst fans.
“One, I think I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, and people are going to have biases when it comes to who they think the greatest is,” he said.
Bananas compared it to sports debates over all-time greatest players, such as Tom Brady versus Joe Montana or Michael Jordan versus LeBron James.
“Numbers don’t lie. Until somebody beats my records. Until somebody has more wins, more final appearances, [and] a better final-to-win ratio,” he said, adding he also believed he had more “final eliminations” than others.
He mentioned that in Season 40, he appeared in several eliminations before earning a spot in the final, whereas multi-time champion Jordan didn’t battle at The Arena all season.
“I show up day one, and I have to check in, and I have to go to work,” he told Kyland.
“So there’s the bias factor. Some people, no matter what you do, they’re gonna find a way to discred it,” he said.
He brought up fans claiming things were “rigged” so he could win or how others suggested he only won “back in the day” due to his alliance with castmates Kenny Santucci and Evan Starkman.
Bananas said fans “are gonna say the best in their eyes is who they like the most.”
Bananas said he never works on his biggest Challenge weakness
According to Bananas, he does better than other competitors at most of the required aspects of The Challenge. However, his biggest weakness is puzzles.
“My biggest weakness has always been puzzles, yet every season, I continue training on my cardio and my athleticism and being a manipulative piece of s***, but I never work on the thing that I’m the weakest at,” he said.
Bananas indicated he “wouldn’t even know where to begin” if he were to try to work on getting better at puzzles. The Challenge tends to involve a variety of them, whether matching symbols, cracking codes, or stacking blocks, to show an image correctly.
Puzzles cost him from potentially adding to his Challenge seasons won during The Challenge: World Championship spinoff and MTV’s Ride or Dies.
He was eliminated on a puzzle during the World Championship and never reached the final. In Ride or Dies, he and partner Nany Gonzalez had issues assembling a puzzle and finished as runner-ups to Devin Walker and Tori Deal.
He’s still become great at most aspects required to succeed in MTV’s competition series, but those skills also took time to hone.
Regarding his rise to success in The Challenge, Bananas loosely quoted Darwin: “It’s not the strongest who survive. It’s those with the ability to adapt.”
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars Rivals premieres Wednesday, January 29, at 8/7c on MTV.
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