Johnny Bananas has been known to have a few showmances during his appearances on MTV’s The Challenge. Those haven’t always worked out so well for him, though.
He’s now appearing on other reality TV programs, including his debut on the new E! show House of Villains, which arrived as he was appearing on CBS’ The Challenge: USA 2.
The Villains concept features 10 of reality TV’s all-time greatest villains competing and manipulating one another to win a cash prize.
Among his castmates are famous villains such as Omarosa, Tiffany “New York” Pollard, Jonny Fairplay, and Jax Taylor. There are also several women Bananas teased interest in.
While Bananas previously swore off showmances in his return for new Challenge seasons, he hinted that he may have developed one or more during Villains.
His potential romantic interests were revealed during the show’s premiere, with Bananas speaking more about them afterward.
Bananas teases potential showmances for Villains
As Bananas is winding down his appearance on The Challenge: USA 2 spinoff on CBS, another one has started up with E!’s House of Villains.
The premiere arrived on Thursday evening, the same night as USA 2 airs, and based on the early footage, Bananas was trying to charm a few of his female castmates: 90 Day Fiance’s Anfisa Nava and The Bachelor alum Corinne Olympios.
“Just when I thought there couldn’t be any more forbidden fruit in this house,” Bananas said as Anfisa entered the House of Villains mansion in the premiere.
That was one of his lines in the Villains premiere, which also arrived after he’d already seemingly felt a spark upon seeing Corinne.
Asked about the chances of him getting into a “full showmance” with either of them, Bananas seemed to suggest it could happen.
“On a scale of one to The Bachelor, there’s very good odds. Here’s the thing though, I came into this show with every potential tool at my disposal in order to do what I had to do to get to the end,” Bananas told Entertainment Weekly.
However, The Challenge’s winningest player brought up “polid***ing,” which players have used as a strategy in MTV’s competition series.
“It’s using what God blessed you with as a way to flirt and use those tactics in order to make your way to the end, so that’s the way I saw it with Corinne and Anfisa,” Bananas explained.
The Challenge star says ‘things get messy’ for him
In a previous interview ahead of his appearance in the USA 2 spinoff, the seven-time champion indicated he was done with showmances on there. That arrived after he’d been featured in a showmance with MTV newcomer Moriah Jadea on the Ride or Dies season.
Among his other Challenge showmances were former Big Brother star Natalie Negrotti and former Big Brother winner Morgan Willett.
The latter of those showmances developed a few episodes into filming The Challenge: War of the Worlds season and blossomed into a two-year relationship. However, the alleged cheating by Bananas is what ultimately ended things with Morgan.
Bananas seems fine with exploring showmances while appearing on other reality TV shows. He claimed it helped with entertainment but teased that even his flirtations during Villains may have caused him some issues.
“Plus, it made things in the house a little more interesting. Things get messy for sure. I think I might’ve bit off more than I can chew with this one,” he told EW.
The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS. House of Villains airs Thursdays at 10/9c on E!
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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Amazing that someone with no viable talent is getting so much air time