Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio has become one of MTV’s most recognizable stars, along with other reality TV icons that include Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.
After debuting on The Real World: Key West alongside cast members, including Tyler Duckworth, Paula Meronek, and Svetlana Shusterman, he moved on to The Challenge.
He’s since become the winningest player on the reality TV competition series, with seven MTV seasons won throughout his wild career.
Fans are watching him on a spinoff of MTV’s main show, CBS’ The Challenge: USA 2, where he became one of the frontrunners to win upon his arrival.
Part of his success on the spinoff may be because he is more focused, as he isn’t participating in any showmances during the season, something he seemed to swear off in interview comments before the show premiered.
In recent comments, he revealed who was responsible for teaching him how to French kiss, which TV celebrity he has a crush on, and the “lie” his castmate told on TV.
Bananas revealed celebrity crush and who taught him French kissing
Interestingly, Bananas didn’t learn French kissing from a girl in school or his neighborhood. Instead, he told US Weekly his grandmother taught him about the smooching technique.
As of this writing, it’s unclear when or how Bananas learned that from his grandma. He likely perfected his technique on his own over the years, and possibly with the help of some of his Challenge showmances.
Among the women he’s had relationships with during and after the show’s filming were Natalie Negrotti, Morgan Willett, and Moriah Jadea.
Things didn’t end on the best terms between Bananas and Morgan or him and Moriah. Some viewers and castmates might think he cannot show love and compassion based on his track record with The Challenge and showmances. However, the MTV star said, “Contrary to popular belief I actually [do] have a heart.”
He also revealed other things fans might not have known about him, including his celebrity crush, television star Milana Vayntrub, best known for appearing in those AT&T commercials.
Another interesting tidbit Bananas shared is that no other individual has logged more hours in the history of reality television than he has. Per US Weekly, Bananas said he’s been on reality TV for 18 years, including 22 seasons of The Challenge.
Bananas brought up his Challenge castmate Wes’s ‘lie’ from TV past
Something else many fans might not know is that Bananas and his former rival castmate, Wes Bergmann, appeared on The Maury Povich show. During the appearance, the feuding Challenge co-stars took lie detector tests about having a friendship on and off the show.
“I took a lie detector test with Wes Bergmann on Maury, and he lied about not wanting to be my friend,” Bananas told US Weekly.
During their appearance, Bananas claimed Wes was using him to “advance his career,” while Wes claimed it was the other way around. That’s where the lie detector tests came into play in another funny exchange involving these rivals-turned-friends from The Challenge.
The recycled tidbit about Wes’ lie pops up in the recent US Weekly exclusive magazine interview with Bananas, just as there was a lot of commotion involving his friend online. Some might feel that, based on the harsh remarks thrown Wes’ way by some castmates, he is the biggest villain in the history of The Challenge.
Instead, Johnny Bananas will appear in the upcoming E! reality show, House of Villains, giving him even more hours of reality television to add to his ever-increasing record.
At the same time, Wes looks toward the arrival of his and his wife Amanda’s first child. He’ll likely support his friend from afar as Bananas’ next reality TV show appearance arrives for fans to enjoy.
The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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