Paulie Calafiore is calling out The Challenge legend Johnny Bananas for failing to deliver the drama so far during MTV’s Ride or Dies season.
The 38th season of MTV’s competition series featured the return of the seven-time champion, as he showed up as a surprise competitor with multi-time finalist Nany Gonzalez.
While the first six episodes have featured some drama and arguments among cast members, it has been other individuals besides Bananas.
Some fans online have also questioned whether key arguments and scenes are being edited out of the season’s episodes.
Taking to his Twitter on Saturday, two-time Challenge finalist Paulie fired off a tweet (below) replying to Bananas about not “stirring s**t up” as he promised.
Paulie also asks Bananas several other questions, including the alliance he was working with and whether or not he’ll allow Paulie and Cara back on the show.
“Hey GOAT, big fan here. Was looking forward to you coming back and stirring s**t up like you promised! Just one question. Why are you working with the vacation alliance? Lastly, when will you let Cara and I come back to compete again? We can play nice. Wanna shake on it?” Paulie tweeted, adding several smiley face emojis.
‘Vacation alliance’ dominated recent seasons of The Challenge
The “vacation alliance” that Paulie’s tweet refers to includes veteran stars of the show, known for getting together on trips after seasons of The Challenge have been filmed or before new ones.
The belief is these individuals bond during these vacations and work on strengthening their alliance ahead of the competition to ensure someone from their group wins.
That veteran presence dominated last season, aka Spies, Lies & Allies, which mainly helped veteran cast members reach the final, except for rookie Emy Alupei. Ultimately, Chris “CT” Tamburello won the season alongside Kaycee Clark, who has been on vacation with her girlfriend Nany and other vets.
Other individuals participating in that “vacation alliance” include Tori Deal, Devin Walker, Fessy Shafaat, and Aneesa Ferreira, all of whom are part of the Ride or Dies season. Bananas is teamed up with Nany, so he’s connected with her girlfriend Kaycee and their other allies.
As of this report, rookies remain in the Ride or Dies season but primarily as players connected with veteran teammates. Only one all-rookie duo remains as of Episode 6.
Johnny Bananas revealed his return to ‘right the ship’
Several months ago, Monsters and Critics reported that Johnny Bananas teased his return to The Challenge after two seasons away from the show. He indicated he was returning to “save the franchise” in replying to a fan’s tweet.
Bananas also teased his return during his Spotify podcast, Death, Taxes & Bananas, while speaking with The Challenge host TJ Lavin.
“I love that they’re trying all these new things,” Bananas told Lavin, adding, “but the way that I see it is, taking a few seasons off, I think a lot of the vets have kind of taken a backseat, and we’ve handed the keys to the car over to some of the new kids. I think they drove the car off the cliff, so it’s time to bring the keys back.”
He mentioned that having a “strong veteran presence” might “right the ship,” aka The Challenge.
“TJ, I know that you’ve missed me here the last few seasons, and I think that this next season coming up, we’re gonna have a pretty strong veteran presence back on the show, so hopefully we can right the ship,” Bananas said.
Unfortunately, Bananas and other vets haven’t been able to inject enough into the 38th season for a ratings boost. The most recent Ride or Dies episode’s ratings and viewership were slightly up but still came in lower than any of the lowest-viewed episodes of Spies, Lies & Allies.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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