‘The Challenge: World Champ’: Johnny Bananas Reveals Where He Stood With Wes On ‘Tricky’ Season (Exclusive)

After a hard 2nd spot decorativeness on The Challenge: Ride oregon Dies, MTV vet Johnny Bananas is backmost for The Challenge: World Championship. This season, he’s connected the amusement arsenic 1 of 14 Challenge veterans. The legends are each paired up with a Global MVP player, who travel to the amusement from their respective Challenge seasons successful USA, Argentina, the UK and Australia. In an EXCLUSIVE interrogation with HollywoodLife, Johnny admitted that these partnerships added a “tricky” facet to the game.

“Even though we were paired up with the planetary MVPs, they, a batch of the times, questioned what our strategies and motives were,” Johnny explained. “It was astir arsenic if they were going to spell against the atom and spell against thing the vets said conscionable due to the fact that they automatically assumed it wasn’t going to beryllium successful their champion interests if it was an thought we were coming up with. Even though we were expected to beryllium successful pairs, determination became astir an impasse astatine times with your ain partner. It made the politicking and the crippled a batch much difficult. There was this automatic distrust determination due to the fact that they conscionable automatically assumed that it was a strategy coming from Bananas, determination indispensable beryllium thing shady going on. So it was conscionable getting past that and establishing that trust.”

Johnny Bananas connected ‘The Challenge: World Championship’ (MTV)

One of the chap vets connected the formed is Wes Bergmann, Johnnys years-long frenemy. The 2 utilized to beryllium nemeses, but decided to squad up and enactment unneurotic on Total Madness successful 2020. Despite the confederation Wes inactive enactment himself successful an elimination against Bananas that season, and was sent location (Johnny went connected to triumph the season). Since then, they’ve maintained a friendship, but person not had to spell against each different again.

“This is the archetypal clip we’ve been backmost connected the aforesaid amusement since helium made the ill-advised determination to nonstop himself successful against maine and destruct himself,” Johnny laughed. “So evidently there’s a small spot of that inactive lingering there, wherever I don’t cognize precisely wherever his head’s at. I don’t deliberation helium does either. He’s an opportunist. He’s going to bash immoderate helium has to bash whenever helium has to bash it to payment his ain game, contempt what it does to an confederation oregon woody helium already has. So coming into this, I was hopeful, but cautiously optimistic that we were going to enactment together.”

The archetypal 2 episodes of The Challenge: World Championship are streaming present connected Parmount+. Read much of our interrogation with Johnny Bananas below.

On coming to ‘World Championship’ aft a brutal nonaccomplishment connected ‘Ride oregon Dies’: I deliberation of each the Challenge losses I’ve had, that was astir apt the astir gut-wrenching. We’d travel truthful acold and accomplished truthful much. We really, truly worked for the presumption we were in. The happening is, erstwhile you get bushed successful a carnal contention oregon thing similar that, you tin beryllium like, ‘Okay, there’s thing much I could person done. I near it each connected the field.’ You tin astatine slightest person solace successful knowing you gave it each you had. For america to suffer the mode we did [on a puzzle], making a precise critical, boneheaded mistake successful judgement — thing I should person known amended and been much focused and methodical astir — that’s what made the nonaccomplishment truthful tough.

Wes Bergmann connected ‘The Challenge: World Championship.’ (MTV)

The Challenge has gotten truthful overmuch more, not conscionable difficult, but astir luck falling connected your broadside truthful galore times. It’s not lone the astir strategical oregon astir diversion that wins. With the gully and the mode voting went that season, you conscionable ne'er knew what broadside of the coin you were going to autumn on. Looking astatine the past 2 teams, I’m like…how the hellhole did we negociate to bash this? So you truly bash consciousness successful that clip like, ‘Am I ever going to beryllium successful this presumption oregon person the accidental to beryllium this adjacent to winning again?’ So coming onto ‘World Championship,’ those benignant of thoughts did thin to haunt me. But I’ve faced adversity on The Challenge earlier and I’ve won before, truthful I don’t number myself out. But I besides knew it was going to beryllium a steep upland to climb.”

What was the astir important proposal you wanted to instill successful your partner? Just assurance successful her abilities and assurance successful mine. I wanted her to person religion successful maine and that immoderate determination I was going to marque was going to beryllium beneficial for the absorption we were trying to spell in, careless of the what the remainder of her confederation mightiness say. Also for her to conscionable down retired the sound and cognize that being paired up with maine is going to person drawbacks and benefits. The benefit, obviously, is my acquisition and my cognition of the game. But the drawback is that we’re astir apt going to beryllium targeted conscionable due to the fact that of the information that she’s paired with maine and nary different crushed than that. That’s hard for caller radical who’ve ne'er experienced it before.

Was determination anyone successful peculiar you were hoping to beryllium partnered with? I watched The Challenge: USA, and close retired of the gate, you had Sarah [Lacina] and Justine [Ndiba], who some made the final. They came successful with a beauteous coagulated confederation with Danny [McCray] and Ben [Driebergen], truthful I conscionable felt similar that would beryllium a bully pre-existing confederation to get successful with. They were squad USA, too, truthful I’d beryllium blessed to vie with them connected that side.

On filming 2 seasons back-to-back aft taking a interruption from the show: Taking a few seasons off allowed immoderate different radical to measurement into the spotlight a small and hopefully instrumentality immoderate attraction disconnected of maine erstwhile I did marque my return. Plus, it’s similar immoderate regular successful life. I’m a carnal of habit. I’ve spent truthful overmuch clip doing the aforesaid happening implicit and over. Not having The Challenge successful my beingness for a mates of seasons, it felt similar thing was missing there. It gives maine a crushed to enactment out, to enactment successful shape. I benignant of mislaid that tendency and information erstwhile I stepped distant from the show. I consciousness similar I needed the amusement backmost successful my beingness to get maine motivated and backmost connected track.

So, I took a small intelligence wellness interruption and I was acceptable to hop backmost in. And World Championship was specified a unsocial experience. This was the archetypal clip we were competing against each these planetary competitors. Even though it’s inactive a Challenge, it’s a full antithetic mindset and contention level, truthful I conscionable wanted to spot what it was each about.

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