The seven-time winner tells EW he met Dee Valladares before season 41 began filming, thanks to their mutual friend Josh Martinez.

Johnny Bananas talks The Challenge showmance with Survivor winner Dee: ‘Right person, wrong environment’

The seven-time winner tells EW he met Dee Valladares before season 41 began filming, thanks to their mutual friend Josh Martinez.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a writer at covering all things pop culture – but TV is her one true love. She currently lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Chicago so please don't make fun of her accent when it slips out.

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Published on July 29, 2025 08:13PM EDT

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Johnny Bananas Devenanzio and Dee Valladares on 'The Challenge' season 41. Credit:

All's fair in love, war, and *The Challenge* — but is *The Challenge* the right place for love?

Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio knows his catchphrase all too well, but the seven-time champion couldn't help but get involved in another showmance this season with rookie Dee Valladares, who recently won *Survivor* season 45. However, Johnny tells ** that it wasn't easy figuring out whether their connection was real while filming* The Challenge: Vets and New Threats*.

"A lot of it is going to come down to how much pressure is put on her from the outside," Johnny says. "Anytime I'm in any sort of relationship or showmance with somebody, people are going to do everything they can to try and derail that. But she's definitely someone that I've vibed with and connected with the most, as far as the seasons have gone in recent memory. It's just, I guess, right person, wrong environment."

While last week's launch special made it seem as though Johnny and Dee met for the first time during her "interrogation" with host TJ Lavin, the *Challenge* vet reveals they actually knew each other for a while before filming season 41.

"Dee and I met at the season 40 finale party," Johnny says. "She's friends with Josh [Martinez], so we chatted back and forth a little bit before leaving, just kind of being like, 'Let's get together, let's work together this season.' Since we have a mutual friend in Josh, that was the understanding that we had. And then on top of that, we're both single, and it always helps move the game forward if you have somebody like that to spend time with. So that was kind of the thought process going in."

Below, Johnny opens up about the new season, his showmance with Dee, impending war with Olivia Kaiser, and more.

Johnny Bananas Devenanzio on 'The Challenge' season 41.

**: Were you interested in pursuing a showmance with Dee before you started filming the season?**

**JOHNNY BANANAS DEVENANZIO:** Yeah, that was my first interrogation question. I think it was obvious from the interrogation where my mind was at. But you just never know. It's very difficult to really get to know a person for who they truly are — especially with my reputation, whether it's accurate or not, I come with a lot of baggage. Everyone paints me out to be this untrustworthy, conniving, manipulative, evil person. For a rookie and someone who doesn't know me, it's difficult to know who to believe.

I understand her hesitancy coming in, but at the same time, she didn't exactly play the most straight-up and honest game on *Survivor* either. She does what she has to do to get her way, so I was kind of hesitant too. It almost seemed like it was like the Spider-Man meme where they're both pointing at each other. "What are you saying about me in interviews? What's your actual intentions here?" I'm just so paranoid at this point because I've been burned in this game so many times by relationships, so it was difficult to be on the same page and really trust that we both were honest about our intentions. I just wasn't sure what the actual vibe was.

**Dee had a big showmance that ultimately helped her win *Survivor*. How much of her winning season strategy and storyline did you know about in advance?**

Not a whole lot. I knew that was the strategy that she implemented going in, latch onto a guy that could help get you through the physical parts of the game, and then when they're expendable, you can discard them. Even what I wasn't aware of, I was being told by people. But I couldn't tell if what people were telling me was genuine because they cared about me and didn't want me to fall into the trap or if they were just saying it just to try and split the two of us up and be misleading.

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**You like to joke about how you're a big foot guy, so did you know about her really long toes and how that was a big storyline for her on *Survivor*? **

[*Laughs*] What? No, I did not know that. This is news to me. But isn't it funny how the very first clip is us pointing at CT's toes?

**Yeah, that felt very appropriate. Speaking of *Survivor*, in the launch special you praised Dee for winning *Survivor.* Sydney also got respect for how hard it is to play *Survivor*. But Michele also won *Survivor* and has never gotten the same respect for it on *The Challenge* — in fact, she's often gotten a lot of heat for originally being from *Survivor*. Why has Michele not really gotten the same treatment as these other *Survivor* alums?**

I think that's more from the fans.** **I've always said this: I think Michele has one of the most terrific social games of anyone, any female, that's ever played the game. She has this way of doing this balancing act where she's somehow keeping 17 different plates spinning at the same time without one of them hitting the floor. A lot of the negativity and the blowback she gets is more from the fans. I can't tell you why — I think the same thing happens with Josh. I will say though, the difference is Michele plays a much more behind-the-shadows social game, whereas I feel like Dee and Sydney are more in the open and in your face. Right out of the gate, you've got Sydney coming through with two middle fingers up to everyone in the house. If anything, the only stark difference I see is just how upfront they are about the game that they play. Dee and Sydney are just a lot more transparent about that, whereas Michele is working in the shadows.

**The super trailer for this season teased that Dee becomes partners with Leroy at some point. What can you say about what leads to you two not being partners?**

Just when you thought that you knew who your partner was going to be, that person is no longer your partner. Just know that there's going to be a lot of shuffling and reshuffling going down, so don't get too comfortable with any pairings that you see.

**How did you feel coming into this season after everything that happened during 40?**

Forty obviously sucked. It's never fun to invest that much time and that much mental, physical, emotional energy into a show and then come up short. I was hoping that coming in this one that there wasn't any carryover effect from people in 40, but unfortunately that wasn't the case, and that's what rears its ugly head right out of the gate, as you will see.

**The launch special** **teased a war brewing between you and Olivia because of what happened in season 40. What tipped you off that she was coming for you so early?**

As far as I was concerned, Olivia was collateral damage in 40 because of her relationship with Tori and Michele and the group she was working with. I considered that dead. That's not something that I was going to carry over this season. She unfortunately did. She immediately went to work the second she got there. Her proximity to the newbies in the house and then obviously her relationship with Theo, him being from the U.K. and a lot of the new cast members being from the U.K., they were able to gather numbers pretty quickly and convince them that I am devil incarnate. Unfortunately they bought into it, so I had to deal with that right out of the gate. But it wasn't slick. It wasn't secret. It was pretty obvious what was happening. I knew before going into the first challenge that my name was already being tossed around and she was the one that was spearheading that mission.

**What does that mean for your friendship and alliance with Theo? Are you also against him now this season?**

It's tough. I get it. He's in between a rock and a hard place. He's got his friend, but then he's also got his girlfriend, and in general, in a situation like that, the girlfriend wins out. I think he's going to try and play as neutral of a game as possible, but "the wife is always right," so that kind of seems like that was the way that it went.

**Is there any chance you and Olivia can bury the hatchet this season?**

Here's the problem: For me, it didn't need to be redemption, because I didn't harbor any resentment towards her from last season. She did. Once it was brought to my attention what she was doing, when I confronted her about it, she not only denied that she was trying to turn people against me, she basically said that I was the one that came for her first. She had some really weird explanation as to why, which made absolutely no sense. She still obviously felt some sort of way about season 40 and her being put in against Michele and then her going home, even though I was actually rooting for her to win that elimination.

And once you've already marked someone as a target and once you've already turned people against them, it's very difficult to undo that. The damage is already done. But if you create the big bad wolf, you have to make sure that actually plays out. What you're going to see is that the image of me that is portrayed by her to them isn't exactly what ends up panning out. As much as you want to make it out that I'm the biggest threat in the game, that might not exactly be the case.

**The season 41 trailer also revealed that TJ calls out cheaters after a daily. What happens there?**

The only thing he hates more than quitters are cheaters. That's basically been my creed the entire time I've been on *The Challenge*: If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. You just have to be better at cheating. You can't get caught. If people get caught for cheating, it's because they just need to work on their cheating game. You're a little sloppy. In all my years, I've never been caught cheating… [*laughs*] Well, at least, on the show.

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*The Challenge: Vets and New Threats* premieres Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.**

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