Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio Told Girlfriend Morgan Willett Their Romance Would Never Work If She Did ‘The Challenge’
It’s not easy maintaining a healthy and loving relationship while on MTV’s The Challenge. We’ve seen lies, fights, and cheating scandals arise every season. And many of our favorite Challenge competitors even met their significant others through the show.
Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio has been playing the game for 20 seasons, and he’s made some mistakes that have ruined romances of his own. Now, he’s dating Morgan Willett who tried her hand at The Challenge in the past. And he told the Challenge Mania podcast about a conversation he had with Willett. And he explained that in order for their relationship to work, she’d likely need to step away from the show he’s been doing for over a decade.
Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio is dating Jay Starrett’s ex, Morgan Willett
Devenanzio and Willett appear to be an unlikely duo. They have an age gap of over 10 years, and while they’re both reality TV-famous, they certainly get a lot of flack from fans. It seems Devenanzio is doing his best to preserve the relationship, though, as he doesn’t discuss it on The Challenge.
We can’t forget that Total Madness star Jay Starrett also has quite a past with Willett. The two dated back in 2018 and were on Ex on the Beach together. Unfortunately, a cheating scandal erupted once Willett started getting involved with Devenanzio after The Challenge: War of the Worlds. Willett and Devenanzio seemed to get flirty, and a kiss happened. Since then, Willett has owned up to her mistakes and pursued things with Devenanzio.
“The kind of odd thing about all that is obviously when we got off The Challenge I came home. I talked to Jay. We decided to be just friends. We were on good terms,” she explained on the Watch With Us podcast. “Later on, he asked me about Johnny and I owned it. I was like, ‘You know what, I’ll be real. I’ve been seeing him. This happened,’ blah, blah, blah, and he was fine with it.”
Jay Starrett and Devenanzio didn’t discuss Willett on ‘Total Madness’
A love triangle plotline between Starrett, Devenanzio, and Willett could’ve made great TV for Total Madness. But Devenanzio’s foe-turned-ally, Wes Bergmann, said Devenanzio and Starrett had an unspoken agreement regarding Willett.
“What it boils down to is, MTV can’t show a storyline without there being footage to talk about. I think that Jay and Bananas had some sort of an understanding, and honestly, I think it was unspoken,” Bergmann said on the Bachelor Party podcast. “They just didn’t talk about it in interviews. If it was ever even remotely broached, they would leave the room. There wasn’t really any footage of people really talking about it. So, I think that they had chosen to kind of leave it off the radar.”
Starrett was thrown into elimination rounds three times, as he won twice and lost the third to Rogan O’Connor. And Bergmann also noted that Starrett was targeted because he was a rookie player. It had nothing to do with his past with Willett.
Devenanzio told Willett their romance wouldn’t work out if she did ‘The Challenge’ again
Devenanzio’s seen relationships get destroyed on the show. And he told the Challenge Mania podcast that he was totally transparent with Willett regarding where their romance stands if she wants to pursue The Challenge further.
“I’ve been doing this for so long that if there’s any chance for this relationship to work, it can’t be under the public eye of a reality television show,” Devenanzio said. “Before anything got serious, I basically told her, ‘listen, you know that … this has been my life, my profession, for the foreseeable future. I just want you to know that if you plan on continuing to do shows, this isn’t gonna work.'”
Devenanzio then added that “it wasn’t, like, an ultimatum. It wasn’t like, ‘listen, if you want to be with me, stop doing TV.’ Her thing was like, ‘I dipped my toe in reality television’ … and she just felt like reality television wasn’t her calling.”
We’re glad Devenanzio and Willett got that sorted out early on. It doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing them together on The Challenge at any point!
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