‘The Challenge 38’: Johnny Bananas Accuses Production of Rigging Challenge Against His Team
The Challenge champ Johnny “Bananas” Devenanizo returned for Ride or Dies, hoping to help longtime ally Nany González get her first victory. One challenge didn’t sit well with the seven-time champ; he believes production rigged it for the other team.
Johnny’ Bananas’ Devenanzio thinks producers rigged challenge in ‘The Challenge 38’
Ride or Die pair Fessy Shafaat and Moriah Jadea won the mini-final, allowing them to pick their own teams as the game turned to split up the duos.
While Fessy ended up with the bigger team, Moriah had a smaller group, and they lost back-to-back challenges.
However, the “underdogs” finally pulled out a two-second victory in “chopper drop” as they successfully dropped into the proper zones and swam back the fastest.
Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, a member of Fessy’s team, insisted the other squad didn’t win as he believes production “threw them a bone.”
Johnny Bananas says an angle is ‘conveniently’ left out
On his podcast, Death, Taxes, and Bananas, the seven-time champ vented about the loss as he claimed a “bird’s eye view” from the helicopter shows every pair dropping from the chopper into the designated zones.
However, he noticed the angle was missing when Jordan Wiseley and Horacio Gutiérrez took their fall. Instead, Johnny claimed another view is included, making it difficult to see where the duo landed.
The winningest competitor insisted he and his group watched Jordan miss and began cheering as they thought it indicated their third win. However, he noted the final edit left it out.
Regardless, Johnny Bananas claims viewers can find out for themselves if they watch it in slow motion as the water splashes give it away. Due to their loss, the group saw strong competitors Nelson Thomas and Fessy face each other in the Zone, where the team captain pulled out the win.
Fans thought ‘Total Madness’ was rigged for Johnny Bananas
Many viewers have accused production of rigging season 35’s Total Madness for Johnny Bananas to win. Champ Cara Maria Sorbello and veteran Paulie Calafiore claimed they, and several allies, weren’t a part of the cast because they previously worked against the popular reality TV star.
Cara Maria told a fan in a direct message that Johnny Bananas worked out a deal with longstanding rival Wes Bergmann, giving him no opposition that season.
Additionally, fans noticed a few things during the season they felt solidified the theory, including the setup for his elimination round, and he seemed to know information beforehand. They also thought the rules changed to the top male and female winning a share of the million-dollar prize when Jenny West beat everyone in the finals.
Following the win, Johnny Bananas went live on Instagram and added host TJ Lavin where they discussed the rigging rumors. The BMX legend claimed they never re-shot anything to change the rules and promised there’s “no funny business.” He also insisted that no one plays favorites. However, many fans still don’t buy it and believe producers rigged it to award the fan-favorite his historic seventh win. The Challenge airs Wednesdays on MTV.
