‘The Challenge’: Fans Broke Down Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio’s Annual Salary From the Show
Fans who follow MTV’s The Challenge know Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio is a force to be reckoned with. He’s won the game seven times, and fans eagerly await to hear if he’ll return to the show anytime soon. Despite all of his winnings, he hasn’t won the most money per episode compared to a number of other players. And his annual salary isn’t too high given his years of competing.
Turbo Çamkıran won the most money per episode of MTV’s ‘The Challenge’
There have been a number of fierce competitors on MTV’s The Challenge over the years — and Turbo Çamkıran was certainly one of them. Turbo got his reality TV start with Survivor Turkey, where he won the show twice. He then competed on both MTV’s The Challenge: War of the Worlds and War of the Worlds II.
“I became the champion of Survivor Turkey in 2014 and then the champion again of Survivor All Stars Turkey in 2015,” he told People prior to his time on MTV. He then explained to the publication he had an unfortunate tailbone injury that took him out of physical competitions for a period of time. But he came back strong with War of the Worlds and won the season.
Reddit users calculated how much Turbo won from his time on the MTV series. He appeared in 26 episodes total, and thanks to his major win, he averaged about $28,846 per episode. This is the most money per episode of any Challenge player ever.
“Turbo is the player who has the best money/episode ratio in the history of The Challenge,” a Reddit user confirmed. “His championship prize of $750,000 meant that at his time of his expulsion in WotW2, he made almost $29,000 per episode.”
What is Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio’s annual salary from the show?
Johnny “Bananas” won MTV’s The Challenge seven times total, bringing in a ton of money over the years. Not only did his physical and mental prowess on the show make him a tough veteran competitor, but it also made him fun to watch. And it certainly assisted in the additional opportunities he’s taken since his Total Madness win.
Despite his earnings of over $1 million from the show and impressive net worth, his per-episode earnings can’t touch Turbo’s. Johnny was on 197 episodes of The Challenge, earning him about $6,014 per episode, according to Reddit. As for his annual salary, Reddit fans noted that points to about $70,000 per year.
“If you break down Bananas’ wins over the years he’s been on the show (15 years) it equates to an annual salary of only around $70,000,” the fan wrote. “Not that impressive. Obviously, this doesn’t account for his booking fee, but it doesn’t sound as staggering when you look at the aggregate of $1.1 million.”
Johnny ‘Bananas’ decided to continue his ‘Challenge’ run
“I’m not gonna sit here and say, like, you know, I’m 100% hanging it up, ’cause I’m not the type of person to do that,” Johnny told the Chicks in the Office podcast after his season 35 win. “But if there ever was a time for me to kind of like, walk away from The Challenge, there wouldn’t be a better and brighter note to do it on.”
Of course, Johnny just couldn’t stay away. He was the runner-up in the 2022-2023 season of The Challenge: Ride or Dies, and, fittingly, he’s competing in The Challenge: World Championship.
That being said, Johnny doesn’t know how long The Challenge has left — he’s worried the show is “burning out.”
Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
