‘The Challenge’: Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio Claims Dee Nguyen ‘Threatened’ Jenny West Before Elimination
After The Challenge 35 Episode 10 aired, Bayleigh Dayton called Dee Nguyen out for her insensitive comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. Instead of apologizing, the returning champ got defensive, resulting in MTV cutting all ties with her. Additionally, the network edited her portions out of the remaining season and banned her from the reunion.
Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio took to his Instagram after Episode 15 aired and explained that Nguyen “threatened” her former ally turned rival, Jenny West, when she found out the Tribunal planned on throwing her into elimination.
Dee Nguyen and Jenny West turned rivals
Returning champ Dee Nguyen and two-time competitor Jenny West came into the season in some sort of alliance. Therefore, the Australian-native gave the British bodybuilder an easy red skull against arguably the weakest competitor in the house.
The next time Nguyen won a daily challenge, she considered throwing in her ally because she didn’t think she could beat her in the finals. Wanting to stir the pot, her on-and-off fling, Rogan O’Connor, told the two-time competitor what Nguyen said.
Therefore, West began plotting to blindside her ally turned rival first.
Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio and Jenny West tried to blindside Dee Nguyen
In the full version of Episode 11, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio told West he couldn’t stand the returning champ because she “walks around like she owns the place.” Additionally, he didn’t appreciate how she attempted to “rally the house” against him at the second guys’ elimination.
Therefore, the six-time champ wanted to “teach her a lesson” by blindsiding her with the entire house’s support. The British bodybuilder agreed because she felt betrayed by Nguyen and planned to throw her into elimination.
While they succeeded, the Australian-native came out on top and sent Mattie Lynn Breaux home. She then won the following daily challenge and remained safe for a few weeks.
However, the six-time champ and West hatched another plan to blindside Nguyen in the last elimination before the finals. It didn’t exactly go their way as the British bodybuilder found herself in Purgatory.
Due to Devenanzio’s power in the Tribunal, he still threw Nguyen in, and West took her out in the Hall Brawl.
Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio claims Dee Nguyen ‘threatened’ Jenny West
After it aired, the veteran went live on Instagram and explained the episode was “pretty incredible” but viewers didn’t get to see all of it due to Nguyen’s firing. According to the six-time champ, the Australian-native “threatened” her former ally and claimed she would “hurt” the British bodybuilder if they threw her into Purgatory.
Devenanzio said they already knew the two would face each other in Hall Brawl and remembered West lost in the same elimination round last season because she didn’t have the proper technique. Therefore, he asked her to practice on him.
The six-time champ insists the two-time competitor “squared up” from three feet away and almost knocked him down. West acknowledged she had help before the season as she admitted in a Twitter reply that she hired a contact sports coach after Tori Deal took her out last season.
The Challenge 35: Total Madness finale airs Wednesday, July 15, 2020, at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.