The Challenge star Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio may not be appearing on MTV’s reality competition series lately, but he’s still keeping himself quite visible on viewers’ screens.
The seven-time Challenge champion is currently working as a host for several different media projects, including 1st Look on NBC, and now an online series, Sports on Prime Video Hall of Fame.
One of the first episodes of the sports series has already arrived online which feature Bananas with his co-host, Spice Adams, as they talk sports movie moments.
Johnny Bananas, Spice Adams hosting sports series online
When it comes to firing up players in a locker room, sports movies have featured some highly motivational coaches, including Samuel L. Jackson, Al Pacino, and Kurt Russell. However, each movie performance resonates differently with different viewers, and everyone has their own favorite speech.
In the latest episode of Sports on Prime Video Hall of Fame series, Johnny Bananas and former NFL player Spice Adams are ranking the best movie locker room speeches of all-time. That includes classic speeches from Sam Jackson in Coach Carter and Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday.
In the Sports on Prime Video Twitter kickoff episode below, Bananas and Adams break down the speeches and rank their favorites of all-time.
In another clip that surfaced on Twitter, Bananas and his co-host go over some of their honorable mentions for great locker room speeches. That includes Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans, and the classic locker room speech from Friday Night Lights.
So far, the above series looks like it will only be exclusive to the Twitter platform via Amazon’s Sports on Prime profile. Episodes are in a short format rather than a half-hour or longer on-demand show, but it’s always possible something could also surface on the streaming platform.
Will Bananas return to The Challenge?
In sports, Bananas has become known as the greatest of all-time in his own right, after winning seven seasons of The Challenge. His most recent win came on the Total Madness season of MTV’s competitive reality series. After Tom Brady guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win a few weeks ago, Bananas posted a side-by-side comparison of the two G.O.A.T. athletes each showing off their seven rings.
In addition to appearing on regular seasons of The Challenge, Johnny has also been featured on spinoffs such as Champs vs. Stars and Champs vs. Pros. That has likely led to Bananas making a few connections here or there in the sports world, and now it seems he’s parlaying his success into other media opportunities.
After achieving his seventh win on Total Madness, Bananas seems to have taken a break to pursue the other ventures beyond The Challenge. Meanwhile, competitors like Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell and Chris “CT” Tamburello continue to come back to the show and try to inch their way towards Bananas’ records.
With Season 37 casting already rumored to be taking place, fans are hoping that Bananas will be back for the reality competition series. While he didn’t return for Double Agents, he never officially shut the door on returning to the show. As of right now, there are no signs of anyone overtaking his record seven wins. Ashley could reclaim the top spot for total prize money won with another victory on the show.
Johnny Bananas is now 38 years old, which is two years younger than Double Agents competitor CT. Longtime competitor Aneesa Ferreira is 39, and also appearing on Double Agents, so it’s not far-fetched to think all of these competitors have more seasons left in them. If not on the regular season, future seasons of the new OGs spinoff could feature many of the longtime stars, including Bananas.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.