As The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies episodes roll out, seven-time champion Johnny Bananas is weighing in with his thoughts on the season thanks to a weekly podcast.
This has included critical comments about the various aspects of the new season that he thinks need work, but also some high praise for some of the show’s newest cast members.
Bananas recently praised several of the MTV show’s new rookies based on what he’s seen. He even went as far as to call one of them a “Legend in the making.”
Johnny Bananas gives high praise to The Challenge rookie
In The Challenge Season 37, Episode 2, rookie Kelz Dyke became the latest target that the veteran competitors decided to get rid of.
The former Too Hot to Handle star was clearly amongst the biggest rookies around, and it seemed several returning male competitors didn’t want to face him in eliminations or other challenges.
While Josh Martinez tried to come up with a story at deliberation that Kelz was making deals with rookies and vets, Kelz wasn’t going to let that slide. He calmly confronted the returning Challenge star, suggesting Josh wouldn’t be the one to discover any deals he was making with others.
It was a solid speech, but unfortunately, Kelz and his partner Tracy Candela still ended with the most votes to go into elimination. They’d later get sent home, cutting their season short.
Meanwhile, Kelz remains active on his social media, where he even replied to a Johnny Bananas tweet. In Bananas’ tweet, he had seen a fan mentioning that Challenge ratings were down without Johnny and Wes Bergmann on the show.
“Legends in the game,” Kelz said in his tweet comment, as he showed his respect for the two Challenge champions.
Bananas responded to that tweet shortly after, referring to Kelz as a “Legend in the making,” which is a major endorsement from the man many consider The Challenge’s greatest of all time.
Johnny Bananas impressed by Season 37 rookie
During Johnny’s weekly podcast episode for Death, Taxes, and Bananas, he heaped more praise on Kelz Dyke. While he said he felt Kelz should’ve played a different political game, he liked how he handled his situation with Fessy Shafaat trying to make a deal with him at the club.
“I understand why the house saw him as such a threat. It’s because the guy wasn’t scared. He wasn’t scared man, and he in a way flipped the script on Fessy [Shafaat],” he added.
Johnny’s guest, The Ringer podcast producer Juliet Litman, asked him which of the Season 37 rookies he thinks are future stars for The Challenge.
“Kelz will 100 percent be back. 100 percent will be back. The reason being is they need that enforcer presence, and I think they thought they had that with Fessy, and obviously CT [Tamburello], but CT is slowly going the way of the buffalo,” Bananas said.
“I almost feel like Kelz is a new iteration,” Bananas added, referring to him being a new CT type of cast member.
In addition to Kelz, Bananas also listed off Emanuel Neagu and Ed Eason as rookies he’s been impressed with so far on Spies, Lies & Allies. That seems like a strong endorsement for their returns in future seasons of The Challenge and possibly a sign that Bananas is playing the social game for his own return.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.