Johnny Bananas hasn’t officially appeared in The Challenge: Battle For a Champion on MTV, but the seven-time champion is still part of the latest season.
In a recent episode, Bananas was mentioned and shown via highlight footage as part of a showmance storyline involving cast member Moriah Jadea.
During the early stages of Season 39, Moriah has shown interest in her castmate, James Lock, from The Challenge: UK.
However, there was also talk about how Moriah hung out with Bananas frequently after their showmance on Ride or Dies, which upset Moriah about possibly hurting or “embarrassing” her previous showmance.
Castmate Olivia Kaiser said it was going on for about a year. She was surprised at Moriah’s interest in James because Moriah is typically “so loyal” to others.
The recent storyline aired on MTV and caught the attention of Bananas’ friend, Wes Bergmann, leading to reactions from the two OGs.
Bananas and Wes react to The Challenge Season 39
While Bananas is currently on E! ‘s House of Villains and Wes is retired, both are synonymous with MTV’s The Challenge.
They recently appeared together in the cast of The Challenge: USA 2 spinoff on CBS, where Wes officially announced his retirement, and Bananas reached the final but finished third.
Both still comment about The Challenge via different platforms, including their podcasts, Patreon, or social media. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Wes brought up that he was confused about production involving Bananas in a storyline on Season 39.
“I’m a little confused b/c I thought the last committed relationship Bananas was in was two years ago. And even in this episode, it’s alluded to that they’re not exclusive. So this whole storyline feels like a reach. As the kids say they were just kicking it. And now they’re not,” Wes tweeted regarding the Season 39 story.
That tweet caught Bananas’ attention as he seemed unsurprised that he was included in a storyline to assist the show.
“Wait Bergy my name is being used on TV for a storyline and clout? In other news the sun rose from the East this morning,” he tweeted.
The Season 39 storyline led to an online clash as Moriah called out Olivia in a series of heated messages, suggesting Olivia was saying and doing “slick things” behind her back even though Moriah had Olivia’s back.
Moriah also tweeted that she didn’t call or video call Bananas about her situation with James during Season 39 filming because she felt awful and didn’t want to not talk to Bananas for two months after.
Moriah and Bananas had Ride or Dies showmance
Moriah debuted on the previous season of The Challenge, Ride or Dies, as Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat’s teammate, a friend he’d met from Instagram DMs. Moriah and Bananas developed a showmance during the season and continued to “hang out” after filming.
However, Moriah became interested in James during the filming of Season 39, leading to her new showmance away from Bananas.
As her castmate Nurys Mateo explained during a recent Season 39 episode, Moriah seemed to have an “effortless” connection with James. Nurys observed it took Moriah longer to feel comfortable with Bananas.
Bananas isn’t part of the newest MTV season of The Challenge, although rumors suggested he was asked to appear as one of the OG mercenaries who would come in for one elimination to battle a cast member. The speculation is he turned it down as he didn’t want to be part of this storyline with Moriah.
Monsters and Critics also reported months ago about rumors that Bananas unfollowed Moriah, suggesting they were no longer amicable.
He appeared in a promotional teaser video ahead of Season 39, as he was seen on camera alongside Moriah when she got the call she’d be part of The Challenge cast.
More recently, a fan indicated they spotted Bananas making out with his USA 2 castmate at a party, but there has been no further indication that he’s seeing the Big Brother star.
Bananas showed interest in House of Villains castmates
As Bananas’ appearances on The Challenge: USA 2 ended several weeks ago with the show’s finale, he was soon appearing on another reality TV show, E! ‘s House of Villains.
The show airs on Thursday nights, so it’s not opposite MTV’s The Challenge. However, many fans enjoy Bananas and his castmates’ antics on House of Villains.
Based on another tweet, Bananas may have indicated he enjoyed being on this show more than The Challenge.
That includes him being blasted by Tiffany “New York” Pollard several times during the show, bringing back his mystery note strategy, and exploring a few possible showmances. There were teases of his interest in castmates Anfisa Naya from 90 Day Fiance and The Bachelor’s Corinne Olympios as the show debuted.
He may have found something with the latter as he continues to appear on his social media with him at different events. Most recently, it was at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening of his Rumble gym in East Boca Raton, Florida.
As of this writing, it’s unclear if Bananas is dating Corinne, getting to know her, or they’re just friends. However, that could be a common theme with some of his relationships, based on how Nurys described him and Moriah.
Based on how things have been explained about Moriah and Bananas, they weren’t in a committed relationship but were hanging out quite a bit. Whatever they had undoubtedly led to some guilty emotions from Moriah during filming for The Challenge: Season 39.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.