Seven-time champion Johnny Bananas returns for another spinoff, with The Challenge: USA 2, where he’ll be around castmates he knows and doesn’t know.
Among them will be familiar faces like Ride or Dies winner Tori Deal, two-time All Stars winner Jonna Mannion, and Survivor winner Michele Fitzgerald.
They’ve each had their share of showmances or hookups while appearing in The Challenge, with Tori and Michele having several in their past few seasons.
Bananas is known for his showmances, too, including Morgan Willett and Natalie Negrotti. More recently, he was involved with Ride or Dies rookie Moriah Jadea.
Several of these relationships didn’t end on the best terms, with recent rumors suggesting drama caused Johnny and Moriah to split after filming Season 38.
He recently gave his thoughts on showmances during The Challenge, including one involving his USA 2 castmate.
Johnny Bananas teases Tori showmance on USA 2
In speaking with US Weekly, former Real World star-turned-Challenge champion, Bananas, gave fans a teaser regarding his castmate’s showmance.
During The Challenge: USA 2 preview trailer (below), viewers saw hints of rookie Sebastian Noel from Survivor in a showmance with Bananas’ longtime castmate, Tori. Bananas said he wasn’t too surprised since “we all know Tori loves herself some company.”
He also praised the Survivor rookie for getting with one of the MTV competition show’s biggest stars.
“I mean, listen, this guy’s coming in as a rookie [and] what better way to find protection and also get a great storyline right outta the gate than falling into a showmance with pretty much the female face of The Challenge at this point? I mean, we call that ‘polid***king’ on The Challenge. So, well played Sebastian, well played,” Bananas told US Weekly of the pairing.
Tori appeared with Bananas in his most recent seasons of MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies and Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: World Championship spinoff.
She’s previously had a tease of a showmance with USA 2 castmate Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat during the Double Agents season, which rolled into a story during Spies, Lies & Allies.
Ahead of that, Tori famously dated her castmate, Jordan Wiseley, with the two getting engaged during the War of the Worlds 2 season. After remaining engaged for several years, they split up after Tori finished filming Double Agents.
Jordan vowed not to appear on the show when his ex was there but returned for Ride or Dies, surprising her. He went on to appear with Tori in World Championship, and the two seem to be on much better terms than before.
It should be interesting to see how far things go regarding a potential relationship involving Tori and the Survivor rookie on USA 2.
Bananas said he’s done with Challenge showmances
The Challenge: USA 2 will bring Bananas onto the CBS spinoff with several of his previous castmates from MTV. He’ll also have a new group of rookie men and women on The Challenge from Big Brother, Amazing Race, and Survivor.
However, Bananas shared he’s no longer getting involved in showmances with any of his castmates from The Challenge saying, “It’s just not a good look” to get into relationships during the show’s filming.
“You know, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Well, call me insane. I think one of the issues with [a showmance] is there’s just a lot of [questions about], ‘What is the actual intention here behind — is this for show? Is this for likes? Is this for clout?’ And unfortunately, more often than not, that tends to be the case,” Bananas commented.
Fans saw a messy situation involving Bananas and his castmate Morgan from War of the Worlds. After filming that season of The Challenge, the reality TV stars dated for about two years. However, things ended with allegations of Bananas’ cheating on Morgan.
It’s unclear what happened between Bananas and his latest showmance, Moriah from Season 38, but rumors suggest it may have involved cheating by one of the two individuals with a castmate.
Bananas said showmances tend to lead “to way more headaches” than he wants, and he already “has enough to worry about” on The Challenge.
“Once you kind of start getting distracted [and] once you lose focus on what the ultimate goal is, it’s sure to not end well,” Johnny told Us. “But I encourage everybody else to continue on with these meaningless, nonsensical showmances, and then I’ll just be there to pick up the pieces when it all falls apart,” he said.
The Challenge: USA 2 premieres Thursday, August 10 at 10/9c on CBS.