Johnny Bananas and Wes Bergmann opened up this week about the rookie mistake some Challenge stars have made in recent years, which they claim has kept the competitors from being invited to appear on future seasons of the long-running competition series.
Johnny and Wes revealed their theory on the latest episode of Johnny’s Death, Taxes and Bananas podcast, during which they specifically called out Nurys Mateo and Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. for publicly trashing production– something both ‘Challenge’ vets agree is a bad move.
“ … ya know, one thing that I’ve never done, and I’m pretty sure that you haven’t either, is openly and outright disparaged the network and the production company,” Johnny said. “Now, have we done it in private? Absolutely. But I’ve never been one to bite the hand that feeds me … .”
Johnny noted that he and Wes (and presumably other cast members) have always been appreciative of the fact that ‘The Challenge’ has opened certain doors for them, whereas some of the show’s more recent competitors have trash talked and openly questioned production decisions.
“ … and then they’re complaining that they’re not being invited back,” Johnny said. “Horacio and Nurys, the two of you have openly– multiple times– basically questioned production, questioned the rules of a game, questioned the outcome of the game. And even once it blew up on f**king social media, turned into this huge conspiracy, this huge controversy, and production literally showed you, frame-by-frame evidence of how they got the rules right, you still continued to openly talk and openly disparage them. Now we’re f**king somehow confused why we don’t have an invite to come back?”
As The Ashley previously told you, Nurys and Horacio were two of the cast members who spoke out last year following a controversial elimination on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras in which Horacio was sent home after losing to longtime ‘Challenge’ competitor Derrick Kosinski.
During Episode 4’s “Pick It Up” elimination, Derrick and Horacio had to roll a ball down a large track and pick up large jacks made out of bamboo before their ball made its way to the end of the track. Each competitor then had to catch their ball without it falling to ground and place their jacks on a large pegged wall, with the first to get 40 jacks on their wall being named the winner.
Despite the elimination appearing super close, host TJ Lavin ultimately announced Derrick as the winner; however, many fans (and some cast members) pointed out on social media that Derrick was missing a jack when TJ declared him the winner. After the episode aired, Nurys– who was dating Horacio at the time– took to X accusing production of lying to keep Derrick from going home.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Horacio claimed that production helped Derrick pick up his fallen pegs off-camera during the elimination, while “nobody came in to help” him.
“I know that when I finished my 40th peg and when I called for the check, the first thing I do is look over to see where Derrick is at, and I vividly remember he was missing the top right corner [peg],” Horacio also claimed.
On his podcast this week, Johnny told Wes he recently saw that Horacio had posted on social media about not being asked to return to ‘The Challenge,’ which Johnny insisted was a “repercussion” of Horacio’s post-show actions.
“It’s just crazy,” he told Wes. “You might not be fined [by the show] in the moment, they might not have the ability to fine you for [disparaging them], but guess what? These are the repercussions … They don’t understand that’s why [they’re not asked to return] and it just blows my mind [that they don’t understand].”
Wes agreed with Johnny’s comments, calling what Nurys and Horacio (and others) have done, “bad business.”
“You have to be a company man is what it all boils down to,” he said. “We’re all on a team and there’s ways to communicate with that team.”
Wes claimed that there have been instances over the years where he has “been upset” with production and requested a phone call with “the person in power” or sent an email, insisting that when issues are presented in this manner, they’re typically remedied.
“That’s not me having preferential treatment, that’s me treating it like a business person,” Wes argued, to which Johnny interjected with, “[That’s] not playing to the fans or the trolls, because that’s what it was [with Nurys and Horacio] … fans and trolls want controversy … .”
Wes and Johnny also accused cast member Jordan Wiseley of openly criticizing production to his detriment, with Wes pointing out that Jordan was a ‘Challenge’ competitor that many cast members– including Nurys and Horacio– looked up to.
“ … you know, we love Jordan, but you gotta be careful of what heroes you choose,” Wes said. “Because if they’re sitting there looking up to Jordan and Jordan is just as bad … .”
Watch a clip from Johnny’s podcast episode below.
Wes and Bananas talk about Nurys and Horacio (and Jordan) openly trashing production and how that led to the two of them not being cast anymore pic.twitter.com/g36NoiNQCj
— Ryan John (@RyanJohn___) December 18, 2025
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(Photos: X; Instagram; MTV)
