Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio is breaking down the difference between his real-life personality and the one he plays on TV, while also revealing how his time on ‘The Challenge’ has kept him from getting married and having children.
As reality TV fans may know, Johnny made his MTV debut on ‘The Real World: Key West’ in 2006 and competed on his first season of ‘The Challenge’ that same year. In the two decades that have followed, Johnny has returned to the competition series multiple times, winning seven ‘Challenges’ along the way.
On a recent episode of ‘The Legally Goff’ podcast, Johnny admitted that, although it took him “a while,” he eventually realized that the line between himself and his TV persona had been “blurred,” sometimes to the point that it led to difficult interactions with his loved ones.
“ … I’d come home [from filming] and if I was dating a girl [or] if I got into an argument with my family, they’d be like, ‘I don’t wanna deal with Johnny Bananas, okay?’” he recalled.
After becoming aware of the situation, Johnny said he realized that he would turn on the “Johnny Bananas” persona not consciously, but rather “out of necessity.”
“It’s almost, in a way, like a protective armor,” Johnny said. “So, you can attack Johnny Bananas, you can attack that character, but it’s not gonna affect me because that’s not who I really am.”
Johnny admitted that he sometimes struggles to turn off his “Johnny Bananas” persona, largely due to situations in his life when he’s been personally “betrayed” by those close to him.
“ … it’s made me a very guarded person,” he said. “And I’ve had a hard time sometimes, like, opening up and allowing people to get in close to me and get to know me. So, I think that also, you know, affects my ability to be in a relationship sometimes, as well.”
While he believes that his “TV persona” has affected his love life, Johnny claims that his multiple seasons on ‘The Challenge’ may have also contributed to his current relationship status.
“ … a lot of guys have stepped away from the game, started families, gotten married, gotten jobs, careers, [I’ve] never done that,” he said. “I don’t have a kid, I’m not married, I’ve never had a job other than TV. The last real job I had, I worked at a pizza place at Penn State. So I think that’s what [being on ‘The Challenge’ has] done, is it’s really kind of, in a way, prevented me from taking the traditional path in life.”
Johnny went on to say that being on reality TV has also made him question if he’s even capable of having a more “traditional” life.
“It’s really put, for me, the idea of a family and a relationship, not only [caused me] to put it on hold, but it’s almost made me question what that is and if I’m able capable of being in [a traditional relationship],” he explained.
As you may remember, Johnny’s most recent long-term relationship was with former ‘Big Brother’ star Morgan Willett, whom he met in 2018 while filming ‘The Challenge: War of the Worlds.’ Morgan and Johnny ultimately split in September 2021 after a video of Johnny cheating on Morgan circulated online.
Interestingly, just months before the breakup, Johnny admitted on the ‘Challenge Mania’ podcast that he told Morgan their relationship likely wouldn’t work out if she continued to appear on future seasons of ‘The Challenge.’
“I’ve been doing this for so long that if there’s any chance for this relationship to work, it can’t be under the public eye of a reality television show,” Johnny said. “Before anything got serious, I basically told her, ‘Listen, you know that … this has been my life, my profession, for the foreseeable future. I just want you to know that if you plan on continuing to do shows, this isn’t gonna work.’”
Morgan seemed to heed Johnny’s warning, as ‘War of the Worlds’ marked her only season on ‘The Challenge.’
You can watch Johnny on the current season of ‘The Challenge: Cutthroat.’ New episodes stream Wednesdays on Paramount+.
Click here to watch a clip from Johnny’s interview on the ‘Legally Goff’ podcast.
RELATED STORY: Johnny Bananas Slams MTV for Not Capitalizing on His Star Power During His “20-Year Emotionally Abusive Relationship” with Network
(Photos: MTV; Instagram)
