"It feels good to be home."
Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio is finally back on The Challenge, making his first appearance since notching his historic seventh win on Total Madness in 2020. Prior to his two-year hiatus, the 40-year-old had competed in 12 consecutive seasons of the MTV reality franchise, so his absence was felt by the show's rabid fanbase. So why was Johnny Bananas finally ready to stage his comeback?
"I know how much the fans missed me, I know how much I missed all of you and I just felt like it was what better time than now?" Johnny told E! News. "I feel like I needed to take a little mental and physical hiatus after what I did to myself on Total Madness. It was a huge win. I wanted to have some time to just take that all in."
While he may have opted out of competing, Johnny still stayed in the mix, thanks to his Death, Taxes and Bananas podcast on The Ringer Network. In addition to recapping episodes, the 17-season vet also interviews fellow Challengers, which proved to be an "unintended" benefit to his game.
"I was able to bring people on and talk to them from a neutral standpoint, where I didn't have a dog in the fight," Johnny explained. "It allowed me to smooth over issues and rivalries and disagreements that I had with people. My podcast became a controlled playing field where we come and we holster our sidearms before we interacted. And it's been great. It's also kept me in the mix enough to where I know what's going on and that's helped me coming into this season."
Still, several buried hatchets aside, Johnny admitted he felt "way more pressure" than ever heading into Ride or Dies.
"Taking the last few seasons off, the landscape has changed a lot," he explained. "There's a lot of people that didn't really have that big of a footprint in the house that have now really risen up and have managed to really get a strong foothold in the game and establish new alliances. There's a lot of new kids coming in this season and the veteran presence was very limited."
Pointing to Derrick Kosinski and Brad Fiorenza as examples of past competitors who were unable to keep up with the new pace of the game after taking extended hiatuses, Johnny was "concerned" he would feel like "a fish out of water."
"Was I going to be able to come back in and pick up where I left off or was there going to be a learning curve with me having to relearn the game and how it's played?" Johnny questioned.
Johnny's other major concern was whether or not he still had "what it takes physically to endure potentially 10 weeks of challenges and then a really difficult final and all of the mental and emotional rigors that go into it," he said. "There were a lot of question marks going in, but I'm always up for a good challenge so I was ready for whatever they were going to throw at me."
Plus, he had one massive motivating factor for his return: His ride or die.
Back for her 12th season, Nany Gonzalez is looking to score her first Challenge win after making it to three finals. And helping one of his "best friends in the whole world" achieve that milestone was a massive draw for Johnny.
"Obviously it would be nice to put another notch on my belt," he explained, "but at the same time, I feel like I had a partner who was going to be heavily reliant on me. So my goal this season was to help Nany finally make her way past the finish line."
While the cast often doesn't know the theme of a season until TJ Lavin, sporting his signature s--t-eating grin, delivers the news, Johnny revealed he was asked to give a list of Challengers he would consider to be his closest ally for season 38's theme. And though they were previously paired together during Battle of the Exes II and finished in fourth place, Nany was Johnny's top pick from the start.
"There's nobody else that I am closer with, there's nobody else I have known longer, there's nobody else that I've been through more with, there's nobody else who I've had a more tumultuous relationship with over the years," he explained. "I honestly can say she is one of my closest friends both on and off the show. And I know for a fact based on the way we've both played the game and what we've been through in the past that she would absolutely ride or die for me. There's nobody else that fits the definition more so than her."
While fans are undoubtedly excited to see Johnny and Nany work together, they are arguably more intrigued to see Johnny compete against Devin Walker for the first time since their infamous feud during 2018's Final Reckoning. After they almost got into a physical altercation at the reunion taping, Devin was sidelined for several seasons before returning in 2021.
Johnny said he wasn't worried by the threat Devin could pose physically—though he did admit, "He is smart, so maybe if we get mixed up in a puzzle, it might be weird". But, he continued, he was "concerned with what our dynamic was going to be. Devin loves to and he's good at getting under my skin. Of all the seasons I've done, there's nobody that I've literally come that close to just having a physical altercation with."
Knowing how they left off, Johnny considered there were only two options: "We were going to come in and immediately go at each other or it was going to be a Wes [Bergmann] and me situation where we let bygones be bygones."
While he wouldn't say which path he and Devin ultimately take, Johnny did tease, "I will say that reality is stranger than fiction and a lot of people are going to be shocked at what transpires between the two of us once we are placed in the same room. Get the popcorn ready."
You got it, champ.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies premieres Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. on MTV.