BY DC CUEVA
By the time we reach the end of this summer, it will have been fifteen years since Johnny found himself in a similar situation so many of us have been through while watching this Challenge: in lockdown and stranded in a hotel room waiting to enter The Real World Key West house during Hurricane Katrina. It was a more than chaotic start to his MTV journey where, as he basks in the glow of another Challenge championship, he has now become of a household name in more homes than those of us who have followed him for at least part of this ride. And the reasoning for this rise in his stock comes in two shows that air outside the MTV channel, reflecting the fame and notoriety he's garnered since he infamously stole Sarah's money on Rivals III four years & two days ago in the first Wednesday of August in 2016.
This spring, Bananas competed on the sixth celebrity installment of Food Network's Worst Cooks in America, where he joined Full House's Dave Coulier, Mike Tyson's ex Robin Givens and New York Real Housewife Sonja Morgan in the kitchen. He made it all the way to the final two, where in the end he finished runner up to Bachelor Nation's Wells Adams of JoJo Fletcher's Bachelorette class (the one with Ex On The Beach alums Chase, Chad & Daniel and Juliette's Siesta Key ex Robby Hayes). It's also the same show that the man who was eliminated first on Total Madness, AYTO alum Asaf Goren, also competed on as has Gina from 2017's Stranded with a Million Dollars.
Execs at the Peacock loved him so much after that guest episode aired, that they gave him something that another proud Real World alum, CVS host Mike "The Miz" Mizanin also has: duel citizenship from different networks, just as they have with the WWE champ in the Miz having both his own USA reality show with his wife & baby, and hosting its new competition series Cannonball. And starting with the 2018-19 season, Bananas has become full-time host of 1ST LOOK... and he relaxes with Challenge title #7, we'd like to share with you his adventures around this wide world of ours as only he can, with plenty of fun and special guests joining him on this two-part ExtraTime.
🏈 Football
After that test run that aired after Donald Glover hosted SNL that May, Johnny's 1st Look hosting gig officially began in September with the kickoff of the 2018 NFL season as he got to translate his experience of training for The Challenge into getting to training during the midst of preseason training camp with his arch rival's future Super Bowl champion Chiefs. And then, he had another training session: to be a Rams cheerleader wearing all those clothes.
🏔️ Alaska
Six years ago, MTV cameras headed up north to the last frontier to spend quality time with the wild kids of Slednecks. When Cory joined the Teen Mom family with the first of the two moms of the kids who he's daddy to, briefly joining Cheyenne in the OG family (and taking the spot formerly held by Farrah Abraham) was politician's daughter Bristol Palin. For his first big road trip, Johnny flew up to Alaska to check out everything the 49th state of the union has to offer: flying above the glaciers, going white-water rafting, fly fishing, kayaking and chilling with the brown bears.
💸 Jobs
A qualm Bananas' haters has always had against him is that he's never had a real job until taking up this 1st Look gig. In this episode, he tackles things a little bit more challenging that just doing chores while we're all being in lockdown: he learned about matching food with what's known officially as cannabis (but of course, we know it at Pot), trying his hand to be a matchmaker for love-worthy singles, doing maintenance for caverns in the San Diego area, and working with animals in Miami.
🇨🇦 Montreal
In where he's called home all his life, Southern California is a vibrant and diverse region... it's also the same thing when they describe a few big cities north of the border in Canada. Montreal, Quebec is a booming metropolis that is rich in culture, steeped in history, and where it speaks the nation's two official languages of French and English. Johnny chose the right time of year to go when there's no snow on the ground to see what this city is like, from street art to restaurants that reflect the global nature of the country, as well as hanging out with a local drag queen.
🕵️ Urban Legends
Thanks to what's been going in our world, there is always a search going on for where the truth calls home. For one week at least, Johnny became what Nev Schulman loves to do in being an investigator, and he got to travel to where there is something weird going on with flying objects in Roswell, New Mexico, to Lake Champlain in upstate New York to search for sea monsters, to finding ghosts and even following in the footsteps of Bigfoot.
🌟 Senses
As we all know, there are five senses that you have while going through this soap opera of life: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Johnny had the opportunity to take advantage of experiencing four of the five in which he got to take part in the process of making Jelly Beans, making foley sounds for a local TV & film sound firm, and, of course, getting to cuddle with someone.
💪 Fitness Fanatic
When planning things out for his maiden voyage, it would not have been complete without getting to see what Bananas is really made of: the fitness side of him. In this episode looking at that athlete side of Johnny, he tried out the same famed American Ninja Warrior obstacle course Ninja Natalie honed her craft before going on War of the Worlds and did some CrossFit. He also got to do some pole dancing and had a moment to just calm himself down with a session of yoga.
🇫🇷 South of France
The country of France was, of course, when C.T. and Adam first roamed the streets of Paris for that season of The Real World so very long ago, but the nation is so much more than just the City of Lights. Johnny flew to the South of France to explore everything that those south of Paris have to offer: visiting a winemaker, slinging meat, farming by the Mediterranean and much more.
🌊 Wet and Wild
As he lives not far from the Pacific, Johnny got to explore the world of H2O, including getting to indulge himself on the beaches of St. Pete Clearwater, among other places in a world where 70% is covered in water.
🏜️ Wasteland & Sands
The nature of recent Challenge seasons has seen something that we presumably find ourselves right now: a sense of apocalyptic happenings in our world. Johnny ventured to the post apocalyptic-themed festival, Wasteland Weekend, in the Mojave Desert and then went to another place in the middle of nowhere, where ride-or-die Leroy Garrett was waiting for him to go sand buggy racing. And when he returned to civilization, Johnny ventured to Coney Island, NY to go sand sculpting.
🇬🇧 Scotland
Given than the United Kingdom has played a big role in the latest generation of MTV Reality, Bananas paid it forward by venturing over to Scotland to find out more about the art of tailoring, have a taste of their famous whisky & gin and seafood, and tee it up at The Home of Golf: the links of St. Andrew's, many times the venue for The Open Championship.
👒 Ladies Night
Johnny was beaten to the finish line of the Total Madness final by a female in Britain's Jenny West - and he has shared the screen over his twenty-three overall MTV series with everyone from Paula to Cara. And in this last video of this first wave of episodes, some ladies decided to school him on who's boss: a stuntwoman from the Black Panther movie, a female butcher and a female magician took on him to teach him a lesson...
🍌 🍌 🍌
Coming Up in Part 2 of The Many Sides of Johnny Bananas: Is he ready to handle what others in Challenge Nation have successfully been able to do - become a daddy? Plus, ventures to an island, the place known as the DMZ, and other travels that's given him more stamps on that passport. And more special guests, including THAT showdown with his future Total Madness ally. Rejoin us for all of that coming tomorrow.
- I AM DC
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