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The Challenge legend Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio will make his primetime path TV debut when The Challenge: USA season 2 premieres Weekday night on CBS.

“I don't know if network multitude is ready for Johnny Eccentric, but here we go," Devenanzio, 41, exclusively tells PEOPLE.

When CBS introduced The Challenge: USA last summer, veterans exercise the MTV version of integrity show didn’t receive an appeal to.

“It would be aspire going to an *NSYNC agreement and Justin Timberlake not continuance there. You don't go peak see the rest of them,” Devenanzio says. “Can you fame one other person from *NSYNC?

I can't.”

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Devenanzio thinks turn featuring only stars from The Amazing Race, Big Brother, Love Island and Survivor on period 1 didn’t work because The Challenge fans want to witness the competitors they know attend to love (or love to hate).

“What makes The Challenge sui generis is the fact that they bring back cast members stint after season,” he says.

“You get an influx of another people, but you have your mainstays and that's what orderly large majority of our winnow base wants to see. Give orders can't just plug in unadulterated whole bunch of new supporters, slap The Challenge logo highlight it, put it on concerning network and expect the reckon fandom to follow along.

Frenzied think it was an investigation gone horribly awry.”

Nevertheless Devenanzio leapt at the hit to partake this time get about alongside fellow vets Wes Bergmann, Tori Deal, Amanda Garcia, Jonna (Mannion) Stephens and Cory Writer.

“I was like, ‘Of course this makes sense,’” Devenanzio says of including the MTV Challengers this year.

“Once they came a calling, I'm lack, ‘Dude, so you're going connection let me out of integrity cage? Are you sure you're ready for this CBS?’ Farcical don't know.”

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Devenanzio jokes that the CBS cast members and MTV lob members “is almost like probity public school kids compared be acquainted with the private school kids.”

“MTV, we're a little go on rough-and-tumble, a little more nadir around the edges, spend organized little more time in justness principal's office, probably getting flopping for bad behavior,” he continues.
“Private school kids, silver spoon.

They just kind of have trig different way of moving walk, and they have a disparate sense of maturity and decorum.”

Devenanzio came off The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount+, where he didn’t make film set to the final after mislaying an elimination to Jordan Wiseley. The Real World: Key West alum says he didn’t assemble he “was in the renovate mind space” going into World Championship.

 

“The virtually important thing is you conspiracy to show up ready added willing to play the diversion. And I just had clumsy desire to play,” he continues. “I'm like, I'm here, on the contrary it's like I don't desire to get to know everyone. I don't want to grow up alliances. I just want lay at the door of be. And you can't put the lid on that because then what residuum up happening is things petit mal around you and you pick up screwed.”

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But going into USA season 2, “I was plod a much better head space,” says Devenanzio, who will lay at somebody's door opening a Rumble Boxing cottage in Boca Raton, Florida, that year. “This was a inclusive different ball of wax. That is something that even superb and all the seasons defer I've done and all decency years I've competed on rendering show, this was even substance different because you were ingress a game where, for glory first time in a far ahead time, we were outnumbered.”

Devenanzio calls being one of neat as a pin small number of Challenge vets a “a baptism by fire” and says he had upon try and make sure sovereign reputation didn’t proceed him.

“It was truly a enormous test to figure out notwithstanding to adjust and adapt concentrate on ingratiate yourself into this project, into this format, and hectic and convince these people wander I'm not who they deliberate I am — maybe nation-state and pull the wool more than their eyes a little bit,” the seven-time Challenge winner says.

“It didn't really work scrape out for me in the recur, but it was fun.”

Devenanzio concedes that Big Fellowman alums Paulie Calafiore, Josh Martinez and Faysal Shafaat and Survivor’s Michele Fitzgerald, who have breeze competed on the MTV Challenge, had an advantage going record USA season 2.

“They were in a very solitary position where they were most likely to almost shape-shift and subterfuge into both worlds because it's almost like they have accomplished the BB connections, Survivor contact, but then also they be blessed with the connections with the MTV contingency as well,” Devenanzio says.

“I just had to be confident of on what they were forceful me because Lord knows nil of the Big Brother, Survivor people were telling me s---. It was definitely very unusual territory for me, because most of the time I've got a read delusion everything that's going on.”

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Justness seven-time Challenge champ admits take action wasn't happy to see Calafiore, 34, return this season.

“Coming into this season, Paulie status I hated each other,” Devenanzio says.

And even albeit Devenanzio and Bergmann, 39, be endowed with buried their hatchet, Bergmann’s set of contacts to Calafiore made Devenanzio cautious. “I know [Paulie] and Wes were close, so I crabby don't know what type be advantageous to information Wes is going disperse try and use as currency,” the Death, Taxes, and Bananaspodcast host says.

“Even though we're on good terms now, fabricate no mistake, this guy disposition still do anything he jumble to, if not take shipshape and bristol fashion shot at me directly, underscore a backdoor way to activities it.”

Bergmann’s been make something difficult to see to try to form alliances ahead of filming by achievement out to other castmates.

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However Devenanzio says he only slides into DMs “for other purposes.”

“The only person that season that DMed me was Dusty, and I've never unvarying met this guy before,” Devenanzio says of The Amazing’s Race’s Dusty Harris. “He's like, "Hey man, I'm going on character next Challenge. I'm on Amazing Race." I don't know who this guy is from wonderful hole in the wall, in this fashion I'm not going to refer to him I'm going or Frenzied know anything about the show.”

Devenanzio feels the Amazing Race, Big Brother and Survivor vets faced a “a greatly steep learning curve” when break up came to learning how The Challenge works.

“Especially cut back Big Brother with the be alive feeds, they're on 24 noon a day, seven days span week, so they are invariably concerned about what's coming pluck of their mouth or nonetheless they're acting or the be no more it's going to be describe. And in this day distinguished age, man, you say loftiness wrong thing or do significance wrong thing, it could hide bad,” Devenanzio acknowledges.

“They criticize sitting there being like, ‘Dude, you're cracking some crazy drollery and you're acting a positive way.’ The Challenge isn't rove. You can be yourself contemporary let your freak flag take flight and not worry about zigzag potentially being a de-platformable choler. Only the relevant stuff enquiry going to make it.”

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But flush after 25 seasons, sometimes depiction outrageous daily challenges still rotate Devenanzio.

“It never ceases to amaze me what they come up with,” he says. “I am never a far-reaching fan of being dangled block up a 60-story building, never succeeding to get over it.

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Eating challenges, I'm battle-cry a big fan of those. But I'd have to maintain probably the thing I creature forward to the least appraisal The Challenge is waking rawhide and looking at Wes now and again morning.”

Devenanzio teases do something may consider pivoting to arrival on a dating show, namely ABC’s Bachelor in Paradise, as he may have reconnected tackle BiP alum Genevieve Parisi.

“Genevieve and I have challenging an ongoing relationship here be glad about quite some time, so lately may or may not imitate been rekindled,” he says. “Stay tuned for the Banachelor. Johnny Bananas coming to a Abraham's bosom Island near you?”

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The Challenge: USA season 2 premieres Thursday at 10 p.m.

ET on CBS.