‘The Challenge’: Johnny Bananas Keeps Money, Loses Friendship With Sarah Rice

Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio pulled the most savage move in Challenge history on Wednesday night’s finale of Rivals III. The reality star made the decision to keep all of the winnings from the past season — $275,000 — as opposed to splitting the money with his partner, rival Sarah Rice.

Here’s a bit of a recap.

Bananas and Rice were paired up on Rivals III after Rice burned Bananas on Exes II. At that time, Sarah and her then-partner, ex Jordan Wiseley, pulled a quick one over the eyes of Johnny, sending him and Nany Gonzalez into an elimination just before the final. Bananas was left completely shocked by this move as he thought that Sarah was his friend and had his back.

Johnny Bananas and Nany Gonzalez ended up losing to Leroy and Theresa, sending them home in the very last Dome before the competition for big money kicked off. This was one of only a handful of Challenge competitions that Bananas didn’t see a final in. However, this time, Bananas felt that it was Sarah’s back-stabbing that caused him to lose out on the big money. It’s something that he never really got over.

It’s no surprise that Johnny Bananas and Sarah Rice were paired up on Rivals III. Bananas was still really upset with Sarah, and the two got off to a rocky start, to say the least. However, after completing a couple of challenges together, Bananas and Sarah started to mend their friendship. They soon realized that they were the team to beat and that if they could get along, they’d have a real great shot at winning the biggest prize in challenge history.

And so Bananas and Sarah took over, winning challenge after challenge and never being sent to the Jungle. The two seemed to rebuild a bond that was stronger than ever, and many fans of the show just assumed that the two would win the final challenge with ease. And they pretty much did.

However, before starting the final, Challenge host T.J. Lavin announced a major twist. Although the teams would be competing together, they would also be competing on their own. Basically, each challenge was set up for each teammate, but they were identical. Whoever finished their challenge first received a token and then was permitted to help their teammate in hopes of beating the other teams. The person with the most tokens at the end of the final would get to make a very big decision: Would they keep all of the winnings for themselves or split said winnings with their partner?

The twist was completely shocking and caused some serious conflict between Bananas and Sarah straight away. If Sarah had the most tokens at the end, would she screw Bananas over? If Johnny had the most, would he seek revenge on Sarah?

Turns out, Johnny ended up with the most tokens, and he did screw Sarah over, much to the dismay of thousands of fans. According to People Magazine, Johnny maintains that his choice was more about making a change in his life more than getting back at Sarah.

“I maintained from the beginning when I made my decision that it wasn’t about being vengeful and it wasn’t about spite. It was about me looking at the amount of money that was on the line and looking at what I would be able to do with it. And then when I factored in the relationship Sarah and I had, or lack thereof, it wasn’t that difficult of a decision for me. And then on top of that, obviously what she had done to me in the past, which was pretty similar.

“Had what happened on Exes never taken place, my decision quite possibly could’ve been different. But then again, had she not done that, we wouldn’t have been rivals in the first place so we wouldn’t have been paired up on this show. So the way that I saw it is, it’s a game and when she made that decision on Exes 2 from then I basically was playing by those rules that she set.”

What do you think of Johnny Bananas’ decision to keep the money and leave Sarah Rice in tears? Do you think that the two will ever be able to mend their friendship?

[Image via Johnny Bananas/Instagram]