The Traitors star Johnny Bananas blasts Dan's big early move, and says he wanted to finally work with CT

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Traitors season 2.

Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio's reality TV career has now come full circle — but that's not actually a good thing.

The Challenge's only seven-time winner was the first player to get "murdered" on The Traitors season 2 (now streaming on Peacock), after the Traitors — Dan Gheesling (Big Brother) and Phaedra Parks (The Real Housewives of Altanta) — chose to eliminate him from the game in episode 2. But while Johnny's early exit may come as a shock to some, it's actually reminiscent of how he got his start on MTV's long-running reality competition franchise back in 2006. "A lot of people don't know this or they say, 'You've never gone home this early,'" Johnny tells EW. "Well, actually, no, I have. The first Challenge I ever did I was the first one eliminated, so I've actually been here before."

Below, Johnny breaks down why he was targeted so early on The Traitors, how he had actually planned to work with his longtime Challenge rival CT Tamburello for the first time ever, how he's trying to change his reality TV reputation, and so much more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You haven’t had to do an exit interview this early in a very long time. How are you feeling about being the first one eliminated?

JOHNNY 'BANANAS' DEVENANZIO: What kind of gives me a little bit of reprieve is the fact that I had absolutely no way of determining my own fate. The first time I was eliminated on The Challenge, my fate was in my hands, I messed up, I lost, I went home, and it was a tough pill to swallow. This one, I didn't even have a chance to play. It's unfortunate and annoying.

Here's the way I guess I kind of find solace in the whole situation — when you get voted out, usually, on a Challenge, it's because you're not necessarily seen as a threat, or you're seen as somebody who, getting rid of you isn't really going to affect the game all that much. Whereas the reason I was targeted so early here is because I was deemed as the biggest threat in the entire game. There's something to be said about that, and I wear it as a badge of honor.

Why do you think they targeted you first?

I already know. When this took place in the game, there was only two Traitors — the third one hadn't been recruited yet — so it was Dan and Phaedra. There's no doubt that Dan is the one that made the decision. Dan just saw me as not even necessarily a threat to his game, I just think he saw me as a threat in general.

Him and I are two completely different people. We both have a completely different approach to the game. Dan made a very emotional decision based on the fact that, from like a personality perspective, he saw me as a threat. Because let's be real, from a strategic standpoint, keeping me around would have probably benefited him and his game, if he's trying to play the game that he says he is, which is work in the shadows and not say a whole lot. Listen, don't you want a big, loud, shiny object around to divert attention from you? On his behalf, I think it was an unforced error, and strategically, it was just not the best move to make.

He is a very strategic player based on his Big Brother past and how he's playing this season. Going for you rather than a quieter player who maybe doesn't know what's going on in the game is definitely an interesting move.

Yeah, and the other thing is I had no clue what the hell was happening. Anyone at this point in the game that wants to say they had they had an idea who the Traitors were is completely full of it. Including him. Going into the first murder, he didn't even know who the other Traitor was. Nobody at this point had any idea of what was going on. For somebody that prides himself on being such a strategic player, I just think that this was a very un-strategic move. If I was somebody that he thought was going to figure him out one day, there's plenty of time to make that move. The Traitors hold all the power in this game. People already were assuming, based on my track record, that I was a Traitor anyways. 

Not to mention the fact that when it comes to the daily challenges, having me and CT there, it's basically what we've been doing for the last two decades of our lives. You're increasing the chances of you continuing to pad your wallet. If you want to make it to the end and if you want to win the prize, the more money you have, the better. From every angle, strategically, it was a terrible move, which is why I think the reason he made it had nothing to do with strategy. 

Speaking of the challenges, do you regret not going for the shield?

Hindsight is 20/20. Had I known that my ass was already on the chopping block from the first challenge, I would have. I didn't think it was. I'm generally pretty good at reading the room, and I felt like I had an in with pretty much everyone. I wanted to prove to the rest of the people that I'm an asset as far as the challenges go, and by me not going for a shield, it's also going to show that I'm a team player.

As soon as I untied myself, I immediately started untying other people, unlike people like Janelle and some of the guys that jumped in a boat and went for shields. I was thinking that those were going to be people that were going to be targeted prior to me, people that put themselves first before the rest of the house. Because if you have someone like me there that's going to help you win challenges, that's half the game right there. 

Will we see you return later in the season in any capacity or are you truly gone? 

This is truly the end of the road. Now, future seasons? I don't know. That's still up in the air. If anybody was going to get another shot at this, it should be me based on the fact that I did not even have an opportunity to play. I didn't see the first banishment ceremony. I didn't even get to see the first breakfast. So hopefully if and when they do bring me back, whoever the Traitors are, if I'm not one of them, is somebody that puts strategy and winning ahead of personal animus. 

What was your strategy going into this season? Did you have a pre-made Challenge alliance with CT and Trishelle?

It's actually really funny because CT and me — and this wasn't even planned — we were the only two people on the entire show that hadn't watched the first season of Traitors. We both had the same idea where we were already going to be seen as such threats in this game. If we also go in and are very knowledgeable about the way the show works and the rules and who won and what the strategy is, that's just going to be one other thing that works against us. If I go in and I honestly have no idea how the show's played, it might balance out and outweigh some of the negatives that I'm bringing along with me, which is my success and experience on reality television shows. 

But also, him and I spoke before going in about how this might be the first time that we could actually work together on a show and not have to eliminate the other one, especially if it turns out that we're both on the same side. It was nice in that regard, where we almost had to align with each other because we knew that, based on the fact that we have history and we come from the same show, we're probably going to be targeted, and all we really had was each other. And we're there representing our franchise, so we were almost playing for something bigger than ourselves, the legacy that we all represent. 

Now I'm even more sad we didn't get to see you and CT working together. That has epic potential.

I know! It would have been such good TV.

What did you think of how CT and Trishelle outlasted you? Did you think either of them had a shot to win the whole thing after you left?

Absolutely. CT, there's a reason why he is such a dangerous player. Everybody looks at him and they always focus on his physical attributes, but make no mistake, man, that guy is very, very, very cunning, and smart, and he's very good at working people. That's the one big difference between the two of us, he's really good at staying out of the fray and lurking in the shadows. And they had each other.

I knew Trishelle was in very good with Janelle and some of the other Survivor and Big Brother people. Listen, I was bummed that my game got cut short, but it wasn't like I was upset that it wasn't them. Once I was gone, those are the two that I was rooting for to make it to the end. If I'm not going to win then I want to see my people make it to the end. 

You’ve been all over TV lately, with The Challenge, House of Villains, and now this. What did you film first?

We filmed House of Villains in February and then I filmed The Challenge right after that, and then filmed this end of summer. So it was a lot.

Coming off of your second place finish on House of Villains, then third place on The Challenge: USA, how did that affect you going into this show?

It just goes to show how incredibly difficult these shows are to win. I would like to say that I had a moral victory, at least, on House of Villains. But The Challenge: USA was a tough pill to swallow. A lot of it came down to a very chancy checkpoint in a final. But at this point in my career, just making it to the end of these things, just making it to a final, being able to hoist up the second place trophy, for me, is a win in itself. It would be nice to pull one of these things out again, because I've been on quite the drought as of late. 

But you've clearly still got what it takes, just based on last year's results alone. You're not exactly fading into retirement here.

No, it's definitely not that! There's so much that is just left up to complete chance on a lot of these shows that it's so difficult to even make it to the end, let alone see it through. And let's be real, my reputation and my past, while it's a great asset to me, it's also one of my biggest drawbacks.

It's why going into The Challenge: USA I was literally targeted right out of the gate by 18 CBS people who had never even met me before. It's why going into Traitors, I was the first one murdered. No matter what show I go on, what network I go on, I'm going to have a reputation, and that's something that I'm just going to have to deal with. I have to clock in to work a lot sooner than other people do. 

Is that something you're actively trying to change? Speaking of your "moral victory" on House of Villains, bringing Tanisha with you to the finals, and then on The Challenge: USA, you showed more loyalty than we've ever seen from you before. Are you trying to clean up your reputation for your reality TV future?

A large part of it is just strictly a maturity thing. If and when this ride ends, I want to go out on a positive note. The other thing is, I've always been a very loyal person when people are loyal to me. I've never been somebody that is just cutthroat for no reason. I think that's just finally showing a side of me that's always been there, it's just not often shown because I don't get the opportunity to. It's also an evolution in my game, I guess, in how things have changed over the years. Maybe I've just gotten a little more soft in my old age. He taketh and he can give as well. Kind of like Jesus. But I ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

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