20 seasons. 9 finals. 7 wins. Like the man himself will most definitely tell you: “The numbers don’t lie.”
In The Challenge: Total Madness‘ finale on Wednesday night, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio finally managed to break the alleged curse that’s haunted him ever since his last win during Rivals III when he decided to take all the money from his partner Sarah Rice.
Bananas took home the $500,000 prize as the male winner of the MTV hit’s 35th season, with Jenny West crossing the finish line first in the grueling final for the female competitors.
In the five seasons Bananas had competed in since making the infamous decision to keep the $275,000 for himself, the 38-year-old hadn’t even come close to reaching a final, with fans and fellow competitors wondering if his winning days were behind him.
“I’ve never been one to believe in spiritual or external mystical forces that have any sort of effect on what happens good or bad in my life,” Johnny told E! News in a phone interview. “I didn’t feel like it was a curse.”
But the reality star admitted he was feeling a different kind of curse: “I did start to doubt myself. I did start to think that maybe there was something out there that was working against me.”
