Are Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio and Paulie Calafiore friends? The Challenge USA season 2 star spills the tea

Modified Aug 12, 2023 10:42 GMT

Johnny Bananas and Paulie Calafiore (Image via Instagram/ @paulcalafiore_/ @johnnybananas)

Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio and Paulie Calafiore, the two contestants of The Challenge season 2, have had a long-standing feud. But now that they both appear in the same show, their differences seem to have fizzled out, at least for now.

In an interview with US Weekly on Thursday, August 10, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio shared the following regarding his stand with Paulie:

“Life is too short to carry hate in your heart. I didn’t know what the situation with Paulie was gonna be [on the show.] Dare I say, we’re friends or something?”

It was on MTV's The Challenge: Final Reckoning in 2018 that Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio and Paulie Calafiore met for the first time. They also worked on War of the Worlds the next year. On camera, not much happened between them, but off camera, they were often seen trash-talking each other, particularly on social media.

In the second season of The Challenge, both stars are trying their best to work together, especially during the premiere episode when both of them were paired up. Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio stated how they were able to address some of their conflicts and became closer as a result of being assigned to the same team.

“I think it worked out better in a weird way that Paulie and I were on the same team. Only because coming into this season, he was the only one I really had long-standing issues with. He hasn’t been on [The Challenge] in a while. We’ve obviously had a very public beef. So by putting the two of us in the same team, it almost kind of neutralized that right out of the gate.”

Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio discusses his situation with Paulie Calafiore

Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio explained that after teaming up, Paulie Calafiore and him not only ended up in the same room, but the latter chose the bed that is next to Johnny. Shedding light on this particular situation, Johnny explained,

“It also helped that [Paulie] chose to not just room with me, but basically picked the bed right next to me. So we went from hating each other to being roommates [and] bunk mates very quickly.”

In addition, The Challenge USA season 2 cast member said:

“I’ve just gotten to a point in my Challenge career and in life, where it’s just like, I’ve got enough difficulty just navigating my way through the house. The more of these meaningless rivalries that I could put aside. It’s just gonna make my life easier.”

Apart from Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio, Paulie Calafiore also spoke with US Weekly back in July, where he explained how this season he is focused on winning the season 2 trophy and prize money, as follows:

“Ultimately, I went into this season with the mindset of, like, ‘There’s always two wolves that everybody has within themselves, and you can choose to feed one or the other.’ So, I chose to feed the one that was peaceful.”

He further added,

"Not to say that the not peaceful one wasn’t chirping in my ear, being like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? What are you doing?’ … I really had to keep my eye on the prize this season.”

The Challenge USA season 2 premiered on Thursday, August 10, featuring cast members who have previously appeared on shows like The Challenge, Survivor, Big Brother, and The Amazing Race. This season's prize money is $250,000, with T.J. Lavin as the host.

This season of the show features the following contestants: