The Challenge’s Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio is known for his wild ways on reality TV — but his first kissing instructor is surprising even for him.
“My grandma taught me how to French kiss,” Devenanzio, 41, exclusively revealed in the latest issue of Us Weekly.
Unfortunately, grandma’s smooching tips haven’t kept Devenanzio from crashing and burning when it comes to reality showmances. During his time on The Challenge, Devenanzio has had steamy on-camera relationships with Morgan Willett, Natalie Negrotti and Moriah Jadea.
Ahead of his stint on The Challenge: USA season 2, Devenanzio revealed that he had no intention of more onscreen hookups. “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, you’re not gonna fool me again,” he exclusively told Us in August. “It leads to way more headaches than I need. … It never ends well, and it only is gonna make your game more complicated.”
Devenanzio — who has won seven seasons of the OG competition series — isn’t only focused on his love life and reality successes. In fact, he only got into the reality TV game to “impress a girl” back in college.
Scroll down for 25 things fans might not know about Devenanzio, including his unconventional celebrity crush:
1. I got the nickname Johnny “Bananas” because I shoved bananas in my mom’s tailpipe [as a kid] to get out of going to school.
2. I had a ghost named Peter follow me from a travel shoot I did at the Deering Estate in Florida to my house in California. For weeks, [Peter] haunted my house.
3. In college, I applied to be on The Real World to impress a girl I had a crush on.
4. I got suspended for streaking in high school.
5. My grandma taught me how to French kiss.
6. I’m such a light sleeper that I was once woken up by a mouse farting in my room.
7. I took a lie detector test with Wes Bergmann on Maury, and he lied about not wanting to be my friend.
8. I have seven tattoos.
9. My full name is John Amadeus Devenanzio.
10. I’m a middle child. I have two sisters and 11 nieces and nephews.
11. I sumo wrestled Yama, the heaviest sumo wrestler in history at 600 pounds.
12. Contrary to popular belief, I actually [do] have a heart.
13. I haven’t had a 9-to-5 job since 2005.
14. I have a family of wild pet squirrels that I hand-feed living in my backyard.
15. I’ve done reality TV for 18 years [with] 22 seasons of The Challenge.
16. I graduated from Penn State University with a degree in economics.
17. I have appeared on and logged more hours on reality television than anyone in the history of reality TV.
18. I won an Emmy for hosting a travel show.
19. I’ve never been [in] a car accident.
20. I’ve never had a cavity.
21. I want to climb Mount Everest.
22. I sued HBO for stealing the nickname Johnny “Bananas” from me [and using it on] the show Entourage.
23. My celebrity crush is the AT&T girl [Milana Vayntrub].
24. I have 478 banana-themed pieces of memorabilia in my house.
25. I was scheduled to be on a flight that crashed.
The Challenge: USA airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.
