Johnny Bananas Calls The Challenge 40 'a Pissing Contest' Between Vets and Rookies (Exclusive)

• Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio won the first daily challenge of his era at the August 14 movie premiere Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs
• The seven-time Challenge champion tells PEOPLE he’s in Battle era wonder if he has “what it takes to compete against the best of the last 40 seasons”
• Aneesa Ferreira tells PEOPLE she realized Season 40 was “going to be hell” after discovering how the elimination debates work

Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs sees legends of the game return to face off against newer stars and aspiring champions. Of course, the vets came in thinking they were running the game.

“I’m watching Challenge — and I think a lot of senior vets did — as our area, and you want to protect that at all costs,” Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio tells PEOPLE in a joint interview with Aneesa Ferreira. “And as much as we’d love to see the newer generation come in and make their mark, we’re not going to make it easy for them to come in and take the crown. There was definitely a competition between the old guard and the new guard; those who lit the torch and then those who will carry the torch.”

Says Nurys Mateo Challenge 40 ‘Changed everything’ for her and Olivia: ‘In a great place now’ (Exclusive)

Devenanzio, 42, won Challenge more than any other player in the history of the game with seven total wins. He returned in season 40 after being the first person in it Traitors season 2, which gave him additional ammunition to further prove himself Battle era.

“I was kicked out Duel because I was not seen as a threat and was the first to be eliminated on Traitors for the complete opposite reason,” says Devenanzio, who was first for Era 2 in the first challenge of Season 40. “If I don’t make it to the finals and win every season, I’m washed up, I’m over the hill, I have to retire, I’m an old man, I need hip replacement. So going into season 40, the answer was, do I still have what it takes to compete with the best of the last 40 seasons, and what will that look like?”

The host of ‘Izazova’ TJ Lavin and the cast of ‘Battle of the Epochs’.

MTV

During the season 40 premiere on August 14, Devenanzio, along with Era 2 Women’s winner Laurel Stucky, had to decide who would go on to an elimination challenge alongside Era 2 finalists Kellyanne Judd and Ryan Kehoe.

“When I do a season, I don’t really have anyone to really make friends with,” Devenanzio explains. “So it makes my life easier, because I don’t care [who] I vote against or I vote for. I had so many people I was close to this season. My team, I’m super close with Emily [Schromm]laurel. I looked at everyone here and I said, ‘This is going to be hard, because at some point you’re going to have to turn against people who are your friends.’ It will be a tough battle.”

Similarly, Era 1 winners Chris “CT” Tamburello and Rachel Robinson had to choose who would go up against last-place finishers Katie Cooley and Mark Long, Era 3 winners Tori Deal and Cory Wharton had to choose who would go up against losers Leroy Garrett and Nia Moore and Era 4 winners Michele Fitzgerald and Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. they should have put someone in against his girlfriend Nurys Mateo and Theo Campbell.

The PEOPLE Puzzler has arrived! How fast can you solve it? Play now!

Era 1’s Derek Kosinski knew how hard it would be to choose between him and Darrell Taylor, so he threw himself into elimination. “I don’t want this to fall hard on one of my best friends,” Kosinski, 40, said on the Aug. 14 episode. “He is such a good person and has looked out for me in the past. I owe you, old man, and this is the time to step in.”

Ferreria, also part of Era 1, agrees that “it was difficult” to choose who to put in elimination during the chamber’s deliberations.

“I had some people who were not nice to me, so I thought it would be easier for me. I realized it was going to be hell,” says 42-year-old Ferreria. “I’ve had many friendships over the period – some longer than others – and how could I vote in good conscience?”

‘Challenge’ star Aneesa Ferreira.

MTV

The Real World: Chicago alum also worried about who she might be up against. “This season was complex [with] women,” she says. “So every woman I had to go against, I was like, ‘S—‘.”

Ferreria thought that with her close friend Robinson (41), who won Era 1, she would be safe from elimination. However, Robinson and Tamburello, 41, decided she would choose who would go instead of the men and he would choose a contestant who had seen elimination, leaving Ferreria vulnerable.

“How many eliminations can a person go to?” Ferreria, who has been in 26 Challenge eliminations in her career, is asking questions. “I feel like after 20, that’s the maximum. They can’t let you in anymore.”

Challenge 40 Trailer: CT exits on a stretcher, Johnny ‘Bananas’ calls himself ‘the devil’s right hand’

While viewers will have to wait until the August 21 episode to see who will end up in the first elimination, Devenanzio promises that Season 40 will be bigger than any of its predecessors.

“Usually we have one or two really cool, big-budget, meaty, awesome challenges. We have five of them this season,” he says. “It was like they just kept upping the ante and each challenge got crazier. I thought we’d seen everything they had coming our way – in this one they did.”

Never miss a story — subscribe to PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs airs Wednesdays at 8:00 PM ET on MTV.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education