It was CT-against-the-world many seasons, and even though no one wanted to go against him, they did everything in their power to vote him into eliminations so others could face (and hopefully beat) him. The case for him being this high (or higher) is that his comp-to-comp peak was as dominant as we've ever seen. That's the case against CT being this high. Ultimately, his resume is his resume, and while four titles and nine finals in 18 seasons is incredibly impressive, it still feels like he could have done more. Three of those were during his peak as the most fearsome Challenge competitor in history, and he almost certainly would have more than three titles if he could have controlled his temper/followed the rules (or if Eric "Big Easy" Banks hadn't gassed out on "Gauntlet 3"). Chris "CT" Tamburello ("Real World: Paris")ĬT has appeared on 18 Challenges, though four of those resulted in him getting disqualified or kicked off. He's won at life, and that's really all that matters to him.Ģ. And, ultimately, it doesn't really matter where we rank Bananas because he'll say he's the best and he has the resume and overall success (including with the ladies) to back him up. Yes, it's tough to shake the image of the " Johnny Bananas Backpack," and, prior to his "Total Madness" win, his lackluster past few seasons were putting an undue stain on his legacy.Įven with all that being said, after yet another ring in a strong season, it's tough to deny Bananas his place in history. Beyond that, he (and his partner) ultimately took out CT in two eliminations right before the finals ("Free Agents", "Rivals 1") and beat him in a final when CT gassed out ("Battle of the Exes 1"). That's just as much as part of "The Challenge" as anything, and he masterminded some dominant alliances. However, as was showcased on "Total Madness," we might have been focusing too much on physical prowess and not giving enough credit to Bananas's political/mental game. That was always his best argument for being No. One can argue, "The wins proved he was the best,", which, yeah, sure.but was he really? His most impressive performance was during his solo victory on "Free Agents" when he took out both of the guys direct below him on this list in elimination comps (though he beat CT on a puzzle, which was lame). Why wasn't he there to begin with? Well, for as great as Bananas' career has been, it never felt like he was the best competitor at any given time. 3 on our list, but after another win that moved him into first on the all-time prize money list ($1,184,720), we had to put him in the top spot. But other than those, I can't really think of what dirty moves I've done in the past." "I've been accused in the past of being a dirty player, but, you know, nothing really comes to mind.other than, I don't know, leaving Paula on a deserted island, destroying a relationship in order to further my position in the game, and I took $275,000 from a partner. He's eminently quotable (Sarah probably stills hears, " I'm gonna go ahead and take the money and run, Teej" in her nightmares), remarkably mentally tough, and the quintessential schemer, which is summed up by this monologue: He's achieved mainstream success while also staying as closely tied to "The Challenge" as anyone in show history. The facts: Bananas has appeared on the most Challenges (20) and has the most Challenge titles (7). Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio ("Real World: Key West") ( Note: The following lists have been updated since their original publishing prior to "Total Madness.") Best male 'Challenge' cast members of all timeġ. Just don't scream at us like Camila, punch us like CT, or wish us barren like Belou Den Tex. You might disagree with our picks, but that's OK. After all, we're talking about an MTV reality show that is as much about getting drunk and hooking up as it is competition, so we're dealing with a bit of an inexact science here. Hey, we're allowed to be at least a little subjective. We balance out that inherent recency bias with anecdotal evidence and intuition gleaned from watching far too many hours of this show.