Warning! Don’t read below unless you’ve watched the finale of The Challenge: Rivals III!
Johnny Bananas stunned fans of The Challenge during Wednesday night’s “Rivals III” finale when, after finishing ahead of his partner and former rival Sarah Rice, he opted to keep all of their $275,000 prize money for himself, instead of splitting it with Sarah.
Perhaps no one was more shocked than Sarah herself, who burst into tears after hearing that Johnny had chosen to keep the cash, leaving her with nothing, despite the fact that the pair came in first place. (This is the first time in ‘Challenge’ history where winning players were given a choice whether to keep all the cash for themselves or split it with their partners.)
Fans rallied around Sarah on Twitter, and a few even decided to do something to help Sarah, who had planned to use the prize money to help pay for her grad school. One fan even started a GoFundMe page to try and get Sarah some money for her big win.
“We all witnessed Johnny Bananas pull the dirtiest move in reality TV history when he took all of the 275k prize, leaving Sarah Rice with NOTHING,” the fan wrote in the intro of the GoFundMe page he started for Sarah. “Let’s show Sarah her support and get her 275k +1$.”
At press time, the page has only raised $250, but most fans have been supportive. Some, however, felt that Johnny’s ruthless move was warranted, given that Sarah threw him into an elimination a few seasons ago, spurring their initial rivalry.
Taking the full $275,000 for himself made Johnny the most financially successful player in ‘Challenge’ history. Despite catching a lot of flak on Twitter for his actions, Johnny seems to have no regrets.
“Sorry haters I’m having trouble hearing you. I have money coming out of my ears!” he tweeted after the finale.
In an interview with People, Johnny explained his decision.
“It wasn’t about being vengeful and it wasn’t about spite,” he told the magazine. “It was about me looking at the amount of money that was on the line and looking at what I would be able to do with it. And then when I factored in the relationship Sarah and I had, or lack thereof, it wasn’t that difficult of a decision for me. And then on top of that, obviously what she had done to me in the past, which was pretty similar.
“Had what happened on [“Battle of the Exes II] never taken place, my decision quite possibly could’ve been different,” he added. “But then again, had she not done that, we wouldn’t have been rivals in the first place so we wouldn’t have been paired up on this show…It’s a game and when she made that decision on ‘Exes 2’ from then I basically was playing by those rules that she set.”
Johnny stated that he hasn’t regretted his decision to take the money “even for a second.”
Some fans wondered if Johnny’s decision was all for show. When asked if Johnny split the cash with her off-camera, Sarah was quick to answer on Twitter.
“Nope [he] kept it all.. BUT promised me he’d “hook me up with snowboard stuff” yeah, #stillwaiting #itssummer,” she tweeted.
(Photos: MTV)
19 Responses
Johnny screwed his partner so bad I cried for Sarah she deserved all the money and if not at LEAST half. I couldn’t believe douchebag Johnny did that to her after all those doofey smiley interviews with him. It is not at all the same as what she did to him previously not at all! She gave him an opportunity to compete and win his spot he stole what was rightfully hers.
Why is everyone hating on Johnny for being great at playing the game???? Sarah made a HUGE a** out of herself crying and carrying on at the reunion like a petulant 2 year old! It was a game, you lost because of a twist at the end, get over it! It’s what you signed up for!
Let’s hope this blood money comes back to haunt him. Karma baby, karma. He’s the biggest piece of garbage on the planet. He’s done this to so many people in the past. Paula, Noni, etc. Sara never screwed him out of prize money, she simply put him in a challenge where he could have won. He lost. Not her fault. He’s done this to so many people. He’s a piece of $hit. The young kids need to stop listening to him and band together and go after him. He’s 40 years old, his time on challenges should be over. He’s garbage. Pure garbage. No morals and doesn’t give a crap about anyone, only himself. Disgusting piece of garbage MTV needs to kick to the curb.
Johnny is a textbook narcissist; I am not at all surprised that he did this. Also, he is so manipulative – we all know that he’s gotten past what Sarah did on Battle of the Exes. He just needs an excuse to help justify his shitty decision and he’s grasping at anything he can.
Bull crap! Johnny is full of it. What he did to Sarah was nothing like what she did to him! He has thrown all of his ‘friends’ under the bus to get himself ahead. He is a great competitor, no doubt, and he knows how to play the game, but come on. Just admit you’re a jerk and call it a day. Stop making excuses. He is mad because Sarah took a page out of his game book on battle of the ex’s and used it on him. He thinks he’s invincible, that no one can do him like he does others. He voted nany in last season, even though not saying her name wouldn’t have changed the vote. He screwed Paula many seasons ago. He’s a douche. I hope he phases out soon, he’s getting a little too old to be doing this.
This doesn’t seem fair. Were they a team? I didn’t follow the format or the show, so I don’t even know. But, wouldn’t he not have won without her….?
Yes, they were a team. No, he wouldn’t have won without her because they were partners. For whatever reason, the show decided to use some point system or something (I am unclear on this because I just FF through the final to see the order of finish) and one partner got to decide to split the money or keep it. Third place ($25,000)and second place ($50,000) both split the cash prize and Bananas took the entire $275,000 rather than splitting it with his partner.
Also worth noting, this wasn’t something the contestants knew about. They weren’t informed until the final that one partner would get to decide whether or not they split the money or take it all for themselves.
I knew Johnny was a petty little bitch…but WOW. He’s a much bigger bitch than I thought. Karma’s not lookin too good for his future.
OMG The comments people are leaving on her go fund me page are really horrible. =(
It’s a ridiculous page to begin with, lmao. The chick isn’t hurting for money. If the entire premise was really to bring “positivity[sic] to Sarah”, as the creator of the fund suggests…why on earth do people need to donate money in order to do that?
I wouldn’t trust giving money to a fund like this even if she *did need it, the dude doesn’t even know her, and there’s no way to make certain she gets what’s collected..I doubt she will, the dude is delusional.
She played a game, and despite winning, she also lost. She needs to pull up her big girl panties, and move on.
Lmao, a reality star doesn’t need a gofundme, regardless of how shitty a partner might have treated her. She’s not struggling folks. Granted, people use gofundme for just about everything these days, but come on people. It IS just a game, and it IS a reality tv show..people are going to be shady, it’s the nature of the “game”. Watching people get so bent out of shape, and up in arms about this, is absolutely hilarious!
So, what you are telling me is he said “It wasn’t about being vengeful and it wasn’t about spite,” then he spouts some bullish!t and adds “Had what happened on [“Battle of the Exes II] never taken place, my decision quite possibly could’ve been different.”
hmmm…..makes sense
Perhaps Starburst could use Bananas in their next ‘contradiction’ commercial.
Umm this show is still on? It’s a full time job for these middle aged fools now, I lost interest a long time ago, next!
Sure, I’ll go ahead and donate some of the few measley dollars that I earned from working a real job to support a reality tv star so that she can make her next Benz payment. Yep, I’ll get right on that!
Sarah wasn’t on the same team as Johnny on Battle of the Exes. Not only was she on his team on Rivals but she helped him win all those challenges and the final. What he did to her was so much worse. #TeamSarah
Sarah put him in an elimination where he had the chance to win. All he and Nany had to do was beat Leroy and Theresa, but they didn’t. If they had, they would’ve gone to the finals and probably won first or second. What he did to Sarah was completely different. On Exes, her only loyalty was to Jordan because he was her partner. Bananas and Sarah had already won the final- he took something she had already earned. Hell, even Vinny split the money with his partner. And you know you’re a d-bag if Creepy Uncle Pineapples looks better than you.
If Johnny never comes back to the Challenge again, it’ll be too soon. The only solace I can find is knowing karma is a bitch and someday the universe is going to give him what he deserves.
And you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I’ve come up with the biggest low blow I can muster, which I hope he realizes, and that’s this: Diem would be disgusted.
He keeps talking about how it’s just a game and things happen and blah blah…then why is he still so hung up on what she did? She was playing the game like they all say. I hate him lol he needs to find something else to do with his time…
Bananas is such a baby..I cannot believe how butt hurt he still is after Sara put him into an elimination…how many “friends” has he screwed over on the show but god forbid someone does it to him..and his cousin is repulsive.
The name Paula Walnuts rings a bell….