Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio may be a legend, with seven wins and 25 seasons on his resume, but he experienced a first in the game during Thursday’s The Challenge: USA season 2 premiere.
When ‘s Cassidy Clark made the first pick of the game for her team, she chose Challenge veteran Cory Wharton over Devenanzio, 41, and the other male Challenge vet Wes Bergmann. In fact, Bergmann, 39, went next and Devenanzio ended up on the red team with Big Brother alums Paulie Calafiore and Josh Martinez.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been picked last,” Devenanzio tells PEOPLE. “I think even when I was in elementary school, I never really got picked last for kickball or anything.”
Clark, 27, explained in an on-camera interview during Thursday’s premiere that she thought Wharton, 32, had less of an ego than Bergmann or Devenanzio.
“I think Cassidy got a read on me that I don’t necessarily think was all that accurate,” Devenanzio says. “I don’t think she necessarily made her decision based on who she thought was the most accomplished or competitive or even good at the game because if you look, there’s three options and you picked the worst out of the three just based on past track record and body of work alone.”
As a result, the Real World: Key West alum says he ended on “a dumpster fire” of a team, which also included Jonna Mannion (Stephens), Survivor’s Michele Fitzgerald, Dusty Harris and Chanelle Howell and Big Brother ‘s Tiffany Mitchell.
“I looked around at this team and I’m just like, dude, of course we’re red — red flags all around,” Devenanzio says. “I knew it was going to be an uphill battle with Team Red Flags.”
Despite not being excited about his teammates, Devenanzio thought they came together during the first challenge, which the blue team won.
“We actually performed really well out of the gate though surprisingly,” he says. “By all intents and purposes, we should have won that first challenge. We physically were a great team. It was just getting us all on the same page, and there was so many different people working in so many different directions, which was clear from the first nomination we had when we nominated our own team.”
Devenanzio also says the anonymous voting twist “made all the difference.”
“It really played into the favor of the Big Brother, Survivor players a lot more than it did us,” the reality star says. “On The Challenge you’re used to, if you’re going to vote, you got to say it with your chest to the person’s face. And then you got to be willing to deal with the consequences. A lot of times people won’t vote for you because they’re worried about you finding out; they don’t want to deal with the smoke.”
Making the voting private gave players “the ability to vote for whoever you wanted completely anonymously,” Devenanzio continues. “Especially in the early go in, I’m not used to getting that many votes on me. And I think the reason why is because people knew they could do it anonymously and not have to deal with the repercussions.”
Following the anonymous vote, host T.J. Lavin picked a name at random from The Hopper, another surprise on this season.
“Only thing we knew is that regardless of the format we were effed,” Devenanzio jokes of what he knew about USA season 2’s format before showing up. “But mentally, you prepare for the
unexpected. You don’t know what it’s going to be, and you don’t stress yourself out over trying to figure out the format of the game. The more flexible you are, the easier you’re able to pivot and adapt, the easier the game is going to be for you.”
While the secret voting might’ve been familiar to Big Brother and Survivor alums, the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast host says those competitors weren’t used to someone coming back after being thrown in.
“Just because I get sent in, doesn’t mean I’m going home,” Devenanzio says. “So then they kind of had to deal with the repercussions of us going in and not necessarily going home. Because we are tough to get rid of.”
Devenanzio knows he picked up four votes during Thursday’s premiere because “I’m used to being public enemy №1” on every season he does.
“It still kind of hurts your feelings a little bit though because you’re like, ‘Damn dude, I don’t even know you people,’” he says. “Being targeted by people you don’t even know, by complete strangers and just already being on their bad [side], but I’m a victim of my own circumstance. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The Challenge: USA season 2’s two-part premiere continues Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
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