Top 5 Moments of the Wes and Bananas Rivalry

This past week, Wes and Bananas finally faced off in a elimination on a Canon season of the Challenge. It was the culmination of over a decade of animosity between the two. I wanted to reflect on five of the biggest moments from their rivalry of the years.

Some honorable mentions:

WOTW 1 Send-Off
Exes 2 Reunion
Rivals 3 Reunion
Champs vs Stars Purge
Bananas congratulating Wes on winning a Rivals 1 Elimination
Maury Appearance

5 Battle of the Exes 2 Bananas Send-Off

During Battle of the Exes 2, Wes reluctantly chose not to vote Bananas into the first elimination. Even though Bananas had voted him into many eliminations in the past. Wes knew that Adam and Brittany wouldn’t be able to win over Bananas, and it would escalate the game far too quickly. Considering Bananas won the daily challenge the following week and chose not to vote in Wes, the overall patience displayed by Wes the previous week paid off.

When Leroy (Bananas #1 ally and a fucking tank) came last in a swimming challenge, Wes took advantage of the power of winning the daily by throwing Bananas into elimination. He did so gleefully at the nomination ceremony, stating someone “someone’s going home tonight!” It angered Bananas and told Wes to shut his mouth. In the elimination, Leroy and Nia won with ease, with Bananas not even getting a chance to compete.

What’s most notable is Wes and his partner Theresa’s outburst once Leroy won. He now excitedly yelled, “SOMEONE’S GOING HOME TONIGHT.” Calling back to his statement from the nomination ceremony. It was a massive moment as Bananas hadn’t been in 4 seasons, winning three out of the last four seasons he appeared on.

4 Champs vs. Pros Elimination

Wes appeared on Champs vs. Pros in probably the worst shape of his Challenge career. On top of that, he had a bad showing on his previous season, Rivals 3. Even though Wes had funny moments, he never got to make use of any real power in the game as Bananas utterly dominated the game, got his 6th win, threw Wes into multiple eliminations, and won 275,000 dollars by stealing the money from Sarah.

What was fascinating about this season is how the player interacted with the Pros. Johnny Bananas decided that his goal was to be the biggest celebrity on the stage, playing up the classic Bananas “pot-stirrer” character and getting in a fight with CM Punk. Merriman, Punk, and others referred to him as a jackass. Meanwhile, Wes created actual relationships with people from the show, having an awesome friendship/rivalry with Louise Hazel, and even having Louie Vito show up for his Bachelor Party weekend.

After Jordan voted Wes into the first elimination, Wes called out Bananas as his desired opponent for elimination. The Champs team had a split 2–2 vote, to which the Pros got to pick who went into elimination against Wes, and of course, they threw in Bananas. The two battled in Snapper, a blind stick fighting match. It wasn’t a Pole Wrestle or a Balls In, but the two played the elimination with immense intensity. Bananas was swinging like a madman, and Wes’s inner ninja came out to play.

Wes won 2–1, and Bananas’ face after the elimination was that of utter distaste. Bananas got Wes back the following season on Champs vs. Stars when Bananas won the final purge to bring CT to the final, instead of Wes. To make matters worse, the purge was in a pool, and Wes’s forte is swimming.

3 Battle of the Exes 2 Return

Wes was playing a perfect game on Exes 2. He had taken out Bananas, somehow convinced Leroy to be his #1 ally, and had a lay-up in Jay/Jenna set up to roll over in the final or final elimination. Then, the Redemption Twist reared its ugly head, and Bananas rose like a phoenix from the ashes. He and Nany won 4 exiles to re-enter the game, flip the numbers from 3–1 pro-Wes, to 4–1 against him.

When got taken out by Leroy in elimination, Bananas, and Nany matched the level of pompousness that Wes had shown by laughing at him, although Wes had gotten injured. Not the prettiest moment, but one of the biggest fuel adders to their overall rivalry.

2 The Ruins Fight

On the Ruins, the Champs team created a plan to force an Evelyn vs. KellyAnne elimination. Evelyn and KellyAnne were best friends, and KellyAnne was dating Wes. It was an attack on Wes’s relationship and sanity in the game. It displayed that the JEK alliance only cared about themselves, as Evelyn was far and away the strongest female player in the game.

Evelyn and Wes went on a tirade against their team, and Bananas and Wes began bickering. The testosterone levels between the two were astronomical as Wes kept getting in Bananas’ face, and tried to psyche him out by feigning an attack, to which Bananas spilled water out of the bottle he was holding. It was a bit of a bully move. However, it was entertaining to watch and is wild looking back, especially considering these duke it out with more sarcasm and shady confessionals now.

In the end, Evelyn was out of the game. Eventually, Wes was too, and Bananas picked up his second Challenge win.

1 Rivals 2 End-Game

During the final daily challenge of Rivals 2, Wes and CT demolished a game where they had to run up and down mini-half pipes and transfer balls from one side to another. Most teams struggled mightily, with Bananas, Knight, and Marlon completely gassing out by the end. Wes and CT were the only team to complete the daily challenge and did so with time to spare. Hilariously, Wes kept asking if production could give them more balls because the challenge was too easy.

At the voting ceremony for the final elimination, Wes and CT took shots at his performance, to which Bananas bit back and noted Wes getting carried by Kenny on Rivals and CT dying on the mountain of Exes. Wes and Bananas’ digs get personal and become a battle of what the other has accomplished in life, to which Wes retorts with vigor: ”I have a BMW, a Porsche, a monster truck, a house, and 30 companies. SUCK MY DICK.” For a long time, Wes and CT had taken on an entire house of people by themselves. This season, they were able to team up, play the social game, and compete on an even-field such as Bananas.

The jabs they threw back and forth were sharp and poignant. In my opinion, Johnny was probably winning the war of words; it’s just CT and Wes were more likable and ultimately won the season.