Is Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio and Paulie Calafiore’s The Problem rivalry lastly coming to an finish in any case these years?
“Life is simply too brief to hold hate in your coronary heart,” Johnny, 41, solely informed Us Weekly on Tuesday, August 10, forward of the season 2 premiere of The Problem USA. “I didn’t know what the scenario with Paulie was gonna be [on the show.] Dare I say, we’re pals or one thing?”
Johnny and Paulie, 43, first met on MTV’s The Problem: Closing Reckoning in 2018 earlier than occurring to look on the primary and second installments of Battle of the Worlds in 2019. Whereas the duo didn’t align of their respective seasons, a feud brewed between them off-camera. Paulie and Johnny would typically clap again at one another through social media. Most just lately, Paulie shaded Johnny in November 2022 for his failed showmances over time.
After butting heads for a number of seasons, the twosome seemingly buried the hatchet after they had been compelled to work collectively on the second season of The Problem USA — the CBS spinoff of the long-lasting competitors collection. Within the premiere episode, fellow competitor and Large Brother 19 winner, Josh Martinez, put Paulie and Johnny on the identical staff.
“I feel it labored out higher in a bizarre means that Paulie and I had been on the identical staff,” Johnny confessed to Us. “Solely as a result of coming into this season, he was the one one I actually had long-standing points with. He hasn’t been on [The Challenge] shortly. We’ve clearly had a really public beef So by placing the 2 of us in the identical staff, it virtually type of neutralized that proper out of the gate.”
Johnny defined that he and Paulie grew nearer within the recreation as a result of they ended up bunking subsequent to one another.
“It additionally helped that [Paulie] selected to not simply room with me, however principally picked the mattress proper subsequent to me,” Johnny mentioned. “So we went from hating one another to being roommates [and] bunk mates in a short time.”
Johnny Bananas, Paulie Calafiore Shutterstock(2)
All through his many actuality TV appearances, Johnny is well-known for igniting rivalries each season resulting from his fiery character. When going into The Problem USA earlier this 12 months, Johnny needed to verify he neutralized any excellent conflicts. His plan? To make his recreation simpler.
“I’ve simply gotten to a degree in my Problem profession and in life, the place it’s similar to, I’ve bought sufficient issue simply navigating my means via the home,” he confessed. “The extra of those meaningless rivalries that I may put apart. It’s simply gonna make my life simpler.”
Paulie, for his half, solely informed Us in July he deliberate on going into the sport with out ruffling any feathers.
“In the end, I went into this season with the mindset of, like, ‘There’s all the time two wolves that everyone has inside themselves, and you’ll select to feed one or the opposite.’ So, I selected to feed the one which was peaceable,” he defined. “To not say that the not peaceable one wasn’t chirping in my ear, being like, ‘Hey, what’s occurring? What are you doing?’ … I actually needed to hold my eye on the prize this season.”
Season 2 of The Problem USA premiered on Thursday, August 10, and featured a few of the greatest personalities from MTV’s The Problem, Large Brother, Survivor and The Superb Race.
Join Us Weekly’s free, every day e-newsletter and by no means miss breaking information or unique tales about your favourite celebrities, TV exhibits and extra!
Half 2 of the season 2 premiere of The Problem: USA airs on Sunday, August 13, on CBS at 9 pm ET.
