It was the second throw off the mound at Greater Nevada Field, the home of the Reno Aces, that crossed the plate.
Johnny Devenanzio, or “Johnny Bananas” as he’s famously known, threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Thursday night in front of a crowd of a little over 6,000.
“They didn’t really let me warm up,” explains Johnny. “I grew up playing baseball, but I haven’t thrown a baseball in years. I play softball in a beer league, but throwing a baseball is like throwing a tic-tac compared to that.”
An Orange County native, Bananas is a self-proclaimed Angels fan. We talked about Mike Trout while simultaneously swooning over the four-time All-Star.
After his first appearance on The Real World: Key West, Johnny took his talents to MTV Challenges: over 10 of them to be exact including the third installment of the MTV Reality Show Challenge: Rivals that debuts May 4th on MTV.
“I don’t as much as I did when I was younger,” he explained. “What you do off the show is you do Spring Break, you do bar appearances and club appearances. I’ve kind of outgrown that market so I pick and choose when I do them.”
He spent a lot of time on the east coast going on his “Almost Bananas Tour” and Reno ended up being one of the stops where he was promoting the show.
“I’m one of the few people who has been in all three of the shows. I took first in the first one, second in the second one, so I’m hoping we start over again and I get the win this time around,” he said.
How Rivalries works is they pair each individual up with someone they, like the show says, have a rivalry with.
“They teamed me up with Sarah (Rice) and I think between all the matches, Sarah and I have the most legitimate rivalry.”
Between fans asking for photos and exchanging words with him, I asked Johnny what would be more difficult: the crazy challenges he’s endured and hitting a 95 mile an hour fastball off of Archie Bradley who was to start on the mound for the Aces.
“I mean, anyone who has ever played baseball knows that there’s nothing in sports harder than hitting a pitch.”
“However…” he smiles.
“There’s also things on the challenges that 90 percent of these guys couldn’t do. I definitely give them props, but I would like to see some of these guys dive 15 feet in the water and breathe air in fishtanks for 20 minutes.”
There have been many challenges and obstacles Johnny has participated in, but his most challenging one was a 23 mile challenge in Argentina that tested every bit of his endurance. It was also the first final that required them to stay up overnight, adding sleep deprivation to the challenge.
During the day, the cast had to hike, carry heavy amounts, and shovel sand. Following that, he had to stand on a rock during the night hours.
“My body has never been so broken,” said Bananas. “I had a stress fracture in one of my feet and I literally couldn’t walk for an entire week. It was brutal!”
He’s also carried 120 pounds of sand three miles up hill while pulling chains, doing monkey bars, and competing in other tasks in between during an individual challenge.
A major league fastball doesn’t seem so bad, does it?
As he told me some of the mental elements it takes to compete in the obstacles, a trio of beautiful young women walked up to the table that Johnny was signing autographs at.
“Can I get a picture with you?” The young girl could barely make eye contact with Bananas and smiled from ear-to-ear.
“Your heart is racing, girl!” Johnny looks at her as she blushes.
He signed a picture for her after making small talk.
As the interview drew to a close, Johnny’s more serious side came out as he explained to me the amount of emotional and physical toll some of these challenges take on you.
“You hear about ‘the wall,'” he explains. “Most people in their lifetime will never have to know where their wall is. The challenges we’ve done, I’ve found my wall, and I’ve discovered there are walls beyond those walls. It’s amazing what the human body is capable of.”
You can follow Johnny Bananas and other cast mates during The Challenge Rivals III on MTV on May 4th at 10/9 central time.
Featured photo courtesy MTV.