The Challenge USA’s Josh Martinez Talks Johnny Bananas Betrayal

The Challenge: USA’s Josh Martinez is still reeling from his decision to betray his friend and ally Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio in season 2 of the CBS reality series.

“We haven’t really talked about it,” Josh, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, October 13, one day after his elimination. “We had a premiere party here in Miami, and we were around the whole cast. And I’m the type of person where I don’t like to bring the vibe down or the energy down, so I didn’t even want to talk about it. And he’s the same [type of] person.”

Although he and Johnny, 41, haven’t revisited their onscreen issues in the real world, Josh told Us that the pair are “in a good place.”

He continued: “We’ve [hung out], but I know that if we play other seasons together, which we probably will, I know it’s going to come [back] my way and I’m going to have to take it.”

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Ahead of his elimination, Josh broke down in tears after voting to send Johnny into elimination. Although Johnny received the most votes to go against Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat in a Hall Brawl, Josh’s name ultimately came out of the Hopper and he lost the elimination round to Fessy, 31.

“I wish that I didn’t go down in the sand against Fessy, but in all reality, if Johnny would’ve gone in and gone home, I would’ve felt even worse,” Josh told Us, calling the vote against Johnny his “biggest regret of the season.” Despite his lingering guilt, he’s not sure he would act differently if he could go back in time.

“At this point, it’s been months [and] I still don’t know what I would’ve done different, which is so crazy,” he said. “I was in a really tough spot. I feel like I had to pick between my really good friends and it was really hard. But the feeling of regret and feeling like I broke somebody’s trust that I have a really good friendship with, and then going against my word, that’s something that I’ve been struggling with.”

During the dramatic Thursday, October 12, episode, Johnny quoted a sentence that Challenge host T.J. Lavin famously said to quitter Brandon Tindel during Rivals III in 2016. “Don’t take care, hope to see you never,” Johnny said during a confessional in response to Josh’s elimination.

Josh told Us that he “expected” such a reaction from Johnny and admitted that he “could have said way worse.” He also revealed that “everybody ran down” to say goodbye to him after his elimination while Johnny “walked right past me.”

Josh isn’t the only person who went against an ally this season. His fellow Challenge veteran Tori Deal cast a vote against him during Thursday’s episode, which Josh said “really hurt” him.

“If anybody knows how hard I’ve worked and how bad I’ve wanted it, it’s her. We’ve trained together. She’s one of my really, really good friends back home. We [both] live in Miami, we’re together kind of all the time,” he said. “In the same sense, she was also in a really tough spot. She was doing what was best for her game. I know that she regrets it … We talked about it.”

He continued: “I know in future seasons, she’ll do right by me. … But I’d be lying if I said that didn’t burn.”

The Challenge: USA airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.