‘The Challenge USA’ Josh Describes Why Voting for Bananas Was Such a ‘Heavy’ Decision (Exclusive)

For Big Brother 19 winner Josh Martinez, it wouldn’t be a season of The Challenge without a little bit of drama. That was exactly the case during his appearance on Season 2 of The Challenge USA. Before ultimately being chosen to go into elimination against his good friend Faysal Shafaat, Josh faced a different dilemma — deciding on who to vote into said elimination. Following his loss to Faysal in the classic Hall Brawl elimination (with a puzzle twist), Josh spoke to PopCulture.com and explained exactly why voting for his other friend, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, was such a tough decision. Additionally, he opened up about how this situation may affect his future on The Challenge franchise. 

Josh stressed that while he was deciding to vote for either Bananas or Cory Wharton, it felt like he had to choose between his friendships with Bananas and Faysal. The decision was extra “heavy” for him because he felt like his friendship with one of the men was inevitably going to change. He explained, “I felt like no matter what, I was going to piss off a friend, I was going to lose a friendship, and that’s how heavy that felt, right? It felt like after this, our relationship, our friendship was never going to be the same. So I wish I could have pulled myself out of that a little bit and thought logically, and been like, ‘Hey, listen, at the end of the day, we’re going to be okay.’ Because we are now somewhat.”

Now, months after filming, Josh and Bananas are in a “good place” on a personal level. However, Josh also knows that when the time comes that they’re on another season together, he may have to deal with the consequences of his voting decision. The Big Brother alum said, “I know that it’s going to come my way and I know that I’m going to have to deal with the repercussions of the move that I made. And at that point, I just got to deal with that. I just got to be prepared, and it’s coming my way.”

Voting drama aside, Josh came into this season of The Challenge USA at the top of his game from both a physical and social standpoint. Still, it wasn’t enough to take him all the way to the final. Moreover, it might not have been enough to win over some of his naysayers, including Wes Bergmann himself, who had some strong words about Josh’s place in the Challenge world. Josh did acknowledge that he saw what Wes had to say and noted that his “blindside” against him was a move that he would do again. He also shed some insight into how he wasn’t the only one of the MTV coalition to be in on this plan, despite getting all the heat for it. 

“Every single person wanted to make that move, but backed out and didn’t make that move,” Josh said. “I got Johnny’s blessing. Johnny was like, ‘Hey, it’s not a bad thing if we do take a shot at Wes.’ Johnny just didn’t want to be the one to do it. Cory was in on it and backed out last minute. There [were] so many people that wanted to make that move, and for Wes to say that he doesn’t know why my spot, that’s his ego talking.”

The second season of The Challenge USA wraps up on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. ET. Following the The Challenge USA finale, all episodes will officially be available to watch on Paramount+.