The Reason Johnny Bananas Didn’t Think He Would Return to The Challenge
And if you ask Tori Deal, who arrived at Dirty 30 in 2017 fresh off back-to-back stints on Are You The One?, the series has gone through several iterations in the past decade.
For a stretch, the 31-year-old opined, “People were doing the most to get a lot of attention, because then you would make money on social media.”
Then the online trolls decided they would like a word.
“Now people are a little bit more concerned about how they’re viewed, because they don’t want to be torn apart,” Tori explained. “So it’s this interesting dynamic of, ‘Do I show up and give a show? Or am I going to protect myself online so that way I don’t I get torn apart by people on Twitter?'”
And as much as OGs like Johnny have taken their turns trolling the newbies—”There have been some misses in the past,” he said, noting the casting process isn’t quite as rigorous as it was in the early aughts—he believes there are a few rookies worth championing.