Ashley & Bananas: Are they Cursed?

The Challenge has given us two notorious prize thieves: Bananas and Ashley. Bananas can be remembered for taking Sarah’s money on Rivals 3 while Ashley is remembered for stealing Hunter’s money on Final Reckoning. This season, these two thieves have been the first to go. Many people have speculated that they two have cursed themselves by stealing money, but is this curse real?

While fan may have speculated the curse from the moment Bananas took Sarah’s money, I credit Jemmye as the competitor who put the idea into the mainstream. She started talking about it during Dirty Thirty, a season where his friend Derrick K. eliminated him. The season was preceded by a loss to Darrell on Invasion plus a loss to Wes on Champs vs. Pros. Then he lost to Devin on Vendettas. Then he lost to Joss & Sylvia and Paulie & Natalie on Final Reckoning. While these eliminations were poor showings for Mr. Bananas, they were all either late in the game or to great competitors.

This season, he was the second veteran to leave. He could have picked anyone, but he picked his friend Zach. He lost, and went home before the bulk of his rivals. It seems like season after season, things are getting worse for Bananas. This season proved things aren’t getting any better.

I can’t say I believe in any curses, but if I did… I’d call Bananas cursed. On Rivals 3, he was the clear front-runner on the show. Now, I wonder if he’s win anything. He’s a great competitor, but each season he loses in some unfortunate fashion.

As for Ashley, her performance took hard turn downward this season. I can’t call this a curse yet. She wasn’t even voted into elimination, she was chosen by Hunter. It’s clear she made an enemy in Hunter, but that’s not a curse. Time will tell if she can avoid the curse that has fallen onto Bananas.

If Ashley is cursed, at least she has a million dollars to show. Bananas prize seemed like a huge amount at the time. Now it’s just a quarter of what Ashley took from Hunter.