A new rivalry has formed between two Challenge champions: Bananas has officially set his target on Tori and the remaining members of the Vacation Alliance.
Episode 10 made it clear that Tori targeted Bananas because that’s what Devin would have wanted, and Tori and Devin are Ride or Dies (in the most literal sense of the words). This begs the question: Why don’t Bananas and Devin get along anymore?
It’s no secret that Devin and Bananas had a rivalry. This was obvious on Vendettas and even more clear after Final Reckoning. Years has passed, and the two were reunited on Ride or Dies where they seemed to bury the hatchet.
That season, Devin and Bananas worked together throughout the bulk of the show. Wes advised Bananas to put his trust in Devin, and even though Bananas had his suspicions, Devin never betrayed him. This culminated in Devin and Bananas running the final together, Devin winning the final, and sharing $38,000 of his prize money with Bananas.
After this, it seemed Bananas and Devin entered Battle of the Eras on the same page, but that relationship seemingly soured quickly. Bananas intended on working with Devin, but Devin was only halfway on the same page.
Bananas revealed on the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast that Devin had a lot of people to protect this season. After the midway point, Devin intended on trimming his alliances down to his core group, and that didn’t include Bananas.
This is also the reason Bananas “warned” Michele about Devin. He thought Devin would cut her loose after the midway point while continuing to protect his closer allies.
Logically, Devin would have protected Tori until the end of the game, but knowing their ceasefire would be temporary, Bananas wanted to take the first strike at Devin.
Even though Rachel was really the one who orchestrated the Devin vs. Kyland elimination, we now know Rachel is part of the “Bananas Angels” alliance. Rachel also told Tori she got a “bad vibe” from Devin earlier this season. And where did that impression come from? Likely her ally Bananas — if nothing else, he certainly wasn’t going to ease Rachel’s uncertainty about Devin.
Now, we oddly have Bananas and Tori taking shots at each other for the sake of protecting Devin’s legacy in the game. This is a bit confusing for viewers, because we never saw any discussions about Devin’s master plan to trim allies. Though it makes some sense that production would omit this plot because it was Devin who was sent home at the halfway point.
There are some plot holes in the Bananas vs. Tori story line, but it’s refreshing to see two strong competitors taking shots at each other. The game got a little boring on seasons like Ride or Dies, the World Championship, and USA 2 when the two players worked together to avoid any struggles. Now, they’ll be the ones causing problems for each other, but the show is more fun when Challengers are actually challenged.
Stop Being Polite 