When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany - ITMOAM: This episode is “bananas”

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

The royalty of competition shows and seven-time 'Challenge' winner, Johnny Bananas joins Jax in the studio. Find out some behind the scenes tea from their time on House of Villains together, what Johnny really thought of his first encounter meeting Jax, their dating life and their perspective on marriage, relationships and more!  Please support the show by checking out our sponsors! JLo Beauty: Head to JLOBeauty.COM/REALITYHITS for 20% off and THREE FREE LIMITED TIME OFFER GIFTS - a one hundred and seventy-five dollar value. Tempo: For a limited time, get 60% OFF your first box! Go to TempoMeals.com/REALITYHITS  Quince: Go to Quince.com/jb for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Back to In the Mind of a Man with Jacks Taylor. I got a good one here today. How's everybody doing? Great episode today. I have one of my good buddies in studio, and well, you definitely all know who he is. He's literally the master, or should I say, royalty of competition shows. He's even a seven-time challenge winner. He's also on last season's Traders, House of Villains with Yours Truly, made a cameo on Love Island with Ariana.

We got to get into that. I mean, what haven't you really been on? Have you not been on Vanderpump Rules in the Valley? Well, maybe we'll have to make that happen. We got to make that happen. I have not been on to catch a predator of Chris Hanson. Well, let's welcome Johnny freaking banana. Thanks for having me, man.

I got to say, dude, that's seriously impressive. Seven-time challenge winner. After like the four or five, was it kind of like, they're just going to give it to you, you think? Or did you have to earn it every time? No, so that's the problem. The more I won, the more they would do. to try and prevent me from winning.

Really? They went as far as, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, although I left my tinfoil hat in the other room. This past season of the challenge that they did, they had this thing at the end called a karma vote. The way it worked is you go throughout the season. Everyone that gets eliminated rates the remaining players on a scale of one to five,

one being the worst karma, five being the best. I had the lowest number of karma votes in the house, which then affects your score at the end. So say you play second, but the person who plays behind you has better karma than you, they could leapfrog you and then you drop the third and then they'd go to second. So I honestly feel like production put the karma vote in as a fail safe just in case I won, I wouldn't win. Interesting. Were you just like devastated when you make it all that way?

I know like, fuck, especially like I even just watching you on House of Villains and like I couldn't even handle the food. I would have just bowed out at the food. When I came back and saw you guys eating that, I would be like, I don't know, not 150, whatever the price was. I'm not doing it. I've been doing it for a long time. I know. Like, you're so weathered. You're kind of like, you'd expect.

Griseled old ward dog. Yeah. I mean, I got to say, well, anyway, can I ask you a question? Yeah. Can you give a ballpark of your total earnings? A ballpark? Ballpark. I'm not saying, give me a number.

Surprise money on the challenge. I've won like $1,175,000. Okay. However. When they pay you this, is it a check? Do you get a check handed to you right then or do they mail it to you? You get half when the first episode airs and you get half when the last episode airs, which is to prevent you from breaking any of the rules throughout the season, spilling tea. Yeah, I've gotten in trouble before. My issue, I've never gotten in trouble for fighting. Like, there's people who've been kicked. I'm going to my 25th season of the challenge. Are you doing it right now or are you going getting ready to do it? 25 seasons?

Yeah, dude. How the fuck? How old were you when you started? 23. So they do more than, in the beginning, it was one season a year, then they started doing two, and now they do. This isn't even including spin-offs either. So are you just automatically there, you're in? Like, you don't even have to, like, your royalty.

Yeah, basically. I mean, I- You're under stripes. Captain Savish. Would you say you're the admiral? Yeah. Which is the highest ranking in the Navy. Would you say you're the admiral of the challenge?

The challenge, in all in all honesty, and I'm, saying this sitting across from reality television royalty as well. Appreciate that. I've logged more reality television hours than anyone else ever in the history of the genre. Wow. So, I mean, I started in 2005. The challenge is filmed for, you know, between 8 to 10 weeks. Yeah.

I've done, I'm going into my 25th season. Yeah. And they film, you know, 24 hours a day. And it's not even including all the other projects that I've had on the side. So I've basically compare myself to, you've, see the Truman show? Yeah. People like,

a lot of my fans have watched me grow up. Yeah. Yeah. Like that. From the age of 23 to now I'm 42. I would like to say the same, but I just never grew up. Why haven't either. Grow old, don't grow up.

Peter Pan syndrome, baby. So for those of you guys don't know, I met, first time I met Johnny was on House of Villains, which I'm shocked that we had never met sooner because you and I are very, very similar in a lot of different ways. And the reality world is very small. We go to a lot of the same functions. We have a lot of the same friends. We kind of do crossovers.

So the world is very small. But shockingly, we've never met. I've met, and I have met people from your world. Yeah, you and I've just never crossed paths. You know, obviously Tom and Tom. I met Tom, I actually met Tom Sandoval, funny enough, at a karaoke bar. Shocking, shocking. I met him and fucking Chad from Nickelback together.

Oh, he's like, yeah. So Chad came to my apartment. He introduced me from Chad. came into my man cave, sat down, was telling me he's from Canada, yada yada, having these whole stories about hockey. He just walked in with Chad from Nick. I'm like, you're coming into my apartment with Chad from Nickelback?

All right, come on in. So the night I met, it was the same night I met Tom, too. Schwartz? No, no, Sandoval. Some girl comes up to me. First, me and Tom are like shotgun and beers or whatever. Because I'd known Sheena from prior to that. And some girl comes out to me, he goes,

yo, my boyfriend wants to meet you. And I was like, all right, cool. She goes, we're huge fans from Canada. I walk up, and it's fucking Chad from Nickelback. And he goes, bananas, what up, man? He goes, you know, when I want to watch really shitty reality TV, I put on the challenge. I'm like, oh, when I want to listen to shitty music, I put on Nickelback. And then after that, we were like fast friends, dude.

That's awesome. Singing karaoke together, crushing beers. It was a good time. For those of you, like I said, don't know that him and I have been on the House of Villains together. Did you watch season two? Did you watch? Yeah. I can't believe New York got invited back.

I know. I was shocked. The one that didn't, the least on the fucking show. I think New York, here's the thing. This is the first time I'd been on a reality show where I felt like I was there with like reality television professionals. Yeah, they were good. I was way out of my league. And the thing is, is like you have Omarosa. You've got New York who literally know how right when the camera's on or when they need to to have that moment. And they realize, hey, I'm here to earn a paycheck. I don't need to be on 24 hours a day. New York would get all glamored up. come downstairs, light someone on fucking fire, have her moment, turn around and fucking leave. And it made every episode. That's the different from your reality world versus my reality world.

Like we're doing, it's like a docu series of like our lives. And like I wasn't used to like, obviously I didn't do my homework. Like my manager told me he's like, you need to watch the challenge. You need to watch Big Brother. I'm like, fuck that. I'm going to go in and bully my way through. Sure enough that didn't happen. But I didn't know about alliances and this skill.

It's a fucking chess match. It really, really is. And well, here's the thing that fuck you want. I was outplayed. It's not even that, though. This is what fucked you on House of Villains. And I've said this time and time again. Had the first challenge not been physical, you would have been fine.

The problem was we went in and sometimes on these shows, losing is actually winning. Yeah, I didn't know that. And that was the thing is a lot of times, especially the way it worked, you've got to put three people up for elimination. You're, you know, potentially going to be looked at as a target because you're good. That's why when we got down to me and Omarosa, I was like, you can have the win. Just don't send me in. That way, all the heat is on you for making the decision. And because you went out there like a fucking wrecking ball and we're just like beating the shit out of everyone, dude.

They were like, all right, you gave them, you gave them fuel. I did like, no reason. I gave them a reason. Like, what did she say? You thought this was the fucking Super Bowl. I'm like, I thought, listen, I thought I was going to bully my way through. And I didn't realize, dude, you could lose and come out as first. Like, you know, people are sitting in the corner doing shit.

But here's the other thing is you come from a, from what it seems like. a competitive sports background where the only option is to win, especially if you're doing something like that. And again, sometimes you almost have, it's more, it's more politics. Dude, you've got to dial it back a little bit. And it's like, all right, let somebody else win, let them have the heat and don't put an unnecessary target on your back. And like I said, I've never been on a challenge elimination type show.

Like, I was just so unprepared. Yeah. I was just really, I was so, I was out of my league. Gone way too soon. I was invited back. I got to come back and watch you eat some crazy. shit. And then I got invited back for season two.

The guys get to come to my bar. I gave them a little bit of advice. And it was fun. I was really honored. The crew and every the production, they were all awesome. I was glad to be part of that. Yeah. Love to come back.

If you guys are hearing, I'll definitely come back and I'll do better. Yeah. So third place challenge, on Challenge 40, the third place finish. How do you feel about it? I mean,

I just said, it was, I felt like that's where I was destined to be. If you watch the final, it was all fucking swimming. You don't know what the final is going to be. we got to the Philippines in this little island called El Nito. First time they ever did a challenge that was all swimming.

We basically were on this decrepit old trawler and we had to jump off and swim 500 fucking meters. And so anyone who doesn't know how long 500 meters is, that's like five Olympic pools, I think. Or how long is an Olympic pool? I don't know. It's a long way. It's three football fields. So you had to swim that from beginning to end? No.

No. One length, dude. Oh, one length. We jump off. Yeah. Yeah, so here's what the boat was the beginning and finish line for every, every checkpoint. Jump off the boat, swim 500 meters to shore, complete a task, which could be put a puzzle together, run on the beach for a few miles, whatever, get back in the water and swim back. Just so happens, one of the guys who was there is an absolute freak of nature.

He's a triathlete. The guy fucking swims in the open ocean for fun. So as soon as I realized, A, there was karma, which was going to screw me. And then I'm swimming against the triathlete. I'm like, dude, we're not even. fighting for first anymore. I'm fighting for second. Yeah. And that's what it came down to. He came down to me and this guy, Derek

Chavez, duking it out for second. And again, he just kind of bested me. So third, I mean, was I happy about third? No. But at this stage in my career, I'm 42 years old. It's my 25th season. I don't have that fire in me that I used to win anymore because once you've won,

it's like, what the fuck? You know what I mean? It's only lateral moves from here. And I'm competing against guys. I'm who are in their 20s. Yeah. Who are way hungrier. I know. All right.

Who are way like in much better shape. Yeah. And it's so, so me and I show up day one and I've got the entire house against me, dude. I have a. But you have some friends on there. Okay, I do. But here's what's funny.

Nobody's your friend. When it gets to the end, nobody's, my best friend this season, Leroy, gave me a one. So it's a game, though. It's a game. You can hold it against them? No, I don't hold it against them. But what I'm saying is the road for me, To make it to a final is so much steeper and so much more difficult than anybody else there.

So for me, just making it there with all of the unknowns and all the unexpected shit and all the parody in the game, just making it there at this point in my career is a win. So place and third, you know, out of 20 of the fucking biggest dogs who ever been on the show. Like, I mean, dude, we had, this is season 40 battle of the era. So it's all of the best for the last 40 seasons. Right. And I'm competing against, you know, you know, 19 of the best guys we've ever done the show. Do you think, like, I'd have to believe that production, when you do retire from this, I have to believe that production would reach out to you and say, hey, listen, what would you think about joining on the other side of the camera?

Because I think you're very knowledgeable in the game. You know, cool, different obstacles. Would you be a part of the production side? It depends on what the role would be. I don't know, dude. I'd say what I'd want to do more than anything would be hosting. Yeah, I could see you doing that. Yeah, that would be your next transition into the games, right?

But here's the thing is the host that we have is the challenge, dude. T.J. is the guy, dude. So do you think they would maybe ever ask you to guest host, maybe? Maybe be part of a competition or something like that. Kind of like what I did in House of Villains. Be a part of something. Yeah, I'd be down. I'd be down.

I would totally be down to do that. But for now, I mean, I'm going back, you know, most likely for the next season. Every season is like, you know, a test. Like, can I do it? So for now, I'm going to, you know, keep on, keep on riding until the wheels fall off. So that's the next show you're doing. Yeah. Yeah.

You got any other shows lined out? Yeah, potentially. I can't really talk about it. I got, I also have a docu-series that I'm in the process of formalizing an agreement with. It's going to be a docu-series based on my life in South Florida. And, you know, it's going to be kind of like entourage meets Jack. So I'm going to kind of have my, you know, band of, of minions around. And, you know, we're just going to be documenting all of our shenanigans.

That's awesome. That's really, really cool. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I would love, you know, I even kind of hinted at it. When I go to 30 Rock, when I go to New York and I do press, I go to the Bravo offices. I'm like, if you guys ever want to put me on the other side of the camera, I wouldn't mind because I think I know a lot. And I think I could help figure things out during production. And I see things before they do.

I can see things happening. And they laughed about it. But I would be willing to. what that's called. We're just cut from a different cloth, man. And as much, and they can bring as many new people on as they want and these people, it's just, but there's just something different about, I feel like old school reality, TV personalities, we're just fucking built different. And I think a lot of that has to do with how soft these new generations are. And everyone's so worried about how they're going to appear on social media. Am I going to get likes? Am I going to lose followers or my fans? Who gives a fuck? Go on. Fly your freak flag, all right? Be the most, in my opinion, the most controversial version of yourself you can be. You're here to make TV. You're here to create friction.

And if people understand that they do and if they don't, they don't. But that's what's going to, you know, separate you from the crowd. When I came back from reality TV, because it was when I came back to Van der, I'm sorry, when I came back to TV after taking a break, I got to tell you, I was extremely, extremely nervous because it was the Wild West. I guess you can say the big movement. It was the Wild West. You could do whatever you want. You can get away with whatever you want.

You can say whatever you want. And I have a problem. I don't have a filter. That's my downfall. You know, I have to be very careful that I didn't offend it. I don't want to offend people. You know, sometimes I just say things without thinking. I shoot first, ass later.

It gets me no lot of trouble. And I don't want to offend anybody. But we had to be very careful coming back. What are the new rules? What are the do's and the don'ts? And I'm like, are people still going to like me? Am I not going to be as fun anymore? Am I going to be boring?

I was very worried about that. I will say this, dude, and this is the thing about reality, especially not just cast members, but fans. They know exactly, they can spot someone who is not authentic, better than anyone. So even if you come on and you're saying, quote, unquote, boring, if that's who you are, then that's so much more likable than you coming on and trying to put on a character that isn't really you. And I'm going to cut you off. This is exactly, and this is my. opinion, I hope I'm completely wrong, but they are recasting Vanderpump rules.

Yeah. And this is the problem, I think, with reality TV is in what I'm doing. You have to get somebody that has, you have to get a group of people that are already existing. My friends already existed. That drama, that chaos was there for years. Yes. So they came in, they didn't have to do shit. They just filmed.

Now they're casting a show, and they have huge, huge shoes to fill. Yes. Okay. Vanderpump, the cast was amazing. The show was huge, right? But now you're casting people. We need Cindy to like Susie. We need Susie not really to like Jimmy.

Jimmy has to make out with Danny, but he also has to make out with Susie. So in reality, people are very, very smart. The viewers are very smart. They can tell authenticity versus somebody who's trying to put it on. And that's why I think when they try to copy Vanderpump Rules, and they try to copy the Valley, it's inauthentic because they want it so bad and they create unnecessary fights that don't make any sense. We can tell you're trying to pick a fight here.

It doesn't make any sense. Stop trying so hard. The thing about reality, reality is stranger than fiction, okay? And this happens every season on the challenge. The shit that goes down, totally unexpected without production interfering at all, is so much more entertaining and so much more fucking awesome than something that they could have scripted. Right. The other thing, and I think this is, this happens with the challenge too. You have a loyal fan base who has followed you for a, how long?

I've been 14 years. 14 years. They like what they, people. like what they've already got. It's like learning a new, I'm to the age now where it's like, dude, when I download a TikTok, I'm like, fuck, man, I don't want to learn a new social media platform. A new app. I don't want to learn how to edit shit.

I don't want. Once you get to it, you're happy with what you got and you want to stick with that. And they can't, the challenge is the same way. You can't take out fan favorites. You can't take out people that these fans have grown to love and grown to know and grown to be familiar with.

Take them out. Plug all these new people in and expect all these fans to just be like, I'm going to buy into this new. It doesn't happen. People who watch our show are they grew up with us. Like he said, they don't want new shit. No. Just like us.

They don't want the new crap. And now you've got to build a generation from, we can get enough for it. Anyway, my next thing. Now let's get into some tea here. Sandoval, on the Traders. Yeah. Quote unquote, his sweating arm, his sweaty armpits. What are your thoughts on this?

And now, he's a sweater. By the way, he is a sweater. He's been sweat his whole life. But you think he would have known. That's take your shirt off. So I didn't see him on there. So he's pitting it out. So he's pitting it out.

Okay, here's the deal. And the breakfast, even though I never made it to a breakfast, okay, because I was murdered first, that room, we were in there once, that in the castle, especially when it's cold, it's fucking hot. And he was wearing that, you know, Mr. Rogers, really thick, like Mr. Rogers's sweater. Yeah. Like you said, he's a sweater anyways. I don't know. I'm not, I don't sweat a lot, but if I did, I'm not going to wear a gray shirt. I do like black or something.

You know how he is, man. He's just so into what he looks like. He's very, I love him to death. He's very insecure. Here's what I feel bad about, though, with Tom. Is I feel like now, because of all of the shit that he's, that obviously has been thrown his way, justifiably or not, anything the guy does now is turned into a meme or has made fun of. Yeah.

Anyone else, dude, if you would have had Boston Rob or West or anyone else, their shirt up, there's sweat stains, no one gives you shit. Right. But because it's Tom, anything that happens to him that could in any way, shape, or form be, like, made fun of or poked fun at, he's just, now he's just like a walking punchline. And I think that at some point, it's like, yo, I get it. Like, you know, he, he did what he did. But I feel like he's done his time, right? I feel the same way. And I've said this to everybody.

Yeah, what he did was wrong. I get it. But he's done his time. Yeah. Okay. The punishment at this point doesn't fit the crime. But the problem with Tom is, and I always think. a comeback is better than the original story, in my opinion.

But I just don't think he's, he's, I think it hurt him so bad. He's not the same guy anymore after this. And I think it's going to take a lot for him to realize. Like, for instance, I think right now he should be rebuilding his brand. And for instance, what, you wanted him on your podcast? What did he say? He, he's getting a chemical peels. Okay, so his priorities are so effed up.

Yeah. He doesn't say, hey, listen, I need a plan. I have structured. This is what I want to do. Yeah. He's just living by the seat of his pants. it's not his fault. I really think that he had some serious trauma. He's got PTSD. Anyone on earth, all right? And I've been in this game a long fucking time. And I have dealt with,

I feel like, a lot of public scrutiny for things that I've done in the past, which I may or may not have deserved. The amount of, again, negativity and public scrutiny that this guy was under for, I remember, it happened, all this shit got out right before I went away for one of my challenges. These challenges are 10 weeks long, dude. I got back 10 weeks later. Still going. And it was still fucking, like, rabid dogs.

And I'm like, guys, at what point does the news cycle change? And it's like, we just kind of get on with things. So it's like... Well, normally it does. Come on. We've been in the news before, right? It's on for a week.

It's gone. It's forgot about. This is one thing that just didn't forget, forgot about. No matter what happened. There was a lot of events from the time he's done that to the time now, people are still talking about, like...

Let me ask you this because you're more in, obviously, the no and more like in that world. Why was it such... Like, why was it such a big deal? I don't... We've been in the entertainment industry for a long time. People cheat, right? And there's people who've cheated.

Michael Jordan cheated. Kobe Bryant cheated. Like, a huge, huge people have cheated. The dude from Adam Levine from fucking Maroon five. I think it became such headlines and didn't die down because, yes, we've heard a ton of different. cheating scandals, but we've never been able to actively watch.

Yeah. The cheating scandal kind of happened with the Easter eggs dropped, right? They were keeping it secret while they were filming that entire time. So the things that we were seeing, like I think when he had grabbed, I think, Rachel's, but at the time and different things that he said to Ariana, it was just amazing television, honestly to watch back. I guess it was. It was kind of almost like a scripted show. It's almost like, okay, the Titanic, right?

That happened over 100 years ago, right? Now it was a terrible disaster, but there have been worse disasters than that, and there have been a lot of other disasters. But for some reason, the Titanic is like ingrained into our psyche. And it's like sometimes things like, I guess stories just catch fire the way that others don't. And again, I feel like that somehow was like the Titanic of relationship breakups of our time. But I agree. I think the way that I see him now, especially on TV,

is I almost feel like he's like, like you said, he's got like PTSD. He's like shell-shocked, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I think, yeah, because his best friend, Schwartz reaches out to him all the time, and he just can't get through to him. Like, he can't get through to him. But anyway, enough about him.

So, I mean, is there any shows you're watching right now, by the way? I'm watching Traders, obviously. I mean, not to keep saying on the topic of Tom, but I think, you know, in a way, somehow Tom is playing the, he's playing the game perfect. the thing about traders, and I think a lot of people don't realize this, is you, there's so many gamers that come in and they feel like they need to move and manipulate and move every piece. Like they need to be thinking like chess. If I move this piece, what's going to happen?

You look at the people who I think are doing great in the game. Carolyn, who's one of the traders, who is a total fucking space cadet, has no idea what's going on. And then Tom, who in a way is as well. And I actually texted him the other day when I watched the episode. After the traders are chosen, he unknowingly goes up to two of them. And goes, I totally trust you guys. He doesn't know their traitors. Literally walks up to two of the traitors who are responsible for murdering people and goes,

I got a good feeling about you too. I'm pretty sure you guys are faithfuls. And by doing that now, the heat is off of him. He is never getting murdered. Now he might get banished. But the traitors are never going to go after him because he has, one of the hardest things to do in that game is get what's called traitor angels, which is traitors that are basically looking over you and aren't going to murder you because they don't see you as a threat.

He didn't know he was doing that. But he managed to do it. He managed to find luck himself in this amazing position where now he's basically kind of protected from murder. Do you think he wins? I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Again, I think there's so much focus on this game placed on the gamers. They're the ones that everyone's assuming are moving all the pieces and they usually are.

So I think people who aren't familiar, like I feel like you would have done great on trailers. Because it's a game show, but the people who aren't good at game shows usually are the ones that are more like left alone. I hope to be on it. So Traders, are you guys listening? I would like to be on it. If we can, you know, fit with my schedule, that would be awesome. But, yeah, I mean, it looks like an interesting. I just haven't got around to it.

I'm still stuck on, like, tell me lies right now. I'm obsessed with that fucking show. I haven't seen it yet. Oh, my God. It's so good. I just started watching the new O.J. Simpson documentary. Shout out to my boy Aaron Ginsburg on Netflix. He was one of the producers of it.

Oh, I got to watch that. bro okay so the 30 for 30 that they did years ago about the o j simpson documentary in my opinion was like it was one of the greatest documentaries i've ever seen this one i'm only up to episode two the amount they go here's what's cool about this documentary is they're showing all of the evidence that didn't make it into court which is insane there was a bloody fingerprint on the doorknob at O.J. Simpson's house never entered into evidence. There was a woman who basically almost got into a car accident with O.J. Simpson right outside Nicole's house, again, never brought in as a witness. So there's so much stuff that happened that like, again, I mean, kind of what we're

talking about before. There have been other murders in the past, celebrity murders. But for some reason, the O.J. Simpson captivates our minds. And here we are 30 years. later still talking about it. Do you think that social media has changed modern dating and, like, relationships? Do you think it's, do you think it's also changed, you know, the game and competition shows? Let me start with the competition shows. So I think social media has played a different role in, definitely in my kind of sitcoms. Everything.

I think so, too. It's definitely done everything. You're right. But, I mean, do you think it's played a huge role in the competition games? Do you look, is it a factor now? Yes, and here's why. And I'm just speaking from my show. The challenge used to be you'd compete, right?

And then whatever sparks fly during that season, you talk shit. Do you think social media, though? Like, in fact, your outcome? Social media keeps it going year round. Right. And that's good for you. It is in a way, but here's why it's not. Because now what's happened is there are, they call them T pages, stand pages, fan accounts.

you guys have them for Vanderpump as well, whose only role is to basically continue creating controversy and ginning up drama. And they have their people that they support. These people are cults, by the way. Cults, bro. They start, like, they are, I know in my world.

And it's scary because it's like their main goal is to find dirt. It's their only thing. And to try and, like, they support the people that they like, and they go after the people that they don't. You don't even know, man. Lori's not, like, she'll tell you. She tells me, like, these people are on my ass, like, flies on shit.

Like, I step out. I go to the gas station. They catch me. I'm not, like, what are you doing? You know, like, the next day, like, I will go get some burger and I was talking to somebody. Jacks Taylor talking caught talking. Who the fuck is following me? And why?

Like, I'm nobody. What are you doing? You know, I watched quite a bit of Vanderpump. And the guy that you are on Vanderpump could not be more different than the guy when I was on House of Villains and we were outside working out or fucking hang out by the pool. Couldn't, like, could not be a more different version of who you would. are. This is what I always say. Johnny Bananas is up is is is is not just my on screen persona. It's also a protective mechanism to keep people away. Right. So when I come on camera, when I'm on TV and I have this larger than life personality and character that is sarcastic and never takes anything seriously

and everything's a joke, you can attack that persona and it's not going to affect me. If I came on TV and I was me and I was the vulnerable fucking, like real me, that's somebody that you can get to. So it's like I've almost created like this persona on TV. That's really, really, really interesting. That's really, really interesting. And the hard thing, though, is when I am filming a lot or I'm feeling for long periods of time, it's finding out where Johnny Banana starts and where John Devenanzio begins or vice versa.

Because even sometimes I'll come back and friends of mine, family, ex-girlfriends that I've had, they'd be like, all right, like, enough. Punch out. Punch out. Yeah, check out. Yeah. Some people don't do that. They don't know how to check out.

Speaking of girls, you dating anybody? I mean, a little bit here and there. My life, listen, I'm dating my career. My life right now is a little too chaotic. I know. You got, explain real quick with Rumbleless to people. You got this cool boxing gym Rumble. Explain what you did, how you got there shortly.

Yes. I have some friends. They actually are the founders of Rumble, Noah Neiman and Andy. And they started in New York. They branched out, got bought out by a big fitness brand called Exponential Franchised. And I bought a franchise in South Florida. I actually bought three franchises, but we've started with one in South Florida.

It's basically like Barry's boot camp meets boxing. I mean, it's cardio on bags and then it's high intensity training. Is it doing really well? You're in Fort Lauderdale, yeah? We're in Boca. Boka, sorry. Just north of Fort Lauderdale. Great area, great, great, you know.

And you're there, are you, like, are you in California at all anymore? Yeah, I mean, I'm here, I'm trying to do 50, 50, 50, 150. I'm trying to do 51% Florida, 50, California. So I'm not paying fucking California taxes anymore. The taxes here are insane. I, like, I'm so jealous. I've been talking about moving to Florida for so long. How much do you, do you love Florida more than California?

The land of the free, bro. Do you still have your house? Yeah. You're renting it out? My nephew's living there right now. Oh, nice. So I have an 18-year-old nephew who's going to college out here. He's a fantastic musician, so he's keeping an eye on the place.

But here's the thing, dude. I love Florida, but it's always nice to come back. I love Florida so much. Like, out of all the places in the world, it's my favorite place. I've been trying to get there forever. Man, anytime. You got, you got, you got. It's harder now.

I got a son here. I got to come down there for a visit. I wanted to move, but, you know, I got a baby kid now and, you know, going through this mess and got a show. And I'm trying to get another Jackson's in Florida. We're trying to think about moving a jacks to Del. Not moving. We're opening one to Del Rey.

Fuck yeah, dude. One of my partners wants to open to Del Rey. I mean, that's, that's, dude, that's where my next rumble is going to be. That's, that's, that'd be awesome, man. Delray Beach. Yeah, I'm trying to, you know, maybe Schwartz and I get something here, but we have, that's the talk right now. Not for sure, but that's the talk. So, hey, listen, as you know, this podcast, right, it's called in the mind of a man, right?

So we, a lot of this, we talk about, like, you know, the toxic dating behaviors and it's pretty much everything that I've done in life. So let me ask you both. I mean, it's just, that's who we are. That's why I think we get along. How would you describe yourself in dating terms? Because I know you're kind of like, would you consider yourself a serial dater? Yes. So are you a toxic player?

I used to be. Okay, let me get into this. Okay, you used to be. You used to be a year ago, five years ago. So here's what I've changed, okay? When people talk about like the term gaslighting, okay? Oh God, that's another word they throw around every day. I know, but once I kind of learn like what gaslighting was, I'm like, damn, dude, I used to do that.

a lot and not even realized that I was doing. Because there was no term for it. We didn't know there was a term. So what I would do and this and I realized this and it never felt good when I was doing it, but I knew that I was in a relationship or dating. I would do things that were not right. But what I would do is I would find a way to basically make it the person's fault that I was dating. Yes, I did this.

Yeah. But you caused it. Yeah. And the definition of toxicity or manipulative. or manipulation is when you address the person's reaction, not your behavior that caused the action. Yeah, I do that a lot. So I don't. And so this is the thing.

And I used to and I want to apologize to some of my exes back in the day because that's a whole other podcast. Because that's what I did. Because here's why. I wanted to be able to have the relationship and be in the relationship, but then also still be able to do whatever the fuck I wanted to do. Yeah. Okay. And now I think part of this is just what imprinted on me, maybe from growing up. I grew up in a single parent household. My parents were divorced when I was very young. Marriage never made sense to me because I never saw it. My dad dated. My mom dated. Marriage never made sense to me because I never saw. I never saw. I never saw. I never saw. I never saw. I never saw. What I saw was my dad in long distance relationships. Yeah. Yeah. He had my girlfriend on the corner on the weekend. My mom was in, you know, short-term relationships as well. So growing up, I, the, the, the idea. of marriage just never made sense to me.

Then, when I went on reality TV, and now I am a celebrity for doing absolutely nothing, and I'm going to bars and clubs. And every time I go out, it's just you are inundated with, you know, girls wanting to meet you and girls wanted to hang out. It just made it very difficult to be in a committed relationship. But I still tried it. Yeah, you tried it. And here's the thing.

But at least you're self-aware. At least you know, at least say, listen, this is what you get. And I think you and I now are at that age, well, I'm going through a divorce where now, when I, I don't see myself ever getting in another relationship, but who knows? I will. Do you think you're going to get married? Do you think you're going to have kids? Here's, okay. Yeah.

I mean, we're not getting any younger. If you have one now, you'll be 60, right? By the time he goes to college. Al Pacino just had a baby at 89. I know. He's going to have to watch his dad's movies to figure out who he is. Let's be honest. He's not going to make that much longer.

Here's the thing. And I think you understand this in a lot of people that live in this world. This is a very, very, very difficult world to. be successful and stay successful in. And I think one of the reasons that I've managed to build the brand that I have and stay as successful I have is I never kind of veered off course. And I never. And again, I think one of the drawbacks to that is I haven't started a family.

I don't have kids. I don't have. Is it on the back of your mind? Of course it is. Because I look at all of my friends, you included. I'm like, Jacks has a kid. Like my best friend or business partner, his son is my godson.

my sisters both have kids But you don't have to, I think, I don't think it's People always like, do you have kids? It's like such a terrible thing to ask people Yeah, yeah You have kids, when are you going to have another one? Are you married? Why not? I just think that we like shut up I just let me live my life we got enough to look at all the divorce rate, okay? You're looking at one right now You close your eyes, throw a rock, you're going to hit somebody who's divorced and and like you were saying before about social media I think social media while there are a lot of ways it's beneficial

it is probably it is I think what is responsible for so much failed relationships and marriage because growing up you were around the same age

we had one fucking phone in the house yeah right cell phones didn't exist social media didn't exist guess what the girl you dated probably lived within a mile of your house your pool was this big dude

now your pool is the entire fucking world so that's the thing so there's so much more you have, there's so much more availability than there used to be. And it takes some type of person with a lot of self-control, which ain't you and I, to be able to have the power of social media in your hands and, like, not take advantage of it. I can't argue with you.

I can't argue. I've cheated on pretty much every girlfriend that I've had, but I've never cheated in my marriage. Fine. I'm not talking about the marriage. I'm just talking about general. Here's the thing. You giving Jackson and I, A career in reality TV and social media with a large following is like giving a 16-year-old the keys to a fucking Lamborghini. You're not going to drive slow. He's right. That's a great way to put it.

And it's to no fault around. This is the comparison I always like to make because I was an econ major. And I remember they told us this. Going into Baskin-Robbins is one of the most stressful situations because there are 31 fucking flavors to choose from. So when you go in, not only can you not decide what flavor you want, even after you sample 10 of them, once you decide on one, you're looking at what your friend got and you're like, oh, fuck. Did I make the wrong choice? I know. Is this one going to hurt my stomach if I mix it with this one?

Or should I have gotten the bubble gum or fucking cheesy fudge crunch, whatever? Now, imagine going into an ice cream shop where there's three flavors, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. You're going to pick which one you like, and you're going to be fine with your decision because, A, there's not a. a whole lot of other options and B, it's a lot easier. So that would be like when you say, are you ever going to settle down, I feel like in order to do that, I need to move out of the L.A., South Florida, Baskin-Robbins area. But nobody's making you, man. It's okay to be selfish.

To fucking, I don't know, Idaho, the middle of fucking nowhere on a farm. You would be miserable. You would be miserable. Ideally, you want this, so this, people say that all the time. I just want to move to the middle of nowhere and do this. Yeah, that would be fine for five minutes, but we're not built that way. And, hey, getting back to your little ice cream situation here, I think that's awesome. But I'm the type of guy that I, like, you ever have, like, I love, first of all, I love McDonald's.

I love it. But I know five minutes after, I'm going to be on the bathroom. But I do it anyway, right? It's the same thing with the ice cream flavors with the girls. I know this girl is bad for me, but I'm going to do it anyway. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, dude, I'm telling you, bro, it's, and again, I honestly, it's hard because I don't think the human beings, and especially like, here's the other reason. when you're like, oh, marriage is the fail rate,

the fail rates of marriage is higher now. People used to stay together a lot longer. Yes, it's because they weren't exposed to the type of shit that we're exposed to. This fucking device right here, okay, and then on top of this device, having social media and having TikTok and having Instagram

and having millions of people at your fingertips on a daily basis, it's, dude, it's, it's why a lot of people have fucking other people running their social media counselors, right? I know, because literally, there's Like there's, I, I recently just got out of, this is a side, side note here. I recently just got out of rehab, right?

And they took my phone away from me. And I've never in my life had my phone taken away from me. And I got to say, the first 24 hours, I was losing it. But, but after that, I didn't want to see my phone. I was like, you know what? I'm okay. But it was almost like a test to see what would have an experiment, right? But they take your phone away, they give it back.

But I was like, you know what? I don't want it. And then I took it for like an hour a day. That's what I did. But it was fucking hard. Giving my phone up is like, ah. So when we do the challenge, we don't have a phone for nine weeks. We don't have a phone for the entire time.

So how do you take care of business? So you can have like a laptop, right? Or if you need to like, you have a purse, a point of contact that then they'll send everything to. And then if production needs to send a text or an email, they'll do it. Pay a bill. A lot of times you get all that shit squared away before you go. If it's something really serious like that, they'll give you your computer, whatever. But the most amazing thing happens when you remove these devices from us because we are so fucking dependent upon them.

They take them away and guess what we start doing. And this happened on House of Villains to an extent. Yeah. Bro, you start talking. I know. I know. You start laying around telling stories and laughing and communicating and the games we come up with. We're coming up.

We're in the backyard inventing games on the challenge house. And like in the pool. And it's so funny because we're all out there. You literally, your imagination just like blossoms. Like we were kids. And you turn back into a kid. And you know what? You look around.

You see all the people on production. Yeah. And they're sitting in the corner just sitting there scrolling. Meanwhile, we're over. And it's such a good for me. It's like, it's like a electronic device detox. Like it's almost like you go to rehab for your device, dude. It's exactly right.

It was exactly right. That was part of my rehab. I got to say it goes along with it. But legally, though, people keep asking me, this is a big question that everyone knows like a rib. How come I had my phone? And I found out legally, by law, the state of California cannot take away your cell phone for more than three days. Because everyone was like, you went to rehab, but you had your phone. I went to two different rehabs, and they both gave my phone back.

And I was like, this is not, I even went to the owners. I'm like, this is not right. You guys should take away phone. They're like, we legally cannot take away your phones. It's a law. It's a law. You could give it to them, just tell them the whole. Yeah, but, you know, people are going to check in it on anyway, but you know how that works.

So I guess this is my next question, but like I don't, I don't even want to ask this because I'm nowhere near that. And I kind of like what you have to say. I'm just really enjoying. I'm not enjoying divorce. It's divorce is the hardest thing in my life that I've ever gone through. And I lost a father. And this is harder than that. It's just been hell.

People ask me, if you ever, do you ever want to date again? And I'm like, you know what? That's the last thing on my mind. I have a son. My son is my number one priority. I love him more than anything. and I'm just trying to make sure that I can see him be with him as much as possible. But I'm doing the best I can.

Brittany's going to be very fair with me. I get to see him more than I actually, that the court's going to say. So that's the tough part. And, you know, my son, he's young enough now not to know what's going to happen in the future. So what was your growing up? What was your parents? My parents were married. So when I grew up, there was no parents divorced.

You want to know why? The parents that should have been divorced didn't do it for the sake of the kids. And men just lived in their marriage. They just said, well, fuck it. This marriage is not great. but I'm going to stay in it anyway and stick it out. And they're miserable. I know so many, my buddy's friends, my dad and my mother alone were miserable.

They were miserable. They should have never stayed married. Yeah. You and Brittany, though, I think what you guys are doing, keeping it civil, because I grew up. I've got a friend of mine that's going through hell right now. I grew up in a hot, when my parents divorced, I grew up in a very hostile, my parents hated each other. And it was hell on us. Yeah.

I was five years old. And when I was with my dad, I couldn't say my mom's name. Because that's exactly where I don't want it to go. So, I mean, they're great now. And I think we've realized over the years, they're so different. Like, they did not belong together in the beginning. They created amazing children. But I think the best thing you guys could do for your son is to remain civil.

And amicable. And I told Brittany this. I go, and I think she agrees with me. We are, whether you like it or not, I'm in your life for the rest of your life. For the rest of your life. So we can go to war and create tension and stress and stress out our son. Or we can be amicable. You don't got to like me.

You don't got to love me anymore, whatever, but let's just be civil for our little boy. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters. We were together for 10, 11 years and married for four. That's a life time. I mean, that's the thing, dude. I like to say that my marriage is completed. Here's, here, completed. Here's, when you, when you are with someone for that long and then they're not long,

they're no longer part of your life, that is the equivalent to somebody dying. Yeah. That's the equivalent. Now, they're still alive. They're not technically, but they're dead in the same. sense of like what your relationship was and the grieving process for that i mean there's no telling how long it's going to take for you to like recover from that there's no time period there's no time table there's no right way to do it and and and that's the thing is like yeah dude you you you lost

you lost the loved one you lost someone who's very important to you and again the way your brain sees it the way your brain experiences it there's not a big difference between somebody dying and then you losing someone in a relationship your brain it affects your brain the same way and it's sucks because I felt like my friends, because we all have the same friend group, and I felt like my friends are going through a divorce too. And they're always like, Jacks, do you mind if we hang out with Brittany? Because she has parties at her house or birthday party. Do you mind if we go? And I'm like, listen, I'm not that guy. You go enjoy. I don't want you guys to feel bad. A lot of my friends are right now because, like, for instance, she had a birthday party and I didn't go. And a lot of my friends

went. And they were all like, Jackson's, are you okay? Thanksgiving dinner? I wasn't there. Jacks, are you okay? And I'm totally fine. Does it hurt? Absolutely. It hurts me to the core. But I also am mature enough to say, hey, listen, she's your friend too, and go support her and go, you know, it's important to me. But it does suck because we're used to having these parties together and her doing things on her own without me. It hurts me. It hurts me. And it just, I have a heart, believe it or not. I know a lot of people think I don't.

But, you know, I just, hey, real quick, if you were to go on a date tomorrow, I'm good. Let's sidetrack here. If you were going on a date tomorrow, what would be, what's your ideal first date right now? Girl of your dreams tomorrow, you're going out to eat. You're in L.A. Okay? You get up in the morning, you go to the gym, you take a shower, have something to eat, you're about to meet this girl. Where do you go?

I am a activities person. I would love to, like, go to the beach, go surf. Because dating right now is very hard. It's an interview, first of all. Let's be honest. First dates are interviews. They're not real dates. So, like, you want to see if this person's active.

You're an active guy. Okay, so you're going to find somebody. You don't like a boogey girl. I don't know. I like to see what someone's comfort zone is, too. Like, I'm, yeah. Make him feel uncomfortable in the first day? that's going to happen anyways.

But like, I love a girl that could be like, hey, I want to get dressed up and I want to like go to, you know, this fucking black tie event. But I could also go camping. Yeah. Okay. That's what I like, like, I want, like get through a girl that could do both. That's kind of like, like, like, I'm not a big fan of like overly high maintenance people. Yeah, I love a girl that could like wear my clothes. That's what I like.

T-shirt around all the time. No. But it's just hot. I like that. I don't want you to wake up in the morning and feel like you need to put makeup on. Yeah, I don't like that either. want you to be like like comfortable around me i here's the other thing and this is what's got me in the trouble in the past i don't even like to go out i make all my own fucking food yeah i'm a bachelor

dude i've been a bachelor for a long time i do all my own shit my own laundry i cook i clean i love to cook the amount like i've invited girls over in the past like do you want to go out dinner i'm like no just make dinner instead the problem is there are so few guys in this world these days that like are nice and like give a shit and are kind of like mature yeah that that that to a mean so much more than just let's make dinner. You know what I mean? Because, again, there's a lot of dickheads out there. I like to think of myself as a reformed dickhead.

But again, I get in the trouble then because it sends a certain message like, oh, this is more than just a date. You're putting thought into it. I got one last question because we're running out of time. Real quick, one word answer. What's your biggest ick when you're dating a girl? What just drives you crazy that you can't get over? Hygiene. Number one?

Number one thing. It's got to be, dude. It's got to be high. hygiene. I mean, cleanliness. Like, dude, I, I'm a very clean person. Me too. And like a girl that, like, doesn't necessarily... Messy car. Messy car drives me nuts. You know what they say, dude,

is cleanliness is next to godliness. And like, a lot of times the way, and this is, this is true for guys, too. The better they keep their surroundings, their environment, the better they take care of themselves. Right. And the amount of times that I've met girls, and I'm just like, dude, like,

you eat like crap. Like, you don't take care of yourself. places a fucking mess. That is a direct reflection of like you. Now, again, if I was a messy fuck and if I was, you know, I would be hypocritical, but I like to keep my surroundings very neat. And that's just how I've always been. Same thing.

Healthy life, structure, consistency. I got one final question because I know Johnny's got, well, we got to get to lunch after this. Yeah, yeah. So, this is a question from a listener. Okay? Okay. I'm going to read this. Hi, Jacks. I've been with my husband for 12 years. When I met him, he told me that he has a hard time

climaxing during sex. He is a heavy drinker and he's also an anger management medication. With this particular medication, it can contribute to this very thing. Even knowing this, it is starting to make me feel really insecure. I may be fighting a war, I can't win. But do you have any advice on things? A woman can do to make her man finish the finish line. Yes. Stop drinking. Get off the medication.

That's it. I mean, dude, that's what you watch every single pharmaceutical commercial. It'll literally say could lead to erectile dysfunctional. Everyone. Like, honestly, and how old is this guy? Well, I don't know, but the thing about getting off the anger management, well, probably lowering his testosterone. Yeah.

So, so. Yeah, like, it does lower. I am on medication that's similar to this. Yeah. And you're like, I don't have a problem. I got my testosterone checked, actually. And I have the testosterone of a 25-year-old, they said right now. Like, everything's clean, but they just said, listen, you have really, really high testosterone right now.

Here's the thing the older you get, and this is men and women, okay, the older you you get, again, the more you, the healthier you need to be and the more you need to take care of yourself in order for your body to function the way it did. And that's everything. That's not just your penis. That's your heart. That's your liver. That's your lungs. That's your, that's your arteries. That's everything. So if this guy is a heavy drinker. Yeah, quit the alcohol, at least for sure. Have we medicated? That's going to, that's going to fuck up his system. It's just going to make it hard. So, honey, it's not you. It's not going to make it hard. It's not you. It's him. Yeah, he's going to want to have to change. He's going to have to

make some sacrifices here. Obviously, get rid of the drinking. Maybe check on a different medication. Also, you know what? They make a lot of things out there now, Blue Chew and all these other drinks. Have you ever taken one of those pills, by the way? Oh, yeah. Okay, I've taken it one. Let me tell the story really quick. I've taken a pill a long, long time ago. And I wasn't even trying to meet somebody. I just wanted to try it. It's when Viagra was starting out, right? Yeah. And my buddy gave me a pill. I tried it. And I had a hard on for eight hours. Eight fucking hours. And I didn't know what to do with it. I was putting in my waistband. I was uncomfortable.

I thought I had to go to the hospital. It was the most uncomfortable situation I've ever been in. Like that thing, I was like, what is going on? What did you take? It was a half of a Viagra. Mind you, I was probably 26 or 7 years old. Okay. I had no reason being taken that at all.

The worst experience was, the worst experience I had. It's so uncomfortable. We went, I know we were going to party. Like, you know, we were in Atlantic City. I knew we were going to get after it. So we stopped at 7-Eleven. I bought one of those rhino fucking silver bullet boner. It was the worst fucking experience.

I've never had a worst. Same thing happened. I just had like this erection that wouldn't go away. And I had the worst headache. Yeah, it causes headaches. I woke up the next day and I literally, I'm like, this isn't a hangover headache. It felt like somebody stuck in ice pick through my temple.

That's the common thing that people say. Never again, dude. Everybody I talked about that does these and I have a lot of buddies that takes these. We're getting at the age that, you know, getting up there that people are taking them because it kind of relieves the pressure. You know you're going to get hard, right? You don't have to worry about it.

So the main thing that people say is the migraines afterwards. The migraines are horrific. Horrific. But, you know, it's a vasodilator. That's what it does. It pumps a bunch of blood into your brain. I know. All right.

We got to get some lunch, buddy. But I'm so happy that you came on. I'm so excited about your company Rumbos. Do you want to plug anything? Yeah. I mean, if you guys don't already, follow me on social media at Johnny Bananas. It's across all platforms. and again

if you're ever in South Florida, you want to get a workout in, come by Rumble, we're in East Boka, and then, yeah, I've got some fun projects coming up. I'm going to fill you in more on the docu-series we're doing.

Love to have you be a part of it at some point. So, yeah. I appreciate it, man. Chopin it up, dude. I love it. I love it. Let's go grab a bite of teeth. Thank you guys for listening this week.

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