MTV 'Challenge' Star Shane Landrum Talks 'Vendettas' Elimination, Johnny Bananas, More

Few members of the cast of MTV’s “The Challenge: Vendettas” have been around the reality-TV series longer than Shane Landrum. He first appeared on “Battle of the Sexes” in the show’s sixth season, and he was part of the 31st season 15 years later before being eliminated in last week’s episode.

Shane has one of the biggest personalities on the show, and it’s why he’ll likely be part of many more “Challenge” seasons in the future. It’s also part of the reason why he was the eighth person sent home on “Vendettas,” hand-picked to fight for his spot on the show by the Troika—the group of three castmates that selects a contestant to compete in the elimination round.

“I am one of the craziest people on the show,” Shane told International Business Times. “I have a temper and I have been in several fights in that house that have never made air. My personality is either you love me or hate me, and there’s really no in between.”

After just a few episodes, it seems clear that Shane left the show with more enemies than he had at the start of the season.

The former “Road Rules” cast member got into a heated argument that never made air with Natalie Negrotti, who previously appeared on “Big Brother” and is in her first “Challenge” season. Nicole Zanatta and Shane dislike each other because of disagreements they had on “Invasion of the Champions” a year ago.

Nicole represented one-third of the Troika that sent Shane into the Ring (elimination round) in last week’s episode. It appeared that Shane would be safe from elimination, considering the three-person unit would be made up of players from the team of 10—which included Shane—that won the day’s challenge.

Once Nicole was selected as part of the Troika, Shane didn’t put up much of a fight because he knew he was in trouble.

“The second that they threw Nicole in (the Troika), I kind of saw the writing on the wall,” Shane told IBT, admitting he was made to believe he’d be safe if his team won the challenge. “Why didn’t I stick up (for myself) more? I could stress out and start an argument, but I'd lose my chance to convince someone later. So at that time, I thought, this isn’t my time to fight this. I need to be agreeable and then work my pressure with other people later and hope for the best. But just based on what I could see, it was in my best interest to just shut up and take what was given to me.”

Tony Raines and Kyle Christie were picked as the other two members of the Troika, a selection that was left to all the members of the winning 10-person team. But it was Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio that appeared to seize control, making the final decision for the entire group.

“Bananas has power in this show,” Shane said. “He’s been in the Troika...the reality is the Troika is not just a word. It actually has power that comes with it, and at this time that you’re watching, he’s running a really strong alliance. So if an alliance has power and they’re making decisions about you, it’s in your best interest not to go against them if you’re trying to play a safe, subtle game.”

No one has had more success in the history of “The Challenge” than Bananas. He holds the record with six winning seasons and nearly $700,000 of total prize money.

With that power also comes a target on his back, and Shane indicated to IBT that Bananas’ latest move could come back to bite him.

“Bananas deciding not to go into the Troika this time is gonna be interesting moving forward, because the Troika has so much power, and it’s gonna be interesting to watch for the viewers, to say the least.”

What does that mean for the future of Bananas on “Vendettas?” Will he be the victim of a “Grenade,” which the winner of an elimination round can use on anyone that isn’t in the Troika?

“The Challenge” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on MTV.