Exclusive Interview: Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Larsa Pippen, and Marcus Jordan Talk ‘The Traitors 2,’ Their Strategies, and More

The Traitors is a nail-biting psychological adventure in which treachery and deceit are the name of the game. Entertainment’s most competitive reality stars and famous faces play the ultimate murder mystery game. Hosted by award-winning actor Alan Cumming at an ancient castle set deep in the Scottish Highlands, contestants work together on a series of exhilarating missions to build a prize fund worth up to $250,000.

Hidden amongst the Faithful are the Traitors, whose goal is to eliminate the Faithful and claim the prize for themselves. Under the cover of darkness, the Traitors murder the Faithful one by one in a treacherous spree, while the Faithful try to uncover the Traitors and banish them from the game. If the Faithful contestants banish all the Traitors, they will share the prize fund, but if a Traitor or Traitors makes it to the end, they will steal all the money.

Among the competitors this season are Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio (The Challenge), Larsa Pippen (The Real Housewives of Miami), and Marcus Jordan (fashion entrepreneur).

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Johnny, Larsa, and Marcus about The Traitors 2, their strategies, and more.

PC: Johnny, you’ve built this legacy as one of the strongest competitors and strategic minds on The Challenge. Anytime you’re part of a series, it seems like you’re immediately targeted. What was your strategy going into The Traitors, knowing your reputation precedes The Challenge? Was it beneficial having those prior relationships with some of your fellow competitors?
Johnny: I knew going in that, no matter how hard I tried, my past was going to come back to haunt me. I had it in my head. I knew that if I wasn’t made a Traitor (which is all done in secret), then my time here was going to be very limited. I didn’t know it was going to be as limited as it was, but I wanted to go in and show that I was a team player. I wanted to show that, “Yes, I’m a potential threat to your game, but I’m also an asset to have here because I’m going to help you win.” I hoped that the Traitors, when they saw that their desire to get rid of me, would be outweighed by the likelihood that I would help them win money.

But it goes to show that some people will cut off their own noses to spite their face, and people who aren’t confident in themselves and their abilities, like Dan Gheesling, will get rid of anybody they perceive as a threat not to their game but to their camera time. So I went in, and once I found out I wasn’t a Traitor, I thought, “I’ve got to cause as much chaos as I possibly can before I leave, just to make good TV.” I think I did that.

PC: You did that. The relationship between you and Alan is hilarious. Larsa, you and Marcus are breaking history as the first couple to compete on this show. How helpful was it coming into this competition knowing that you had somebody you could completely trust? Were there any early conversations about what would happen if one of you ended up being a traitor and the other wasn’t?
Larsa: Yeah, we spoke about the fact that if one of us were to get murdered or banished, the other would stay at the hotel and wait for the other person. [laughs] That didn’t happen. But I also feel like we had a target on our back coming in as a couple. It had people on edge. I don’t think they wanted to see us together, but we had a whole conversation before we got there.

We basically said, “Hey, we’re going in as individuals. It’s every man for themselves. God for us all. We’re here to have fun and play the game.” That was our intention from the moment we landed in Scotland.

Johnny: What’s funny is that we actually had this conversation in the SUV before the game even started. The three of us were in the same car getting to know each other. I was sitting there and I was like, “What happens if one of you is the Traitor and the other is not? Are you going to murder the other one to throw off the scent because that would be a smart move? How is this going to play out?”

Marcus: We were there to play the game, so anything goes.

Larsa: We really wanted to win individually. We were there to play the game. But at the same time, like I said, a lot of people weren’t comfortable with that. They thought it was the two of us against everyone.

PC: Marcus, was the strategy to lean into the fact that you were a couple or did you want to establish early on that you were your own competitors? How did you adapt that strategy based on who you were competing alongside and the various twists?
Marcus: Look, at the end of the day, we were competing as individuals, but there was some sort of alliance there. I’m not going to eliminate my girl. It played out the way it was supposed to.

Larsa: I would have eliminated you.

Marcus: I know. I know.

PC: Johnny, having built such an illustrious tenure in reality competitions, who is somebody that you’ve competed alongside that you think would do well on the show? Who is someone who would struggle and why?
Johnny: I think Wes [Bergmann] would do very well at this. However, I think he might run into the same problem as me. It’s very difficult when you come in, and yes, there are reality TV celebrities on this show, but when you come in with a reality television competition background, that is viewed entirely differently. I went through something similar on House of Villains that I just did. So I think Wes would do really well.

Who would struggle? It’s anyone’s guess. I literally thought this season that CT was going to be targeted before me because I thought he would be perceived as a bigger threat than me. But that wasn’t the case. So it’s really difficult to tell who’s going to do well and who’s not. You never know who is going to rub people the right way, who is going to rub people the wrong way. Apparently, I did both of those things. I’m still trying to figure that out. I don’t know which way I rubbed Alan though; I’m still trying to figure that out. I couldn’t tell if he liked me or hated me or if he was somewhere in the middle.

PC: Leave it to you to pick on Alan’s fashion sense. Marcus and Larsa, this is such a departure from your world. What was the most surprising part about this experience for each of you?
Larsa: I wouldn’t necessarily like to do all the physical stuff, so the challenges were the hardest part for me. I wanted to make sure that we did well. So of course, I was like, “Johnny, anything we’re doing, we’re doing together.”

Johnny: But you did well doing it. That’s what’s cool about shows like this is that you accomplish and push yourself to somewhere you have never pushed yourself before, and then you come out of it being like, “Holy sh*t. I did that.”

Marcus: Larsa’s game plan was to align herself with the smartest team. I feel like she did that very well.

Larsa: I like to be in good company.

Make sure to follow Johnny (Twitter/Instagram), Larsa (Twitter/Instagram), and Marcus (Twitter/Instagram). Stream The Traitors 2 on Peacock today.

Photo Credit: Peacock