Tyson Apostol (born June 17, 1979) is an American reality television personality, best known for his appearances on multiple seasons of the CBS reality television show Survivor. Apostol originally competed on Survivor: Tocantins in 2009, finishing in 8th place. He returned as a villain on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains in 2010 and came in 15th place. In 2013, he returned again and was eventually crowned the winner of Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Apostol competed for a fourth time on the show's 40th season Survivor: Winners at War, finishing in 11th place. He also competed on The Challenge: USA, a CBS spinoff of the MTV franchise.
Apostol is a former professional cyclist and also appeared on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars 2 with his partner, Rachel Foulger. He co-hosts three podcasts: News AF on Rob Has A Podcast, The Pod Has Spoken on The Ringer and PicklePod.
Personal life
Apostol was born in Provo, Utah, on June 17, 1979, and raised in Lindon, Utah. He graduated from Orem High School. He spent two years in the Philippines as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He attended Brigham Young University on a swimming scholarship, but did not graduate. Apostol cycled professionally in Switzerland, Belgium, and Austria, including for between 2005 and 2007. Once back in the United States, he managed a Utah bicycle shop.
Apostol proposed to his girlfriend of six and a half years, Rachel Foulger, during the finale of Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars 2. The episode aired on March 13, 2015. On March 15, 2015, Apostol and Foulger confirmed that in the time since filming Marriage Boot Camp, they had gotten married. Apostol's Survivor: Tocantins co-star, Stephen Fishbach, performed the private ceremony on February 8, 2015 in Utah.
Foulger and Apostol have two daughters, Bergen (b. 2015) and Marlowe (b. 2018). He currently lives in Mesa, Arizona.
Survivor
Tocantins
On the 18th season of Survivor, Apostol was placed on the Timbira tribe, initially sticking with the majority alliance and forming a particularly close bond with Benjamin "Coach" Wade, who dubbed Apostol his "assistant coach". Early on, Apostol wanted to blindside fellow contestant Erinn Lobdell; however, he eventually sided with the majority and voted out the ill Jerry Sims. At the merge, Apostol won the first individual immunity by outlasting former tribemate Debbie Beebe. He went on to win immunity again with nine contestants left as well. Wade and Apostol aligned with Stephen Fishbach, James "J.T." Thomas, Jr., and Beebe, blindsiding Brendan Synnott with the cooperation of Lobdell and Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George. Sierra Reed became the target, but Thomas, Lobdell, and Fishbach joined the other group, deciding that Apostol was a bigger threat than Reed; Apostol was voted out and became the second juror. He eventually voted for Thomas to win the game.
Jeff Probst stated that Apostol was one of his favorites of the season because he was maniacal and unpredictable.
Heroes vs. Villains
Apostol accepted an offer to participate again, in the show's 20th season, where he was assigned to the Villains tribe. His tribe dominated the initial immunity challenges. He formed an alliance with Jerri Manthey and fellow Tocantins participant Benjamin "Coach" Wade. Apostol appeared to be safe after joining the alliance of "Boston Rob" Mariano, Sandra Diaz-Twine, and Courtney Yates, along with Wade and Manthey. This group held a majority over the bloc of Russell Hantz, Parvati Shallow, and Danielle DiLorenzo. When both the Heroes and Villains tribes had to vote someone out consecutively, Mariano directed his alliance to split their votes due to Hantz's possession of a hidden immunity idol. The plan was to have him, Mariano and Diaz-Twine vote to eliminate Hantz and Yates, Manthey and Wade vote to eliminate Shallow. If Hantz gave Shallow the idol or if Hantz did not play the idol at all, on the revote, Hantz would be eliminated. If Hantz played the idol for himself, on the revote, Shallow would be eliminated 4-3-0. Hantz manipulated Apostol into disobeying Mariano's plan, and instead of forcing a tie, Apostol switched his vote to Shallow. After Hantz gave Shallow the hidden immunity idol and she played it, Apostol was the sixth contestant eliminated by a vote of 3–2, with Hantz's idol negating four votes against Shallow.