Tyson Apostol

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 Europe, including for Leingruber Ideal and Team Vorarlberg between 2005 and 2007. Once back in the United States, he managed a Utah bicycle shop. Apostol proposed to his girlfriend of six years, Rachel Foulger, during the finale of Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars 2. The episode aired on March 13, 2015.

Apostol and Foulger confirmed several days later that they had gotten married in the time since filming the show. Apostol's Survivor: Tocantins co-star, Stephen Fishbach, officiated the private ceremony on February 8, 2015, in Utah. Foulger and Apostol have two daughters. They currently live in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

Apostol is an avid pickleball player and social media influencer for pickleball brands. He was featured in Vanity Fair for his influence in the sport.

Survivor

On Survivor: Tocantins, Apostol was placed in 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. 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.

Heroes vs. Villains

Jeff Probst stated that Apostol was one of his favorites of the season because he was maniacal and unpredictable. On Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Apostol was assigned to the Villains tribe. 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. 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. His switching votes has been called "one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history." On Survivor: Blood vs. Water, Apostol returned with his longtime girlfriend, Rachel Foulger. He was assigned to the Galang tribe, while she went to Tadhana.

Blood vs. Water

Foulger was the third person eliminated. Later, a tribe switch put Apostol on a tribe with Gervase Peterson, Aras Baskauskas, Hayden Moss, Ciera Eastin, and Caleb Bankston. Using clues given to him verbally by Moss and Bankston, Apostol found the first idol by himself. He formed an alliance with Peterson, Moss, Eastin, and Bankston.

At the merge, this alliance joined with Monica Culpepper and Laura Morett to take out Baskauskas, his brother Vytas, and Tina Wesson. Apostol orchestrated Morett's return to Redemption Island and voted out Bankston, using his idol even though no votes were cast against him. Apostol faced rebellion from Moss and Eastin but maintained control of Peterson and Culpepper, and found the idol a second time. He won the final two immunity challenges, guaranteeing himself a spot in the final three.

He voted out Wesson, recognizing she was his only remaining threat for jury votes. He went to the finals alongside Peterson and Culpepper. Apostol was voted the $1 million winner, receiving seven of the eight jury votes (with Culpepper receiving the dissenting vote, from Vytas Baskauskas). On Survivor: Winners at War, Apostol was a member of the Dakal tribe.

Winners at War

He was targeted by Yul Kwon early in the game for having close ties with other players outside the game, such as Rob Mariano and Kim Spradlin-Wolfe. After Dakal lost the fifth immunity challenge, Apostol became the fifth person voted off and went to the Edge of Extinction. He rejoined the game at the merge after winning the return challenge against the other Edge of Extinction contestants. However, Apostol was voted off again on day 25 and returned to the Edge of Extinction.

He was defeated in the second return challenge by Natalie Anderson, for whom he later voted to win the season, though she would lose to Tony Vlachos.

Other screen appearances

Apostol starred in the viral video, "The Star Wars That I Used to Know" (a parody of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"), as 'Darth Gotye.' Apostol appeared on the fourth season of Marriage Boot Camp in 2014. He appeared on the show with his then-fiancée, Rachel Foulger, who also appeared with him on Survivor. In addition to Survivor, he has also appeared on The Challenge: USA and House of Villains.

Podcasting

He co-hosts several podcasts, including News AF on Rob Has a Podcast, The Pod Has Spoken on The Ringer and the official House of Villains podcast.