You may recognize Tyson Apostol from his four seasons of “Survivor,” “Marriage Boot Camp,” “The Challenge: USA” or even the upcoming “House of Villains.” And after so many years spent on reality television, he has plenty of insight into the modern era of the genre where former fan-favorites are popping up on rival networks.
“I think it’s amazing, but it’s hard. I got my start on ‘Survivor,’ but a lot of times their attitude is like, ‘We made you,’ and it’s like, no, I made myself,” he told TheWrap. “All these claims about them finding people, they didn’t make anybody — except for maybe Rupert, the pirate. Anybody who plays a character, sure, maybe they created that person a little bit.”
“But for a long time, that was the attitude: you should be grateful. But people on reality TV that are cast have talents that make them perfect for reality TV. Speaking for myself, I don’t have any discernible talents that make me extra marketable except for my personality, and that’s what reality TV is,” Apostol continued. “So when ‘The Traitors’ and ‘House of Villains’ and these other shows are essentially giving opportunity and building an environment where someone like me feels good about coming on TV, not feeling like I’m getting exploited and then not getting a call back for six or seven years. With these shows cropping up, it’s good for us, because it forces other networks to treat everyone professionally.”
Audiences were first introduced to Apostol on “Survivor: Tocantins” in 2009, followed by appearances on “Heroes vs. Villains,” “Blood vs. Water” (which he won) and “Winners at War.” He’ll next be seen this coming season on “House of Villains” as the competition show moves from E! to Peacock.
“Do I identify with being a villain? In a reality sense, yes. As a human, that would maybe be more insulting,” the Trulieve spokesman shared. “But if you look at the breakdown of ‘Heroes vs. Villains,’ it was the schemers and the people who played hard versus the people who got a hero’s edit since they were not schemers. We were not afraid of anybody on the Heroes tribe outmaneuvering us strategically.”
“On ‘House of Villains,’ it was a little bit more insulting. I was like, ‘Am I one of these guys?’ Because I watched the last two seasons, I don’t know that I fit. Even on the calls, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I am what you’re looking for,’” he joked. “So I showed up, part out of spite for ‘Australian Survivor,’ because they made me an offer; they were excited to have me there, but then went in a different direction. ‘Casting is like a puzzle and the pieces have to all fit together.’ That’s what they told me. Spare me the analogy. That’s the most insulting part, not that you decided to go in a different direction, but that you gave me the puzzle analogy 20 years into my reality TV career. Like I haven’t heard that a million times.”
So what changes can fans expect in Season 3 when it premieres in 2026?
“Their budget was bigger, they were feeding us more, catering everything, keeping the fridge totally stocked. Just anything you ever wanted, plus a three-course lunch. They pampered us pretty well,” Apostol shared. “We got it almost too easy, they took care of me. Much different experience than what I went through on ‘The Challenge,’ as far as being treated like a human.”
Indeed, Apostol was a runner-up on Season 1 of “The Challenge: USA” on CBS … but don’t expect to see him on the classic MTV version anytime soon.
“I’m 46, I can’t go back on ‘The Challenge.’ That’s too much,” he admitted with a laugh. “A lot of them were unaware that we were co-workers. Some productions understand that you’re co-workers. As long as you also understand that they’re your co-worker, I think it works out great for everybody. [Otherwise], it’s when either somebody is a diva or production treats you like a commodity rather than a living, breathing person who likes to be respected as they respect you.”
So what does this reality TV veteran think of the “Survivor” Season 50 cast after starring in four seasons himself?
“Season 50 is coming up. Lots of questionable choices, because it is not the celebration of eras of ‘Survivor’ like they promised. I noticed online, it got a very poor grade as far as casting is concerned, but people are going to enjoy watching, of course. There’s still four or five absolute wackadoos on there, and that’s going to drive the season no matter what. There’s going to be background fodder,” he teased. “If you packed it all with absolute superstars, somebody is going to be background noise anyways, so why not just get a standard background noise person to fill their role there and then you don’t have to argue in the editing room who’s going to be background.”
“You look at other franchises that have been built on their talent and have catapulted into the stratosphere because of that. For so long, some shows would purposely try to keep their talent from getting too big so that they could utilize them more in the future,” Apostol further noted. “Now it’s kind of backfired, because you could have an army of 800 former contestants who all have a million followers on Instagram promoting your stuff for free, but the lack of tagging people in posts for a decade and all of that has really hindered their marketing strategies.”
Outside of competing on national television, Apostol has spent a large portion of his life as an athlete — whether that was in pro-cycling, collegiate swimming or, more recently, pickleball. It’s that wear and tear that inspired him to team up with Trulieve to understand the health benefits of cannabis.
“I grew up in a pretty conservative household, so I never really experimented with with anything growing up. As an adult, I was having aches and pains, my back was hurting — this was before ‘Winners at War’ — I had a herniated disc in my back or something, bedridden,” Apostol recalled. “I don’t like how I feel taking hundreds and hundreds of milligrams of Tylenol or Aspirin or anything like that, and I know how bad that can be on your body, so I thought, I know that people have had positive experiences with cannabis and I need to try that rather than opioids or tons of over-the-counter pain relievers.”
“That was in my late 30s. I came into ‘WaW’ just off of all these back issues and was still able to play the game, be physical enough; but I was probably not in great shape then, compared to even now,” he added. “But as you age, I’ve definitely had a harder time sleeping, either from the stresses of life or extra physical activity too late in the day, so I use cannabis for that. I’ve been using cannabis edibles in my wellness routine to recover, to get sleep, to take away some of the aches and pains that I’m feeling and keep me going.”
“I have regular everyday stresses and things on my mind, so when my mind’s racing at night or I’m having a hard time, it definitely helps calm me down and get the rest that I need,” Apostol concluded. “That helps me be better the next day.”
