S40: Tyson Apostol

[Whimsy]

Winner of Survivor: Blood vs. Water

[LanceM]

cast bio

 

https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/216317/

[RescueMom]

I thought I was going to be rooting for Denise this season, but while reading all of the season 40 coverage yesterday I realized I really want Tyson to win. 

[ByaNose]

I think I'm one of the few who never liked Tyson. I'm one of those people who doesn't get his "humor". Everyone says how funny he is. I've never seen it. I'm 55 so maybe I'm not his demographic. LOL!!!

[RescueMom]

4 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I think I'm one of the few who never liked Tyson. I'm one of those people who doesn't get his "humor". Everyone says how funny he is. I've never seen it. I'm 55 so maybe I'm not his demographic. LOL!!!

I'm 51 and I like his irreverence and dedication to not taking anything too seriously. I know he can be a jackass sometimes, but I like his snarkiness and I truly don't think there is any malice intended with it. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by RescueMom
Oops had an extra word in there...

[peachmangosteen]

I hate him, but things like this make me question that hate:

Quote

Pet peeves: Inefficiency, other know-it-alls, and inconsiderateness.

Quote

As Survivor approaches Season 40 and celebrates 20 years on television, what does it mean to be a part of the legacy?
I'm honestly honored and proud to be a part of such a milestone. I would have been secretly a bit hurt had I not been included even though I'd pretend not to care.

 

[simplyme]

I've never been able to like Tyson. I often find things he says to be really funny, but starting back in Tocantins I just had a negative reaction to the way he talked about a couple of the other cast members in his talking heads. (Sierra was one. I don't remember details, I just remember that I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach over a few things he said about her. Then again, I got that quite a bit in Tocantins from various players... Not my fave season.)

[RescueMom]

1 hour ago, simplyme said:

I've never been able to like Tyson. I often find things he says to be really funny, but starting back in Tocantins I just had a negative reaction to the way he talked about a couple of the other cast members in his talking heads. (Sierra was one. I don't remember details, I just remember that I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach over a few things he said about her. Then again, I got that quite a bit in Tocantins from various players... Not my fave season.)

I know exactly what you mean, which is why I've always felt a little bit squicky about liking him so much. I know he wasn't that young in Tocantins, but he came across as really immature and I think he clearly matures over his three seasons (both as a player and  a person). I heard him say something like that on RHAP one time - something like if you didn't like him at the age he was in BvW you probably wouldn't like him in HvV and even less so in Tocantins. But IIRC, even in BvW there were a couple of times his dry talking head comments walked the line between funny and mean. 

But the heart wants what it wants 😂 Like you said in the Adam thread, it would be boring if we all liked the same players. I'll be sitting out on my lonely little personal exile island this season with my "Tyson FTW" banner waving proudly. 

[fishcakes]

I hated Tyson in Tocantins, was indifferent to him in HvV, and loved him in BvW, and on rewatching all of those seasons, I realized that he hadn't changed at all, just my reaction to him. I think what it is is that he's got a  sarcastic sense of humor and he doesn't modulate it at all or take into consideration who he's aiming it at. So when Tocantins Sierra -- one of the most fragile players ever -- is the target, he looks like a giant asshole. But when it's Gervase or Boston Rob or Parvati or anyone else who lets that kind of thing roll right off them, then he seems like an okay guy who jokingly says mean, but accurate, things. There are always little clues that he's a good person at heart (talking Coach off the ledge when he was crying because no one thinks he's really a dragonslayer, reaching back and silently holding Tina's ankle at the BvW reunion while she talked about her son who'd died only a few weeks earlier in an accident), but most of the time he can't or doesn't know how to tamp down on his sarcasm.

[RescueMom]

49 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

I hated Tyson in Tocantins, was indifferent to him in HvV, and loved him in BvW, and on rewatching all of those seasons, I realized that he hadn't changed at all, just my reaction to him. I think what it is is that he's got a  sarcastic sense of humor and he doesn't modulate it at all or take into consideration who he's aiming it at. So when Tocantins Sierra -- one of the most fragile players ever -- is the target, he looks like a giant asshole. But when it's Gervase or Boston Rob or Parvati or anyone else who lets that kind of thing roll right off them, then he seems like an okay guy who jokingly says mean, but accurate, things. There are always little clues that he's a good person at heart (talking Coach off the ledge when he was crying because no one thinks he's really a dragonslayer, reaching back and silently holding Tina's ankle at the BvW reunion while she talked about her son who'd died only a few weeks earlier in an accident), but most of the time he can't or doesn't know how to tamp down on his sarcasm.

Interesting. I have not done a Tocantins rewatch so maybe it is just me remembering him as being different back then. I think you make a good point about the target's reaction to the same Tysonian behavior. And maybe my view of him changed rather than his behavior, because I have liked him more every time he has played - probably at least partly due to us being shown more of those moments of kindness. Him asking Rachel "did you have fun" as she was leaving was another of them.

I remember Stephen Fishbach wrote in his People blog (pretty sure the one recapping Tyson's win) that around camp Tyson is all big hugs and long conversations or something like that. We get glimpses of that in the show. 

[ProfCrash]

11 hours ago, simplyme said:

I've never been able to like Tyson. I often find things he says to be really funny, but starting back in Tocantins I just had a negative reaction to the way he talked about a couple of the other cast members in his talking heads. (Sierra was one. I don't remember details, I just remember that I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach over a few things he said about her. Then again, I got that quite a bit in Tocantins from various players... Not my fave season.)

I have never been a Tyson fan. He is swarmy and too full of himself. There is self confidence and then there are people like Tyson. He is full of himself. That is what bit him, and his alliance, in the ass in HvV.

He has good instincts and is a good player but his personality is off putting to me.

And it is not the sarcastic humor. It is the talking heads were he is arrogant and just the way he carries himself.

I will take Tyson over Coach or Phillip or Russell or Tony any day of the week and twice on Sunday but he is not a player that I particularly enjoy.

[ByaNose]

18 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

I have never been a Tyson fan. He is swarmy and too full of himself. There is self confidence and then there are people like Tyson. He is full of himself. That is what bit him, and his alliance, in the ass in HvV.

He has good instincts and is a good player but his personality is off putting to me.

And it is not the sarcastic humor. It is the talking heads were he is arrogant and just the way he carries himself.

I will take Tyson over Coach or Phillip or Russell or Tony any day of the week and twice on Sunday but he is not a player that I particularly enjoy.

I co-sign this. There are worst contestants than him but I never really enjoyed watching him. 

[TVFan1]

2 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I co-sign this. There are worst contestants than him but I never really enjoyed watching him. 

I'm right there with you. I can't stand Tyson either.

[BK1978]

On 1/16/2020 at 3:16 PM, ByaNose said:

I think I'm one of the few who never liked Tyson. I'm one of those people who doesn't get his "humor". Everyone says how funny he is. I've never seen it. I'm 55 so maybe I'm not his demographic. LOL!!!

No you are not the only one.  I am a year older than him and I could not/cannot stand the guy.

On 1/17/2020 at 4:18 AM, simplyme said:

I've never been able to like Tyson. I often find things he says to be really funny, but starting back in Tocantins I just had a negative reaction to the way he talked about a couple of the other cast members in his talking heads. (Sierra was one. I don't remember details, I just remember that I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach over a few things he said about her. Then again, I got that quite a bit in Tocantins from various players... Not my fave season.)

To me it was the way he treated Sierra that made me dislike him initially and I have never liked him since.  Now he could very well be a nice guy in real life and he might just be playing up the asshole for television.  I don't know there is something about him I just do not like.

I doubt there are many video game fans on here, but if you get the reference maybe you will agree with me.  For some reason Tyson reminds me of Micah Bell from Red Dead Redemption 2.

[UniqueHandle]

Tyson is my favorite. He is a game player. He acts snarky, egotistical and smug but I don't think that is who he is off the island. 

[Hera]

On 1/31/2020 at 8:08 PM, UniqueHandle said:

He acts snarky, egotistical and smug but I don't think that is who he is off the island.

I totally believe that Tyson's playing a character and doesn't mean most of the things he says. At the same time—at least initially—we as the audience didn't have enough information to know that. Sarcasm and irony only work if your audience already knows enough about you to know that you don't mean what you're saying. I think the reason why I've disliked Tyson less on each of his outings, is because getting to see more footage of him gives more information about who he is and what he does and doesn't mean.

On 1/17/2020 at 12:03 PM, fishcakes said:

I think what it is is that he's got a  sarcastic sense of humor and he doesn't modulate it at all or take into consideration who he's aiming it at. So when Tocantins Sierra -- one of the most fragile players ever -- is the target, he looks like a giant asshole. But when it's Gervase or Boston Rob or Parvati or anyone else who lets that kind of thing roll right off them, then he seems like an okay guy who jokingly says mean, but accurate, things.

There's this, too. Tyson is just as likely to use his humor to punch down as he is to use it to punch up. The latter is usually fun (or at least not uncomfortable) to watch, while the former makes him look like a bully. In Tocantins, Sierra was at the bottom of her tribe, and he seemed to revel in being dick to her, and it wasn't pleasant to watch. In Blood vs. Water, he pointed to the jury section and told Katie Collins, "That's your seat over there," after she drew the white rock and had to leave the game. It was mean and unnecessary gloating. But on the other hand, Katie vote for him to win the game (after calling him out on that incident at Final Tribal Council), so clearly he had built some kind of rapport with her that wasn't totally negated by that one thing. He also seemed genuinely concerend about his girlfriend and her experience of the game.

[marys1000]

So Tyson only works 3 or 4 months a year?  I guess he means doing Survivor gigs.  So since he won he hasn't worked a regular job.  I didn't realize it was that lucrative. 

[Artsda]

I found that interesting too, he sounded like he is stay at home dad and Survivor gave him not having to work 9-5.

[MrsR]

Tyson owns a bike shop.

[Jextella]

I think I only saw a few episodes of Tyson's season - or maybe I just don't remember what I saw.

I do like what I see of him now.  He seems like a good guy at the core, and I think he is funny.

 

 

[Jobiska]

I agree he can be kind of mean or come across as it, but I did always get and enjoy his sense of humor, so it really tempered my perception of him.  And I thought the "daisy chain" idea and conversation were sweet!

[AncientNewbie]

Tyson has grown on me over the years, with more exposure to his comments showing he's usually playing the arrogant dick part. Usually.

I am also really jealous that he strung a few reality tv seasons into whatever investments and savings needed to be a FT dad to his girls. I saw some people getting mad about his "this is what daddy does" last night, but kudos for him turning this into a way to lead the life he wants.