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From the moment that Survivor began airing in the year 2000, Jeff Probst has hosted every episode of the reality show ever. That means that Jeff has been there for every medical evacuation, been a major part of every great season, announced every winner ever, and gotten to know the show’s best players. As a result, new fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first tend to know Jeff better than any Survivor player.
Given Jeff’s role on the show, even former winners that fans don’t like tend to show the host a lot of respect. That is especially funny since Jeff once revealed there were some winners he didn’t want to prevail. However, the always hilarious former winner Tyson Apostol was fearless enough to brilliantly call Jeff out in public in 2025.
Survivor Winner Tyson Apostol Perfectly Called Jeff Probst Out On Social Media
When the first season of Survivor premiered, Jeff Probst only served on the show as a host. However, as a result of Jeff’s obviously tireless passion for Survivor, he wound up taking more and more control over the show.
While Jeff now talks about Survivor as a group effort, the common perception is that he controls the show. With that in mind, it would only make sense for most Survivor personalities to want to stay on Jeff Probst’s good side.
However, there are still some people in the Survivor ecosystem who are willing to criticize Jeff. One example of that is the fact that Tyson Apostol perfectly called out Jeff for a great reason on social media.
On March 4th, 2025, Tyson posted something on X/Twitter that could have easily flown under the radar.
Best Reality TV Hosts, According to Collider |
||
---|---|---|
Reality Show |
Host |
Rank |
Big Brother |
Julie Chen Moonves |
#10 |
America’s Got Talent & The Masked Singer |
Nick Cannon |
#9 |
America’s Got Talent |
Terry Crews |
#8 |
Temptation Island |
Mark L. Walberg |
#7 |
Nailed It! |
Nicole Byer |
#6 |
The Amazing Race & Tough as Nails |
Phil Keoghan |
#5 |
American Idol |
Ryan Seacrest |
#4 |
RuPaul’s Drag Race |
RuPaul |
#3 |
The Traitors |
Alan Cumming |
#2 |
Survivor |
Jeff Probst |
#1 |
While the post didn’t mention the Survivor host by name, fans who’d been paying attention knew that Tyson was calling Jeff out. In his post, Tyson pointed out how messed up it would be for an ex-boss to want their former employees to go without a job.
Imagine a former boss, that let you go, prefer you stay unemployed than take another job ever again
Looking at Tyson’s post in the greater context of news about Jeff that was going around at the time revealed what the former Survivor winner was referring to.
Over the last several years, several former Survivor players have been popping up on other reality shows. For most Survivor fans, seeing more of the show’s legendary players was nothing but a good thing. For example, most fans were overjoyed when Cirie Fields went on to compete on Big Brother and The Traitors.
After long being known as Survivor’s best player who never won, Cirie Fields finally prevailed on a reality show. After competing in The Traitors’ first season and winning alone, Cirie earned herself a $250,000 prize.
The Traitors has also featured Stephenie LaGrossa, Parvati Shallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine, “Boston” Rob Mariano, Jeremy Collins, Tony Vlachos, and Carolyn Wiger. On top of that “Boston” Rob and Parvati also competed on Deal or No Deal Island. Also, the list of former Survivor players who went on to compete in The Challenge is too long to include here. Former Survivor players have also appeared on other reality shows, like House of Villains.
As Tyson’s post refers to, it seems like Jeff isn’t exactly overjoyed that so many former Survivor players have moved on to other reality shows.
How Successful Was Tyson Apostol During Survivor? |
|
---|---|
Placement |
Season |
8th Voted Out/2nd Jury Member/Day 27/8th Place |
Survivor: Tocantins |
6th Voted Out/Day 15/15th Place |
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains |
Sole Survivor |
Survivor: Blood vs. Water |
5th Voted Out/1st Returnee/12th Voted Out/11th Place |
Survivor: Winners at War |
In fact, while Jeff has publicly stated that players who go on other shows can come back to Survivor, he notably seems annoyed.
As a February 2025 video on the official Survivor YouTube channel shows, Jeff made public comments about other shows casting former Survivor players.
‘We find an incredible human and then they’re on an incredible season of Survivor. And the next thing you know, these other shows are going, ‘Hey, why don’t you come do our show?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course you would. That’s a great casting philosophy. Just wait for us.’ So I do get a little territorial. I’m not going to lie because it’s vicious. It’s tough, man. You got to keep your show good. You got to be ahead of everybody else.”
At that point, Jeff stated that he was working on accepting that he couldn’t control what other shows former Survivor players go on. “I really am working on it that we’re not in charge of anybody’s destiny and just because somebody goes and plays The Traitors doesn’t mean they can’t come back and play. Survivor. And I’m being completely honest that it has bothered me.”
Tyson Apostol Claimed Former Survivor Players Who Go On Other Shows Have Been Warned
After Tyson Apostol called Jeff Probst out on X/Twitter on March 4th, 2025, many fans commented on his post. One of Tyson’s responses to one of those fans is even more newsworthy than his original post about Jeff.
One fan who responded to Tyson’s original post stated that they thought Jeff wasn’t being serious about being upset when Survivor players go on other shows. “Lol I can’t imagine he was actual serious about being bothered by that…right? I took it as just playfully saying he got jealous, but didn’t actually expect people not to do other shows. Or he really like that? Lmao”
Amazingly enough, however, on X/Twitter Tyson claimed he’d been told that former Survivor players had been warned about going on other shows.
I’ve heard, “If you go on that, you probably won’t get called for this” from people who matter… So?
Another fan commented on Tyson’s original post by asking if former Survivor players can’t get any other work. “Are the only jobs available reality competition shows?” In response, Tyson pointed out that going on other reality shows are opportunities for former Survivor players.
No but those are good opportunities. Would you suggest avoiding those?
No matter how anyone feels about Survivor players going on other shows, there is no doubt that Tyson’s posts were brave.
Survivor
- Release Date
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May 31, 2000
- Network
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CBS
- Showrunner
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Jeff Probst