Since Survivor has been airing for almost 25 years, new fans have to figure out which seasons to watch first. Those new fans of Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show will also have a lot to learn like who the first player to be medically evacuated was. On the bright side, new Survivor fans will get to watch many amazing seasons, several fantastic winners, and they will get to enjoy Survivor’s best players ever.

Many of Survivor’s aforementioned best players ever have been inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame. However, even though Tyson Apostol is smart enough to know why Russell Hantz could never win Survivor, he was never inducted. This article will look at why it is ridiculous that Tyson was never inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame.

Tyson Apostol Is A Great Enough Player To Be Inducted Into The Survivor Hall Of Fame

As of 2025, Tyson Apostol continues to do things that arguably qualify him to be inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame. A huge part of the online Survivor community, loads of the show’s most passionate fans continue to have a relationship of sorts with Tyson to this day.

Currently, the co-host of The Ringer’s podcast, “The Pod Has Spoken,” Tyson continues to influence how fans perceive Survivor. After all, Tyson’s expert and often hilarious analysis of each episode of Survivor teaches his passionate listeners how to think about what the players are, and aren’t, doing. Considering that Rob Cesternino’s “Rob Has A Podcast” podcast empire would have played a role in his induction into the Survivor Hall of Fame, Tyson’s current podcast also qualifies him.

Of course, Tyson’s podcast and the fact that he is followed by more than 63,000 people on X/Twitter as of March 2025 aren’t the only reasons he deserves induction. Instead, the biggest reason Tyson should be in the Survivor Hall of Fame is based on how great he was as a player.

The truth of the matter is that Tyson once made a move that is considered to be one of the worst in the show’s history. During Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Tyson’s decision to change his vote pretty much led to his exit.

Looking back on that moment may make some fans question how great Tyson was as a player. However, in December 2010, Tyson told People that he made that highly questionable move as a calculated risk because he believed it would make him be perceived differently in the game. Tyson was also fully capable of admitting that he had made a mistake.

“It was a risky move I was willing to take because if it worked, I would have looked like the most bada** dude ever to play. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have.”

More importantly, Tyson also told the outlet about the strategic reason why he believed that switching his vote made sense.

As Tyson explained to People, he’d told Russell Hantz, Parvati Shallow, and Danielle DiLorenzo that he was planning to split the vote.

As a result, he believed that he’d put Russell in a position that he had to use his idol or vote against Parvati to keep himself safe.

“Here’s what my thought process was: I told Russell, Danielle, Parvati that we were splitting the votes and there was nothing they could do. Russell had to vote Parvati or play the idol to save himself.”

More importantly, Tyson told People that he believed Parvati was a bigger threat than Russell so he was trying to get her out. “I could use Russell to get farther in the game and Parvati was a bigger threat. I was going to vote Russell but switched it thinking even if she switched her vote to Russell, she’d still get the majority.” Ultimately, Tyson explained that he never believed that Russell would play his idol for Parvati and put himself at risk. “I knew he had the idol but I never thought he’d play it for her. Who does that?”

Whether fans accept Tyson’s explanation or not, they should be able to ignore that incident and look at the rest of his Survivor career.

The Best Survivor Players Ever, According to Screen Rant

• Jeremy Collins
• Yul Kwon
• John Cochran
• Sarah Lacina
• Sandra Diaz-Twine
• Cirie Fields
• Ozzy Lusth
• Parvati Shallow
• “Boston” Rob Mariano
• Tony Vlachos
• Tyson Apostol
• Kenzie Petty
• Erika Casupanan
• Dee Valladares
• Maryanne Oketch

The first reason that Tyson is a Survivor Hall of Fame level player is how incredible his social skills are. The kind of player who can betray someone one minute and have them laughing the next, Tyson is one of the best social players in the show’s history.

Also deceptively great in challenges, Tyson doesn’t get enough credit for how much of a challenge beast he actually is. In fact, Tyson is so athletic that even after suffering an injury, he was still great during Survivor: Blood vs. Water’s challenges.

If wearing a sling isn’t enough to significantly hold someone back during challenges, then they are truly impressive.

Finally, aside from that one infamous mistake, Tyson is a wildly underrated strategic player.

One example of how smart Tyson is strategically applies to his aforementioned injury. Aware of how much of a threat he was during challenges, Tyson made the strategic decision to pretend his injury was more severe than it was. That one move proved that Tyson could make the strategic decision to give up the advantage at the moment for the long-term good.

As a result of Tyson’s strategic understanding, he was able to take control of Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Tyson should be a Survivor Hall of Famer based on how skilled he is in the game.

Tyson Apostol Should Be In The Survivor Hall Of Fame As One Of The Funniest Players Ever

Of the 20 players who were inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame, most of them were there due to being one of the best players ever. However, some inductees earned that accolade as a result of being incredibly memorable. Benjamin ‘Coach” Wade, Russell Hantz, Jon ‘Jonny Fairplay” Dalton, Rupert Boneham, Jerri Manthey, and Rudy Boesch were all inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame for their personalities. With that in mind, it is worth noting that Tyson Apostol’s personality also should have earned him an induction into the Survivor Hall of Fame.

Easily one of the funniest Survivor players ever, Tyson created several hilarious moments that every fan should know about. For example, Tyson interrupting Hayden Moss to correct him when he said, “It was to rustle feathers” and explain he should have said “ruffle” is one of the funniest tribal council moments ever. As can be seen on YouTube, even Jeff Probst laughed at Tyson’s remark in that moment.

Another incredible moment from his past, as can be seen in a Reddit post, came when Tyson made brutally hilarious comments about Sierra Reed. Tyson’s comments also included fascinating statements about his tribemate Brendan Synnott.

“I never liked Sierra ever. I have no clue why she’s out here other than to just give hope to stupid people around the world. And Brendan, he’s really the sneakiest bastard I have to worry about. We smile at each other. We hug. I’ve kissed him on the neck softly. He’s felt the my warm, steamy breath on the nape of his neck, even on the small of his back. But, you know, as the old adage goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Another Reddit video shows that Tyson even made his voting confessional truly remarkable. “I’m voting for you because you have a weird deformed finger from a horse bite. Gross.”

Based on Tyson having one of the most remarkable personalities in Survivor history, that also should have bought him an induction into the Survivor Hall of Fame.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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