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[Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Sunday night’s Survivor finale.]
Tyson Apostol was named the winner of Survivor: Blood vs. Water in a near sweep on Sunday night.
The 34-year-old former pro cyclist from Provo, Utah, got all but one of the jury votes (Monica Culpepper came in second with one vote, while Gervase Peterson finished third with none of the votes). And while he says he had a suspicion he might have earned enough votes to win, he wasn’t entirely sure it would go down.
PHOTOS: ‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ Players
“After the final tribal council, I had a lot of confidence about it, but leading up to that point I didn’t really know how the jury was going to react to me,” he told The Hollywood Reporter following the finale. “But with Gervase sticking his foot in his mouth over the last few tribal councils and Monica not connecting as well personally as I had with the jury, it became a little more obvious.
“Even though I had a good feeling about it, it was still pretty nerve-racking. In the back of my mind, I didn’t know how the jury really perceived me, and so yeah I had a good feeling but I think I was as nervous as anybody.”
In fact, he actually thought the vote would be a close one between himself and Gervase.
STORY: ‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ Finale: 7 Burning Questions Answered
“Even though he had a lot of outbursts, people really liked him,” Tyson said. “But they based their votes on game play, and it worked in my favor. Once I got Aras and Vytas [Baskauskas] out, I was in the driver’s seat the whole time, and to be in that position is really tough, and it’s really hard to get to the end.”
Tyson also doesn’t have firm plans on what he plans to do with his $1 million prize but does have some ideas.
“Um, that’s a good question,” he said when asked. “I’m going to travel a lot, work on my tan, take a vacation and hopefully not make too many poor decisions because I wouldn’t mind coming back to Survivor, but I don’t want to feel like I have to come back next year.”
In fact, Tyson quipped that he’d rather continue playing Survivor that have to face the “daily grind.”
PHOTOS: Jeff Probst’s ‘Survivor’ Picture Diary
“I have told Jeff [Probst] multiple times that I prefer playing this game to real life,” he quips. “You don’t have telephones to deal with, no bills. You’re just out there and the only thing you’re doing is goofing around all day long. To me, that’s much more preferable to the daily grind. Plus, another chance at a million dollars would be hard” to turn down.
As for other plans, Apostol — whose “loved one” was his girlfriend, Rachel Foulger — says marriage is “definitely” in their future.
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