Wicked Tuna’s Tyler McLaughlin and His “Lucky Banana” Girlfriend Are No More

Longtime Wicked Tuna fans may remember Savannah Tapley, Tyler McLaughlin’s former girlfriend. Savannah appeared in two regular episodes of the National Geographic Channel show and one “Best Of” installment, as well as one episode of the spinoff Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks, her IMDb filmography reveals.

A promo for a 2017 episode of Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks, for example, shows Savannah joining Tyler aboard the Pinwheel as a deckhand. “I’ve got my girlfriend on this trip,” Tyler says.

Soon, the couple are reeling in fish, even after nightfall. “It’s like one after another,” Savannah says. “Craziness.”

In that same promo, fans also hear Tyler’s pet name for Savannah: “If we land this, Savannah, you’re my lucky banana.”

Savannah’s Instagram page still has photos from her time with Tyler. In one Instagram pic from 2017, she relaxes with her feet up aboard the Pinwheel. “Not a bad fall day,” she wrote in the caption.

In another one, she and Tyler pose with a fish they caught in the Caribbean Sea. “First time catching fish in the Caribbean was unreal,” Savannah wrote. “Had an absolute blast.”

(In a blog post, Captain Yustas Fortuna of Big Marlin Charters in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, wrote that Savannah arranged that Caribbean fishing expedition as a surprise for Tyler. On the open water, Savannah pulled in a regular-size mahi and a 12-pound barracuda, while Tyler “found cold beer in the fridge and didn’t want to pull any fish,” Yustas wrote.)

And in an Instagram post from 2018, Savannah and Tyler pose for selfies while attending Boston Bruins and New England Patriots games. “Bruins and Pats week,” she captioned the pics.

In 2018, Savannah retweeted a tweet from a fan, who wrote, “It’s amazing to me how much we’ve seen Tyler grow since he’s been on the show. From that young rascal who would pick fights to a grown-up rascal who’s kind-hearted and would help anyone who asks. We’re big Pinwheel fans over here. Keep killin’ it, Tyler. #hardmerchandpinwheelFTW.”

Savannah also retweeted a Wicked Tuna GIF of Tyler calling her a “lucky banana.”

Rumor has it the couple got engaged at some point, but now both Tyler and Savannah have moved on…

By 2019, Savannah was posting pics with her now-husband, a man named Nicolas, whom she marriedlast year. And the couple welcomed a daughter, Natalie Jean, last summer.

As for Tyler, he’s in a relationship with a woman named Shannon Harris. “Happy birthday, Shay Shay,” he wrote on Instagram last year, captioning a slideshow of photos of Shannon. “I’m thankful, so thankful that I can’t even say anything but a ramble… Caring, loving, big-hearted best friend, always putting everyone else first, giving the best advice ever. (Foot rubs.) And straight-up the most genuinely amazing person I have ever met. 32, babe! It keeps getting better and better!”