If you've looked at social media anytime lately, you have likely come upon the names "Ned," "Eugene," "Keith" or "Zach". These guys have, for almost a decade now, been known as The Try Guys.
Ned Fulmer has lately made headlines for, as the other three put it, "contrary" to the "values of the company we've built and those of everyone who works here."
But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's start from the beginning.
Who are the Try Guys?
The Try Guys is a group of four men who joined forces while working at Buzzfeed to create engaging and comedic videos during which they try new activities.
These four men were: Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Eugene Lee Yang and Zach Kornfeld. A short time after working as a team on Buzzfeed, the four of them decided to say goodbye to the publication where they got their claim to fame and opened their own company, 2nd Try, LLC.
Under that company, they created an entire brand, within which are a main YouTube channel, a highlights reel YouTube channel, several podcasts, merchandise and more. They have been incredibly successful, garnering almost eight million followers on YouTube and getting millions of views with each video.
Each of these men took on certain traits throughout the years they made videos together that uniquely characterized each one.
Keith was mostly known for being particularly loud and having a tendency towards musical talents (he is also part of a comedy band called Lewberger with his two friends). He also has a low tolerance for spicy food, which became apparent as oftentimes the Try Guys, and especially Keith, try new foods. It made it all the more ironic when Keith came out with his own line of hot sauces.
Next is Eugene, who is most well-known for being artistically gifted. After his viral video within which he told the story of coming out of the closet, it became apparent that Eugene was particularly talented at painting, sculpting, and eventually he became quite talented at eye makeup, too. He also kept at a comedic signature of adding large quantities of alcohol anytime they made a cooking or baking video.
Zach is, in short, a charming klutz. While he is not the most talented at cooking or artistic ventures, he is consistently self-deprecating and taking it easy. He is very open about his struggles, both with chronic pain and with baldness. Although he doesn't talk about it much, Zach is Jewish, leading to several impressive musical renditions of holiday songs alongside Keith.
Finally comes Ned. Although he is incredibly gifted at cooking and has demonstrated it repeatedly on their YouTube channel, as well as in his cookbook, he is mostly known for being extremely vocal about his admiration for his wife, as well as for his two sons. Fans have comically made videos in the past, mashing up clips of Ned saying "my wife, Ariel," showing just how much he mentions her.
All of the Try Guys, in fact, are in long-term relationships, and all of their partners have been on the channel several times in the past.
What went wrong with the Try Guys?
A few months ago, a few blurry and unclear photos emerged of Ned in public places such as events and restaurants with Try Guys producer Alexandria Herring. Although the photos were not incriminating per se, several fans did point out that it was strange that they were so physically close in such public spaces.
@brieeezybaby Tried to warn the wifey #for #fypシ #foryoupage #nedfulmer #nedfulmercheating #OverwatchMe #andGO #cheating #cheater #fypシ゚viral #tryguysned #tryguys ♬ Oh No - Kreepa
After a while, these faded away and altogether, they did not garner much public attention.
In mid-September, however, several Try Guys fans saw Ned and Alexandria canoodling in a public musical event. Several people took photographs and immediately sent them both to Ned's wife, Ariel, as well as to the Try Guys and to Alexandria's fiancé.
In a video titled "what happened," Eugene, Zach and Keith explain what transpired after they were made aware of the situation. They explained that the moment they understood the implications, they reached out to both Alexandria and to Ned. Ned confirmed that they had been having an affair for quite some time.
At that point, the other Try Guys decided to launch an in-depth internal investigation. They found that Ned's behavior was something they could not accept, and he has henceforth been removed from future videos, currently-existing campaigns and several projects that were in the works.
Ned was seen very publicly on a walk with Ariel outdoors. Many fans said that it was staged while others believed it was a genuine attempt at making things work.
What are Try Guys fans saying?
As a result of this highly public debacle, lots of speculations have been going around. These are some of the unconfirmed rumors:
1. This is not Ned's only offense
Several fans on both Reddit and Tiktok have pointed out that the video by the other guys was very vague in classifying the reason for Ned's removal from the company, and that this may suggest other less public offenses he may have committed to get himself fired. Is the other shoe going to drop? Only time will tell.
2. The other Try Guys knew about the affair
Many fans speculated that if Ned and Alexandria were having an affair, it must have been somewhat apparent in their workspace, and therefore the other Try Guys must have known about the affair.
Other fans comically countered with simple screenshots from the explanatory video the other guys came out with during which Eugene's face, in particular, can be seen looking extremely angry, thus providing sort-of evidence to counter that argument.
Also, quite plainly, they said the did not know about the affair in that same video.
3. There was a nonconsensual aspect to the affair
When the affair became public, Ned released a statement calling the affair "consensual." Several fans were unconvinced, saying that the power imbalance between him and Alexandria due to him being one of her direct employers creates a snag in the argument that the affair was consensual.
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Frankly, no one but those involved in the internal affairs of this entire debacle know what's going on and the rest is just speculation. That speculation, however, is quite funny.
Many fans have cropped old Try Guys video and presented out-of-context clips of Ned that, in the context of his romantic affair, come off funny or dark.
What do you think of this affair? Has it been blown out of proportion? Is more going to come to light? Comment down below.