On September 27th, while I was in my lab, I got a text from my older sister asking if I hadn’t heard about what happened with Ned Fulmer from the Try Guys. I quickly looked at him and saw that the most unexpected thing happened – Fulmer cheated on his wife Ariel. If you know anything about Fulmer, you know that he is very devoted to his wife. He brings it up in almost every video he’s in. Another aspect of this scandal is that he is cheating on her with one of his subordinates – producer Alex Herring. It should be noted that he was engaged. This caused some major heartbreak for the fandom, as Fulmer’s shtick was that he was completely devoted to his wife and that Ariel was an integral part of the Try Guys brand. Now, at most, it feels like part of it has been destroyed.
The scandal came to light when rumors of Fulmer’s cheating began to spread Twitter thread. Basically Fulmer and Herring were caught cheating in Vegas – they were there to shoot a video with the rest of the Try Guys. As seen in the thread, there were hints that something was up with the Try Guys changing things up.
Now you may be wondering why so many people care so much about this? As a longtime Try Guys fan, to do justice to this thread, I have to provide information. The Try Guys first appeared in 2014 when the four (Keith Habersberger, Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld and Eugene Lee Yang) were working at Buzzfeed in various roles. They teamed up on videos like “Guys try on ladies’ underwear for the first time” and then the four of them created the brand Try Guys. They eventually left Buzzfeed and started their own company in 2018 after realizing that Buzzfeed wasn’t the best choice as a creative outlet. During this time, Fulmer’s personality evolved into that of a loving husband who always thought of his wife. Some would say it was too extravagant, but most were used to it.
Legally forming a new company called Second Try LLC, they hired former Buzzfeed employees who wanted to leave for similar reasons, including Herring. Fulmer and the other three Try Guys were CEOs of this new company, so they were responsible for all other employees, including Herring. That’s one reason why the internet is going crazy over it, especially since Fulmer posted a Tweet claiming that he and Herring are having an affair. “A consensual workplace relationship”. There are theories that it wasn’t consensual due to the power dynamic between the two in the company, and it’s such a silly excuse on Fulmer’s part. Herring has not released a statement at this time, but we’ll find out how consensual it is.
Going back to Fulmer’s “wifey guy” persona, this should come as a lot of shock, in my opinion. Part of Fulmer’s Try Guys brand was Love, Kornfeld is Fun, Yang is Gay and Habersberger is Food. It’s based on their tour a few years ago and their book The Secret Power of F*cking Up. The Try Guys brand is all about being relatable and representing people that others look up to as role models, especially since Fulmer has the attitude that so many of us strive for. It was amazing to see Fulmer throw everything away by seducing Ariel. He didn’t deserve any of this, and it’s a good thing Fulmer left the Try Guys. Questions are mounting about Ariel and the rest of the second attempt. She’s on a podcast with significant others, and is also the female face of the brand. What will happen next?
The other part of this whole debacle is that people are so addicted to it that they sometimes exhibit parasocial attitudes from following your favorite content creators. We see this often with Twitch streamers. Some Twitch fans are so obsessed with their favorite streamers that they follow them into their lives when something happens. We are not directly in these people’s lives, except for our support of their content. This is getting a little too extreme and we should avoid crossing the line together.
Apparently, Ned and Ariel are still together, as seen with their wedding rings. We hope this gave you some insight into why people lose their pants. It’s interesting, but it’s slowly becoming a meme, which is bad considering the damage it’s done to the people it’s harming.