The Try Guys are one of the most successful content creators on YouTube today and have been for over 8 years. They appeal to all age demographics and their videos consist of them doing wild stunts, such as high diving or eating the entire menu at a restaurant. For the past decade, the four members of the group have stayed out of the public eye, until this past labor day. A shocking controversy has diminished the Try Guys’ pristine reputation and leaves fans wondering how they will recover from this scandal.
Ned Fulmer, better known as the “Wife Guy,” was recently spotted by fans engaging in public romantic behavior with another employee of the Try Guys Corporation, one who was both not his wife or in an equal power position as him. Fulmer was quick to Instagram stating, “Family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship. I'm sorry for any pain that my actions may have caused to the guys and the fans but most of all to Ariel.” He ends his admission of guilt by promising to focus more on his family. Ariel herself is a significant member of the Try Guys universe as one of the counterparts of the Try Wives, appearing on everything from their podcast and YouTube videos. The only statement from Ariel at this time is just a request that fans respect her privacy in these troubling times.
Next comes the elephant in the room: What will happen to the Try Guys?
The group acted quickly and quietly removed him from anything involving Try Guys. This devastating news triggered a three-week process involving employment lawyers, corporate lawyers, human resources, and publicity managers. During that time, Fulmer was edited out of videos and removed from all workplace activities. After the investigation concluded, Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, and Keith Habersberger, the other three Try Guys members, signed a written consent as the members of Second Try LLC to approve the removal of Fulmer as a manager and employee on September 16. Fulmer was also cut from the merch campaign and episodes of their Food Network television show, No Recipe Road Trip with the Try Guys.
As of October 3rd, the remaining Guys posted a short video to YouTube addressing the rumors about what they have done and will do about the Fulmer fiasco. In that video, Yang delivers hard-hitting messages directed towards both his audience and even Ned himself, in one such statement he said that “We were obviously incredibly shocked and deeply hurt by all of this. This is someone who we’d built a brand and a company with for eight years.” They closed their concise message with a reminder that the internet has a tendency to be “a lot harsher towards women than men” and made a request for kindness and privacy for the families and people involved in the situation. Within the video, one can see the varying emotions Yang, Kornfeld, and Habersberger feel towards the situation, displaying everything from sadness and disappointment to anger and disgust. The Try Guys are currently working on editing their remaining future projects, many others have been discarded completely because of Fulmer’s involvement, but ask for patience since they are “figuring things out one day at a time.”