If you’ve visited the internet recently, you might have seen the overwhelming flood of Tweets, YouTube videos, and Reddit posts about Ned Fulmer of the Try Guys cheating on his wife. -- Callie Frederick, 8th Grade
Mr. Fulmer, the cheater in question, has been married to Ariel Fulmer for 10 years, and they have two children together. Alexandria “Alex” Herring, whom Mr. Fulmer cheated with, was engaged to her partner of 10 years.
Many have had very strong reactions to this news, but, with how widespread it has become, others have been left wondering what, exactly, a “Try Guy” is. Everything past this point won’t make much sense if you are one of the latter, so here’s a simple explanation: The Try Guys have been a mainstay of YouTube, and an absolute mill of content, since the Buzzfeed era of the 2010s. The group consists of Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger, and, formerly, Ned Fulmer. Their first video was posted in 2014 under Buzzfeed, and they have gone on to separate from Buzzfeed, start their own company, and produce an obscene amount of videos, an original TV show, multiple podcasts, and much more.
Many have had very strong reactions to this news, but, with how widespread it has become, others have been left wondering what, exactly, a “Try Guy” is. Everything past this point won’t make much sense if you are one of the latter, so here’s a simple explanation: The Try Guys have been a mainstay of YouTube, and an absolute mill of content, since the Buzzfeed era of the 2010s. The group consists of Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger, and, formerly, Ned Fulmer. Their first video was posted in 2014 under Buzzfeed, and they have gone on to separate from Buzzfeed, start their own company, and produce an obscene amount of videos, an original TV show, multiple podcasts, and much more.
The Try Guys channel intro
Ned's talking figurine According to “what happened.,” the YouTube video in which Lee Yang, Kornfeld, and Habersberger explain the events surrounding Fulmer’s withdrawal from the company, multiple fans alerted the Try Guys that they had seen Mr. Fulmer engaging in public romantic behavior with Herring, an employee of 2nd Try LLC (the Try Guys’ company). The video stated that 2nd Try took immediate action in investigating and involving Human Resources in the situation, and suspended Fulmer from all workplace activities.
No matter how well the company itself handled the situation, Fulmer certainly set himself up for it. Mr. Fulmer was known as the “wife guy,” and he, or at least his online “character,” was absolutely obsessed with his wife and kids—to the point that on the Try Guys’ merch website, there’s an electronic figurine of Fulmer that says “my wife” in his voice. This is why many fans are so upset about Ned’s behavior. He created and branded a loving, caring persona enamored with his family, and continued to completely shatter it by cheating on his wife. “I mean, he brought it all on himself,” said Literary Arts Chair Jordan Karnes (they/them), who has been following the Try Guys drama. “He really did. He created a brand around this person, his partner, and then he publicly cheated on her.”
While Fulmer’s brand complicates things, the fact that Herring is, indeed, Mr. Fulmer's employee makes their relationship far more complicated. As with any workplace relationship—especially one like theirs, between an employee and a company executive—there’s a power imbalance that means the relationship can never truly be consensual. Cheating being involved, and HR not being involved, simply makes this situation incredibly convoluted and incredibly wrong. Karnes, like many internet citizens, strongly agrees. “I think the only way to pursue a relationship with someone in the workplace is to be really transparent and out in the open about it, and like, have HR involved,” said Karnes. “Because otherwise you get into really tricky territory of intimidation, you know? Like, that’s her boss. You just have to be really careful, and the fact that it was an affair is a no-no.”
A still from "what happened."
However, no matter how wrong Fulmer and Herring’s relationship was and is, it’s always important to take information with a grain of salt, and leave room for a tiny bit of compassion. When the internet gets its hands on a scandal like this, it tends to blow things out of proportion and ends up leaving more people casualties of cancel culture. Many followers of this drama, however, agree that it’s possible for Mr. Fulmer and Herring to take accountability for their actions, grow, and truly apologize. “I feel like cancel culture has been created into this thing that has no nuance,” said Karnes. “I think that people should be held accountable for what they do, but you can’t really cancel people, like, people don’t disappear. I’m all about people having the opportunity to grow and learn and acknowledge and take accountability for their mistakes, and I think that’s the part that the media and the public just doesn’t leave room for in the conversation.”
