Try Guys - who are they?

[af1212]

Read this article on npr - www.npr.org/2022/09/28/1125519915/try-guys-ned-fulmer

I am admittedly not the most on top of popular culture but I have never heard of these guys in my life.

Their apology video is … something else. They appear to think people’s lives will be changed by their announcement. And they seem extremely affected by their coworkers affair.

Have I been living under a rock? Do people know who these guys are? Or do they have a way inflated sense of themselves?

[pixy0stix]

I am fully invested in them and have followed them since their buzzfeed days. The apology video probably seems weird if you know nothing about them. In a way, it's a family cutting out a family member (members really since the female producer also came with them from BuzzFeed). Even their significant others are part of their productions with the "wives" having a podcast and own spinoff content.

[Velar Fricative]

I had no idea who they were before the scandal and it definitely feels like I have been living under a rock considering the story still has so much staying power in the media.

[af1212]

Oct 9, 2022 16:32:03 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I had no idea who they were before the scandal and it definitely feels like I have been living under a rock considering the story still has so much staying power in the media.

Yes! I mean for a popular culture piece to make it to npr it’s usually a pretty big deal.

[af1212]

I also feels like a mis-use of the word trauma. But again idk who these people are.

[af1212]

Oct 9, 2022 16:29:43 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I am fully invested in them and have followed them since their buzzfeed days. The apology video probably seems weird if you know nothing about them. In a way, it's a family cutting out a family member (members really since the female producer also came with them from BuzzFeed). Even their significant others are part of their productions with the "wives" having a podcast and own spinoff content.

Thank you for explaining. So as a fan, do you feel as affected by this as they are describing their fans are?

[pixy0stix]

Lol at the snl skit!

But really, I think the news is reacting because they handled it completely appropriately, by firing everyone and with transparency about what is going to happen with the channel, and people/news doesn't know how to react. So they keep trying to make a story out of it.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 9, 2022 16:39:47 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Oct 9, 2022 16:29:43 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I am fully invested in them and have followed them since their buzzfeed days. The apology video probably seems weird if you know nothing about them. In a way, it's a family cutting out a family member (members really since the female producer also came with them from BuzzFeed). Even their significant others are part of their productions with the "wives" having a podcast and own spinoff content.

Thank you for explaining. So as a fan, do you feel as affected by this as they are describing their fans are?

I haven't seen anything from them about how they think their fans are handling it. BUT, knowing YouTube fan bases, I bet there are some that feel betrayed, etc. YouTube watchers by and large feel more involved with the lives of content creators.

[pixy0stix]

To add, I was shocked that Ned cheated. His entire persona is how dedicated he is to his wife.

[Velar Fricative]

Oct 9, 2022 16:43:51 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Oct 9, 2022 16:39:47 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Thank you for explaining. So as a fan, do you feel as affected by this as they are describing their fans are?

I haven't seen anything from them about how they think their fans are handling it. BUT, knowing YouTube fan bases, I bet there are some that feel betrayed, etc. YouTube watchers by and large feel more involved with the lives of content creators.

This explains a lot. I couldn’t believe just how many people on Twitter were skewering the SNL skit like they were being personally made fun of, but what you wrote does explain that.

[AJL]

I've enjoyed the Try Guys for a long time. I'm 100% a Eugene fan. I'm luke warm on the other guys. Re: the cheating scandal, I get why this was so hard on the group. They were very tight knit and incredibly invested in each other's personal lives. 

I honestly don't care about strangers who cheat on their partners. I mean, what do I care? I know Ned had a very Husband-faithful-dad persona and a lot of people who are fans feel like he cheated on them too, so I get why the guys had to take dramatic PR action. 

The person he cheated with is Alex Herring who was engaged to her partner and had been with him for 11 years. Both of them imploded their relationship but also the working relationships within their company. It's pretty damaging, so I get why Eugene, Keith, and Zach want to cut off ties.

[jlt19]

That SNL skit is hilarious, and how I felt watching the real video.

I get they’re public figures and he created the persona of a great family guy (which may actually have played a part in the affair-not being able to BE that actual perfect person), but the video was a bit over the top dramatic. They are literally talking about curing him out of every picture they’ve ever been in together, as if THEY were the ones wronged.

As someone who has been cheated on, if this just came to the wife’s attention less than 2 months ago, she has NO idea what direction she wants her life to go, but they just basically forced her hand. They also took away her kids payday, and any support system that the guy could have used.

I’m sure she was consulted before all of this, but again, she’s in the burn it down stage and it hasn’t been very long.

[aprilsails]

I have watched them on and off for years. Ned talks about his wife and kids in almost every episode. It’s a key (if not the only) part of his persona. They wrote a date night cookbook together so her professional success (as the cookbook writer) is also tied up in their relationship in a big way.

I think they made the right choice in removing him, however I can also imagine that was an incredibly difficult choice. You have a profitable brand based on the four working together for 10+ years. It would perhaps be easier financially to gloss over any impropriety and keep going. I almost think it’s getting so much attention because they made the morally right choice and not the financially right choice.

[konapoppy]

Oct 9, 2022 20:06:29 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

They also took away her kids payday, and any support system that the guy could have used.

I’m sure she was consulted before all of this, but again, she’s in the burn it down stage and it hasn’t been very long.

He had an affair with an employee that he had power over. They didn’t take away “her kids’ payday”. He did that with his actions.

[jlt19]

Oct 9, 2022 20:26:48 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Oct 9, 2022 20:06:29 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

They also took away her kids payday, and any support system that the guy could have used.

I’m sure she was consulted before all of this, but again, she’s in the burn it down stage and it hasn’t been very long.

He had an affair with an employee that he had power over. They didn’t take away “her kids’ payday”. He did that with his actions.

That I was not aware of. I thought it said she was a producer of their show.

I know the situation is very different from mine on that they all worked together, but I would have been even more upset if my husband lost his job on top of the hurt he caused me. That would have put me and the kids in an even worse position whether we stayed together or not. And yes, still all the husbands fault, but I’d have felt like I was also being punished for his indiscretions.

I just hope they are doing right by her, is what I’m getting at.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 9, 2022 20:35:14 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

Oct 9, 2022 20:26:48 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

He had an affair with an employee that he had power over. They didn’t take away “her kids’ payday”. He did that with his actions.

That I was not aware of. I thought it said she was a producer of their show.

I know the situation is very different from mine on that they all worked together, but I would have been even more upset if my husband lost his job on top of the hurt he caused me. That would have put me and the kids in an even worse position whether we stayed together or not. And yes, still all the husbands fault, but I’d have felt like I was also being punished for his indiscretions.

I just hope they are doing right by her, is what I’m getting at.

Yes. You would have been impacted by his indiscretions. His actions have consequences that go beyond him.

[wesleycrusher]

Yes, people here are not realizing that Ned cheated with an employee under him. I wasnt a fan of the SNL sketch...it was poking fun at the 3 Try guys who were the ones in the right and nothing about Ned who cheated with a person he had power over in the company. Try Guys handled the situation right to protect their company and brand.

But am not surprised at SNL skipping over Ned's behavuor- I think we've had discussions here on SNL sweeping employees bad behaviors under the rug- it wasnt too long ago that article was released about a cast member having a sexual relationship with a minor that other cast members knew about and did nothing.

[glinda]

The Try Guys founded and own their company, so even a producer is under them as far as the power dynamic goes. She was an associate producer that they brought with them from BuzzFeed.

It really wasn’t about the cheating itself, it was who he was cheating with. And it was immediately damaging to the brand when it came out—they had a food network show that was moved from the 9 pm spot to the mid-morning spot as soon as the news broke.

My guess is the reason they are removing him from things is not just because they know fans won’t want to watch videos but because they’d have to pay him for the videos he is in. So better to just remove him.

[glinda]

Also, the remaining members didn’t force anyone’s hand. The fiancé of the woman Ned cheated with forced everyone’s hand by leaking the texts and videos where Ned and Alex were making out in public in NYC. They even said they most likely would’ve handled the departure differently but they didn’t have a choice once it started going viral.

[sent]

Oct 10, 2022 7:23:17 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

Yes, people here are not realizing that Ned cheated with an employee under him. I wasnt a fan of the SNL sketch...it was poking fun at the 3 Try guys who were the ones in the right and nothing about Ned who cheated with a person he had power over in the company. Try Guys handled the situation right to protect their company and brand.

But am not surprised at SNL skipping over Ned's behavuor- I think we've had discussions here on SNL sweeping employees bad behaviors under the rug- it wasnt too long ago that article was released about a cast member having a sexual relationship with a minor that other cast members knew about and did nothing.

I went and watched the skit after I saw this thread. I’ve never heard of these people but I like SNL. The comments said that Ned has a friend that writes for SNL hence the skit was written with that slant.

[AJL]

Alex Herring was an associate producer for the Try Guys and she had her own segment, too. She's a subordinate, but it's not like she was an intern to the president of the United States. There is some information (I'm not going hunting for it now) that says Ariel, Ned's wife, knew about the incident well before the information was leaked to the public. I don't believe that the Try Guys didn't know about it before it was leaked. I think they had a PR nightmare to handle and this is how it's had to play out.

What I want to know is if Ned and Alex had a long standing affair or if the behavior in question was making out for the duration of whatever concert the were at and that was it. The difference matters to me, that's why I'm asking.

[konapoppy]

Oct 10, 2022 8:14:21 GMT -5 AJL said:

What I want to know is if Ned and Alex had a long standing affair or if the behavior in question was making out for the duration of whatever concert the were at and that was it. The difference matters to me, that's why I'm asking.

They did a several week investigation with HR and Legal and termination was the result. He admitted to having an extramarital affair. So no offense, but the difference to you is inconsequential.

Many people have shared on TikTok and other platforms that they were spotted earlier, and that Ned was known for bad behavior overall. Not verified, but this has been all over social media for nearly a month. You can find info from former buzzfeed employees, etc. The overwhelming sentiment is that Ned is very much in the wrong.

[krystee]

AJL in his own statement, he said he had a consensual relationship, which implies much more than one night.

[mrsd2006]

Add me to the list of people who had never heard of these people before this happened.

[tacokick]

Oct 10, 2022 8:14:21 GMT -5 AJL said:

Alex Herring was an associate producer for the Try Guys and she had her own segment, too. She's a subordinate, but it's not like she was an intern to the president of the United States. There is some information (I'm not going hunting for it now) that says Ariel, Ned's wife, knew about the incident well before the information was leaked to the public. I don't believe that the Try Guys didn't know about it before it was leaked. I think they had a PR nightmare to handle and this is how it's had to play out.

What I want to know is if Ned and Alex had a long standing affair or if the behavior in question was making out for the duration of whatever concert the were at and that was it. The difference matters to me, that's why I'm asking.

No, she wasn’t an intern but her livelihood still depended on Ned who was a creator and executive producer. That is a huge power imbalance even if she went into it 100% willingly. If they wanted to have a relationship, one of them needed to leave the show. I’m sure they would have easily found other work.

Obviously I don’t know the ins and outs of the relationship but it does seem like it was on going (I’ve seen pictures of them on social media from months ago where they are holding hands and going out for meals alone) and clearly it has disrupted the business. In press releases they refer to as a “relationship” and that the affair had been “going on for sometime”. I don’t think anyone would call making out at a concert a relationship. Especially if they could downplay it as a “drunken mistake” and hope it would blow over.


Timeline—

www.newsweek.com/try-guys-ned-fulmer-cheating-scandal-timeline-new-video-1748800?amp=1


I think in 2022 they would have to deal with it like this. If she or he had left the show and then they went public with a relationship then it might have blown over. They could have played the “We fell in love! No one could have predicted it!” card* and hoped for the best. But sleeping with your employee while talking about your wife constantly is not great and people are aware of power dynamics now in the way that was ignored years ago.

* but if I had to completely guess, neither one wanted anyone to find out about this relationship and they didn’t have plans to leave their partners so they didn’t consider this route. Or at least not yet.

[konapoppy]

Oct 9, 2022 16:41:06 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Lol at the snl skit!

But really, I think the news is reacting because they handled it completely appropriately, by firing everyone and with transparency about what is going to happen with the channel, and people/news doesn't know how to react. So they keep trying to make a story out of it.

There is more resistance in this thread than what I have seen in a month straight of non-stop social posts.

The right thing was done here. It’s a miracle. Let’s all appreciate it.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 10, 2022 8:39:31 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Oct 10, 2022 8:14:21 GMT -5 AJL said:

Many people have shared on TikTok and other platforms that they were spotted earlier, and that Ned was known for bad behavior overall. Not verified, but this has been all over social media for nearly a month. You can find info from former buzzfeed employees, etc. The overwhelming sentiment is that Ned is very much in the wrong.

Yeah, I'm finding this as well. Which explains why some people were hesitant to collab, or looked really uncomfortable with, skits with Ned in them. Devin Lyttle (in the article) would happily participate in anything with Eugene in it, but would not interact with Ned.


One other thing about youtube, is that they push out so much content that you do feel like you know them vs a scripted show that comes out once a week.

[AJL]

Oct 10, 2022 8:39:31 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Oct 10, 2022 8:14:21 GMT -5 AJL said:

What I want to know is if Ned and Alex had a long standing affair or if the behavior in question was making out for the duration of whatever concert the were at and that was it. The difference matters to me, that's why I'm asking.

They did a several week investigation with HR and Legal and termination was the result. He admitted to having an extramarital affair. So no offense, but the difference to you is inconsequential.

Many people have shared on TikTok and other platforms that they were spotted earlier, and that Ned was known for bad behavior overall. Not verified, but this has been all over social media for nearly a month. You can find info from former buzzfeed employees, etc. The overwhelming sentiment is that Ned is very much in the wrong.

Dude. The entire issue is inconsequential to me as it should be to pretty much everyone who isn't Ned or Arial Fulmer, Alex Herring, her fiance, or the remaining Try Guys. So no offense, but piss off. 

[konapoppy]

Oct 10, 2022 9:38:28 GMT -5 AJL said:

Oct 10, 2022 8:39:31 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

They did a several week investigation with HR and Legal and termination was the result. He admitted to having an extramarital affair. So no offense, but the difference to you is inconsequential.

Many people have shared on TikTok and other platforms that they were spotted earlier, and that Ned was known for bad behavior overall. Not verified, but this has been all over social media for nearly a month. You can find info from former buzzfeed employees, etc. The overwhelming sentiment is that Ned is very much in the wrong.

Dude. The entire issue is inconsequential to me as it should be to pretty much everyone who isn't Ned or Arial Fulmer, Alex Herring, her fiance, or the remaining Try Guys. So no offense, but piss off. 

These situations come up every day in areas of power imbalance. So yeah, it stings when people say it makes a difference to them who they side with based on “how intense” the affair was. But sure, piss off I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

[wawa]

So, the people who have never heard of the try guys - do you never watch the random videos your facebook or insta feed tries to show you? Do you watch stuff on youtube and go down the "suggested video" rabbit hole? I'm curious if it's just that you don't consume media of this sort (medium length online streaming video) or if your algorithms just never led you this direction?

Pretty sure I started out seeing LadyLike videos because they'd pop up on my facebook feed because...I dunno...my cookies suggest I'm into goofy sarcastic girl shit? and then I went and found them on youtube, and then youtube suggested the TryGuys based on that viewing history. And that was aaaaaages ago. When they were still part of buzzfeed I think...

I love the Try Guys. Obviously Eugene is the best. Closely followed by Keith for me. I totally get why Ned fans feel like, shocked and betrayed. I'd like to pretend I was always skeptical of him, and that's why I wasn't a fan, but I wasn't. I just thought he was boring, but actually for real very into his wife and family. Also the whole vibe of the try guys has over time become come to include great anti-toxic-masculinity thing where they're willing to look stupid and do non-manly things without it being that awful homophobic 90's sitcom gag approach. So...I'm not personally betrayed, but as a fan it is surprising.

Despite that, I am sort of amused by the tone of the announcements and videos has been that this is all very.serious.business, but it's easy enough to see where they're coming from when they have a dedicated fanbase that considers themselves invested in their real personal lives (because their personal lives are part of their content) and for them, this IS really serious business. In that it is in fact their literal actual serious business and livelihoods, friendships and families. Good for them for taking a stand, sucks it had to be this public and messy, especially for Ariel.