The Try Guys built a loyal following by pulling stunts on the internet, like baking pies without knowing what they were doing or using devices that simulate the pain of going into labor. But over the last few days, fan pages have been buzzing with rumors that one of the guys was also trying infidelity.
Fans on the Try Guys subreddit began to notice that Ned Fulmer, one of four members of the YouTube group, was missing from recent videos and other content. Speculation swirled, and fans exchanged theories of what was happening, including that Fulmer was being hastily edited out of content. The rumors hit a boiling point and spilled onto other social media platforms when one user shared screenshots allegedly showing Fulmer kissing and dancing with someone who isn’t his wife at a nightclub in New York. The person in the photos was said to be Try Guys producer Alex Herring, who also appears in a video series called Food Babies.
Today, The Try Guys announced that after a “thorough internal review,” they didn’t see a way to keep working with Fulmer and that the group was parting ways with him. Fulmer followed up shortly after with his own baffling statement, in which he says family should have been his priority, but he lost focus and “had a consensual workplace relationship.” He goes on to apologize to fans, his wife, Ariel, and the other guys that tried things with him.
An unfortunate reality is that people cheat on their partners regularly, famous or not — social media had mercifully just gotten past the Adam Levine cheating ordeal from last week when The Try Guys rumors started spreading. But Fulmer isn’t just a man who is married; much of his public persona revolves around being a husband, and he’s sold products like a “date night” cookbook and T-shirts joking about how often he talks about his wife. Fulmer is what we call a wife guy, and he’s successfully built a fanbase and brand around this relationship specifically. (Ariel also posted a short statement to Instagram saying her family is the most important thing to her and Fulmer and asking for privacy.)
Though Fulmer doesn’t say who he had a “consensual workplace relationship” with, that’s quite a way to spin allegedly cheating on your wife with someone who works for you. The moral debate of infidelity aside, any relationship (romantic or not) between boss and employee is entangled in the power dynamics that a workplace produces — if your boss hits on you, you are standing on unequal footing, less empowered to deny someone who determines your employment. And if you hit on your boss, it’s their responsibility to make boundaries clear.
