Let me make this clear: gossip is gossip. It's natural for gossip to happen, y'know, particularly when it's messy. Don't be so far up your own ass that you can't discuss this because people are hurting right now. You aren't any better. By the by, you can keep up with current news and gossip; it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
It’s gossip to us but the guys and their family and friends are experiencing a volatile traumatic event.
I was so shocked at the news.
Seriously, the first thing I knew about this mess was a meme about Ned and Mulaney's Wife Guys' image being damaged because they cheated.
I didn't want to believe it at first. Because this is Ned, the guy who professed his love for his wife constantly. It's not like the internet has any reason to believe otherwise because the Try Guys are trying to be genuine, especially with their recent output.
Now with the confirmations, it's throwing those who grew up with Buzzfeed off for a loop. Well, excluding ex-Buzzfeed employees who are either not surprised or have suspected.
I was thrown for a loop.
For a little history, I first saw Try Guys around the time they were leaving. No video about the new business, just around the tail end as I do recall watching the Las Vegas Bachelor Party video a lot. Before that video about launching the new business launched, I was consuming a lot of their material. I was definitely there when their first new Try Guys video dropped that was not the business venture video.
While Eugene is my favorite, I found Ned likable, or at least his public persona. This fratty white man who understands their privilege and goes out of his way to be progressive and nontoxic seems good. Because Keith is the theatre kid while Zach is the shy kid who failed everything while Eugene is queer who had to perfect everything just to be accepted.
Before the scandal broke, I initially thought Ned took a backseat because he got other things conflicting with the Try Guys. It’s how Eugene did so and later explained in his Insta story. Not once did this ever crossed my mind.
I have seen the guys as groomsmen for Keith’s wedding; Eugene babysitting Ned’s kid along with TikToks of the guys playing with the kids; Ariel designing the two offices; the guys building the business from the ground up with Ned and Ariel pulling a second mortgage for the business while Ariel was pregnant with Wes; that Zach was planning to have the rest of the guys as groomsmen for his wedding and YB planned to invite Ned and Alex to her wedding; that Eugene came out and a strong advocate for intersectional inclusivity; that Becky and Keith are planning a family… The guys are a family in a way I know this to be true.
These people are best friends and brothers with their partners as best friends on top of it. They know each other for so long that being blindsided by this betrayal is traumatic as being constantly reminded of the reduction in the severity of the scandal.
To say they knew the entire time means that the partners would’ve known and the partners’ reactions would see more people fired than just that one boss. I find it disingenuous to label all of them as bad people simply because the ex-BF employees said so; just because those people saw it doesn’t mean other people saw it too.
I saw their videos on and off then and there but I will always call myself a Buzzfeed Worth It fan more than a Try Guys fan. It was perhaps seeing Asian guys at the forefront that made me attached to Try Guys and Worth It with Eugene Lee Yang and Steven Lim because it's honestly hard to see Asian actors that aren't subbed or have to prove themselves better to even be seen and even then that's not enough. I'm subscribed to Watcher and About To Eat but I'm not subscribed to Try Guys. I'm an avid Safiya Nygaard viewer.
Listen, I don't give a crap about the parasocial relationships, entitlement, and 'why would people care so much about this-' when that's not the point. Gossip and community are a thing. Not to mention it doesn't make you look any better as fans.
It's natural curiosity considering how the rumors, the implications, and everything went downhill since the reveal but this is Ned, the guy who builds up his image based on loving his family.
Ned has always had the image of this doting family man who never hesitated to break down toxic masculinity in the said group dedicated to breaking down barriers.
This isn't the dads and fathers who think they are doing the bare minimum of 'babysitting'.
I don't think people understand just how much he's putting everything on the line just by these actions. He has books, podcasts, videos, and shows about his family or their involvement in some way. Even his social media is all about his family!
He was all about love! On tour, he’s the Legend of Love! That’s how deep this is!
That's how much Ned wanted the audience to get invested in his relationship.
How can the audience not get invested as far back as the first video? How can one beg for privacy after such a horrifying thing was done to the said family when said family has been in the limelight and been part of his image forever?
Now, with that investment, how could the audience not want some more info so that their money on Patreon isn't being wasted?
Ned wasn't even hiding it too. He was making out with Alex, his fucking employee, in a public New York bar and at a fucking Harry Styles concert. Fitting considering Harry Styles' current relationship is.
Imagine Ned and Alex going on dates while at the same time Ned going on the weekly date nights with Ariel.
Ariel didn’t know until the beginning of September.
This whole affair is so messy. Ned was in the video in which engaged Try employees made the Try Guys try on potential bridesmaid dresses for their planned wedding. It’s known Ales was engaged. Ariel works with the Try Guys! She’s not a housewife but a content creator in her own right, working alongside the mistress of her husband, being friends, and knowing her! Ariel designed their offices!
Both of them have been with their partners for 10+ years! This affair probably started after Finn's first birthday because it's a year-long affair according to one rumor! If that's true, it's horrifying.
Does he not expect consequences if he's doing this so openly?
No, I am not addressing that Reddit story about the Try Guys knowing about Ned's harassment of women. It's a grain of salt in this mess because we know the Try Guys have been editing him out recently nor had Ned appeared in any promo including the new opening. We know the Try Guys had unfollowed him and cut him out of their job and life.
Ned's image was the family therefore retroactively every video involving the family and Ned is soured by this revelation.
It was a perfect life really. He has a beautiful family with a lovely wife and beautiful sons living in his wife's well-designed house. He has the best friends he could ever hope for with the business they build from the ground up. A stable job with his wife and friends. The company in itself is rising with a TV deal based on WAR with merchandise that makes sense from food to clothes. He had it all.
Why? Why would Ned throw that all away?
He's left with nothing. He has no steady income to support his children whereas his wife is still working for the Try Guys and is an interior designer meaning now his wife is paying all the bills instead of splitting it between them both. He has no friends as his friends cut him out of their lives for cheating on a wonderful friend. His wife's friends particularly Becky is not liking him at the moment or ever again. His ex-company is at risk of lawsuits and losing sponsorships. His reputation as a family man and devoted husband is torn to shreds because that's what he build his image on.
No, really it's his brand. From the Date Night Cookbook to Baby Steps to university seminars on ethics of a healthy relationship to actively showing his family life on social media involving his friends to babysit his kids while the couple goes on date nights, that's just how much Ned monetized his family. He's one step away from being a family vlogger.
Can you really fault the fans for believing this and stop trying to be a smartass with the parasocial relationships? It's the author's intent therefore you can't fault them for it.
The first videos up on the Try Guys after they left Buzzfeed were all about Ned and Ariel's new home and baby. Their old office was Ned and Ariel's old home!
What is he even going to do to sustain himself? He hasn't worked in chemistry in years and the entertainment industry is looking at him with disdain for his lies.
He needs to have child support should he ever get divorced. Where are his parents? Because they need to house him if a divorce or at the least separation occurred. He’s still living with Ariel and the kids.
While there is a possibility that the Try Guys have to pay him out not just out of his stock in 2nd Try but his ownership altogether, he probably still has money in his bank as well as the payout the guys are forced to give him.
If they have to do the same with Alex with the NDA and severance pay, they likely know she needs help finding a new stable job. Her office friends are no longer her friends with YB no longer wishing to associate with her in any way. The office is concerned about the power dynamics consent issues that Kelsey brought up in her TikTok to clear the air. However, that doesn't mean they forgave her for hurting everything. They are still empathetic enough to know that she would need help to find stability more than Ned. The world is less kind to mistresses than to the cheaters in question largely because the cheater got the family to fall back on. Morally, yes there is a backlash but privileges, the cheaters always get more stability in some fashion.
He's a Yale graduate and he can work for his old college friends given one friend group cut him off entirely.
And his apology was utter shit. People already deconstructed the apology about its non-apology and made memes about it.
Seriously, ‘may have’ is a red flag. Cheating will always cause pain. What do you mean by that, Ned?
Lose focus? Oh, I lose focus by being drawn to other things than the subject at hand, not cheating on someone! Do you need your family there at all times to remember you can’t cheat? Oh yeah, Ariel and the kids are there at work too!
Consensual workplace relationship? Whether or not Alex gave in because you’re the boss, you’re the boss! You should’ve known better! Having that power imbalance, it’s inviting a sexual misconduct lawsuit against the company you and your best friends help build. Your company is at risk!
You cheated! Just say it as it was! You broke the trust of your friends and family just for some fleeting pleasure! I hope it’s worth losing all the good love and support you got going for you!
Regardless of the power imbalance, we cannot forget that they still knowingly enter the relationship with committed decade-long significant others and friends affected by this. They didn’t consider others’ feelings at all.
Alex may not say anything but for now, she still got her job. She’s still a grown woman who willingly enters a relationship that jeopardizes everything. Even if we say she only consented because of the boss, her decision to make it an affair was hers and Ned’s decision alone. If that relationship between the apology and the boldness of the concert and club date was anything to go by, Alex is Ned’s mistress for a long time.
What she did was a moral failure. She already lost her fiancé and work friends. It’s possible she is trying to find work elsewhere from the icy atmosphere at work if she went to the office (the guys said the staff mainly worked from home) and working to move out or Will moved out. It’s punishment enough for her affair. We can say she’s a victim of power dynamics while still saying she still has an affair. She is still one of the causes of the gravity of the scandal.
It's worse because they are public figures. Eugene went to the Met Gala! They called in A-list food critics and chefs for their show!
It’s just awful for everyone involved personally.
Everything is put on pause or has to take things slowly. They knew beforehand but not too far back so hopefully, they know what to do.
Eugene is planning to release a new book. Zach and Maggie are planning a wedding while YB is planning hers. Keith and Becky are planning a family. Rachel still has to take care of her twins.
The livelihoods of these people are at stake.
Not just personally but also professionally.
When the channel started, Eugene wanted to be authentic and went all out with his coming-out music video. Zach opened up about his illnesses and disabilities.
Just hope that people won’t think of the scandal when they think of the Try Guys who opened up more than they can. The other guys have more than just one thing to make them unique. All Ned got going for him during his time there was Yale frat boy family man and devoted husband. He can cook but his cookery tends to be boring but practical. That’s all for Ned. He didn’t expand like the others.
Eugene is an artist and is all about inclusivity.
Zach is a film director and talked openly about his health issues.
Keith had been about food and comedy but showed that he can be effective as a creative person by using what he has.
Ned not so much. All about the family with him but not so much creativity. Even then it’s Ariel doing the lion’s share while Ned squeals and tries his best. There is only so far a bumbling father and husband can get even in fiction. Apparently, he was supposed to expand to science stuff into the show beyond his Instagram and Tiktoks.
Ned is complete scum. He lost everything with nothing to show for it. He jeopardized his friends and company. I’m not pitying him, just disappointed that’s who he really is.
It’s up to Ariel if she’s going to have any decision after what her husband put her through. After all the support she gave him from the burgeoning startup and the painkiller addiction, he repaid her with this. He broke her trust for thrills and sex.
The speculations - if the affair indeed went on for a year or so; if the guys knew or suspected about his serial cheating womanizing ways prior to September; if Will was the one who leaked the video; if the timeline is correct; but if Will knew about the affair beforehand and attempted to get Ned to back off; if Kwesi knew - remain speculations.
For the love of Godoka, don't take gossip as gospel. Rumors have the tendency to be overblown and vilify people without context and worse empathy. I have seen more vilification of the guys than I see Ned getting blamed for abusing his power. Again, there is a difference between flirting and outright cheating. I feel people don't understand there is harmless flirting especially when the SO and friends know about that part but crossing a line is different.
It's terrible enough that people don't have enough empathy to see that just because cheating isn't a law crime and everybody acts like Ned killed someone when no, it's a betrayal of everything from friends to family to fans who thought they knew him. This was a long-time friend and business partner who had a severely inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and you aren't having any empathy to see that his actions hurt everyone.
Not just Ned’s misconduct, it’s the lack of empathy toward the guys as a whole. Suggesting that their loss of a long-time friend who jeopardized livelihoods and careers and having to use so much money to fire him and buying him out is not trauma because cheating isn’t a crime… A mix of lack of empathy towards celebrities no matter the tier is there too.
I have seen a lack of empathy towards celebrities and even then it’s selective. When BTS said about their experiences with racists or even just about negative emotions, people just don’t believe them because they’re so famous or worse because of hate. Not to mention Finneas O’Connell sent the racist tweet about BTS having Covid simply because they’re Asians which he only apologized for when BTS spoke out. ARMYs spoke out against Finneas’ racist tweet when he tweeted it and weren’t happy about his so-called apology.
People don’t see celebs as not having feelings because they’re rich and famous. Just because the Try Guys were rising doesn’t make them ineligible for emotions. They are humans so to think they aren’t just because of their celebrity status is bad. Even Youtube celebrity status counts.
I don’t ever want to interact in any form with Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Ethan Klein, Trisha Paytas, and Dream to name several ever. Just to be clear, I saw Ben Shapiro once in high school and heard him sometimes through my brother’s laptop, and likewise with Jordan Peterson albeit with a radio lecture; I only saw the others through controversies though I only saw them in pictures once and it was like bad feelings. This is before I heard about the latter three's bad reputation. I only got bad vibes from them and I just trusted my gut feeling that I really shouldn't watch any of their content. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel pity for them and just wish they can do better.
No, Ariel and Ned don't have an open marriage. Marriage is expensive with kids in tow. There is no polygamy here. Why the hell are people bringing up an open marriage and polygamy when it doesn't apply here? Ariel and the kids seemed to wish for that traditional life that they branded.
It's as if not believing the friends and wife while thinking the husband was fired for an offense that doesn't equal the punishment and not thinking that he abused everything to get what he wanted. Why is it so hard to believe that Ned abused his power and privilege and that cheating isn't a crime but still bad to hurt everything?
For the love of Godoka, the SNL skit made light of workplace sexual misconduct and power dynamics, making fun of everyone but Ned. I know SNL has a history of sexual misconduct and people in power don’t like being made fun of or critical of. SNL won’t make a good satire as they will always make light of bad humor instead of doing something good. I only saw SNL once and that was BTS.
You can make fun of their content but don’t make light of workplace sexual misconduct.
No, it’s not the bare minimum. The bare minimum was Ned’s so-called apology.
What the Try Guys have done should be the standard: removal of a boss abusing his power to have workplace sexual misconduct against a subordinate. Usually, companies and such don’t do this at all because workplace sexual misconduct is normalized as seen with SNL.
No, the guys aren’t rich. Unlike Ned who got a net worth of 10 million, Zach got 2 million and Eugene and Keith got below 100 thousand. They aren’t rich enough to be other than the upper middle class at best.
We know for a fact Ariel found out at the beginning of September. We know the team has been phasing and editing Ned out of pre-recorded content prior to the leak meaning Ned was fired before the rumors. With YB’s confirmation about her not being friends with Ned and Alex anymore, we can conclude Food Babies are put on hold or outright canceled. YB confirmed they didn’t know until early September just like Ariel with Kelsey’s corroboration.
Until the Try Guys themselves clear the air, speculations are exactly that. After all, there is a difference between knowing Ned is not a good guy who's an outrageous flirt and knowing Ned is fucking an employee.
And now we know. Of course, there are legalities involved and we won't be able to know everything.
Will Thayer confirmed he didn’t know prior to May so he probably knew at the beginning of September just like Ariel and the others and not the first to find out on December 2021. May was obviously before September so it’s damning that the affair is indeed a malicious drawn-out act with Ned and his mistress. It was not a drunk one-night stand or a one-night dalliance at all. The other Try Guys confirmed that Ned didn’t deny any of it and that it had been going on for some time. That measure of time can be anything.
The affair ended in September. Ned and Alex were spotted kissing on a date on May 7. That means it has to be earlier than May at the least if they are going on dates publicly and shielded by excuses like work research.
It's definitely not an amicable friend breakup or a business partner leaving for new things. With Eugene saying they refused to brush it under the rug and Keith and Zach believing Ned copied their font so to make it look like it was coordinated when it was not, I think it's devastating for these friends. That’s a rough thing to believe someone is coordinating when they weren’t. That implied a bad breakup. Seeing their former friend refusing to admit fault for anything and going out of his way to drag them through the mud, it’s heartbreaking.
If they can’t say a positive thing after nearly a decade of friendship and thinking the worse of him (same font and format for statements; SNL skit writing), then it’s not amicable at all.
Eugene was a child of a divorce and a private person who doesn’t let people in his life. With Ned betraying everything, he’s sad and angry.
While it’s not the same, the Just Kidding News experienced a friendship breakup with Tiff and Case. Even if Tiff didn’t want to do it anymore, she could’ve gotten a head up from Bart and the others. Even in the couple’s vlog channel (as I was introduced through their wedding video), I didn’t see Geo and Tiff interact at all since the breakup. They used to have them cross over sometimes, especially when as friends.
A friend's breakup is still a breakup.
While Ryan Haywood’s actions are far crueler, they devastated his friends who now see him as a monster.
Ned jeopardized everything and put on hold everyone’s lives to clean up his mess. His friends don’t want to associate with him anymore but probably don’t see him as a monster the AH crew sees Ryan. Probably a manipulative douche who won’t take accountability.
While it’s unlikely we’ll see any continuation of the Fulmer family in any capacity, especially the kids, it’s up to Ariel if she wanted to return in some capacity as the team is leaving the door open for her.
While we shouldn’t demonize Ned as some monster, we should hold him accountable for a boss who abused his power and privilege. He's fired for having a relationship with an employee as a boss and that's unethical.
While I don't think he's a monster, he's an asshole with fucking up his family and friends' lives. He's an ass for abusing his power and privilege when he got so much going for him and losing it so arrogantly and carelessly.
Here’s a timeline if it helps.
As for the dying gossip, the dregs are a few people trying to question the rest of the guys as bad friends supposedly (invalidating the guys' pain about their long-time former friend and holding said former friend accountable because they're friends with his wife too and they are sticking by her side), and Buzzfeed trying to get engagement from old Ned videos. I never saw this brought up and probably it's just for clicks since it's out of nowhere. I heard about the supposed guys making it all about themselves when they didn't when you see everything from the two videos and one written statement and that's it. I have no idea where the bad friends came from unless it's the thinking the worse of Ned... Ned is the guy who they have every right to resent.
Just, Ned, do better and find work for your family.
Ariel, family, and friends are there for support. Fans are by your side. I just hope that not only do you take your children into consideration but you do too. If you stay with him or separate from him, it’s up to you.
As for old Try Guys, it’s irreversibly tainted. Fans, look back on them bittersweetly; the reason why the guys got so far was the dynamics. Despite knowing they see each other as brothers then, it’s undeniable that one is gone because his actions impacted their personal and professional lives.
The guys wanted to move on and not want to talk about the situation any more than they are allowed to. People thinking they are attention seekers that are blowing things out of proportions without taking the time to research or try to learn why it’s a scandal at all are assholes as the Internet always is; seriously, people even defending the relationship as ‘consensual’ aren’t thinking critically simply because it was normalized and really thinking they are superior.
The guys and the company doesn’t want to reduce their pain to a mere cheating scandal. They want to move on as they are reminded constantly about the loss of their long-time best friend whose wife has been there since the beginning and the big hit to their small business's reputation and brand that impacted the livelihoods and careers of everyone. They are only reacting to the SNL because the SNL unprovoked mocked everything but Ned. They don’t want any more drama. They just want to move on and tried to reduce the bubbling pot. Anyone saying they are attention seekers is the same one demanding invasive answers.
As much as I will hiss like a wet cat seeing Ned in previous videos, particularly in WAR, it’s bittersweet. WAR still holds up and I will always wait for the next WAR.
The Nedits are amusing. If you don’t want to see the new videos for any particular reason, Nedits is a new game to indulge in just for its fun.
That's all I'm going to say on the matter. Because this is the only Youtube Drama thing I'm ever going to write about because the other dramas don't really bother me as much as this does.
