The Internet Is On Fire: TriGuys Try Infidelity

The Try Guys: Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang (in order as they appear above), are internet legends. Since they separated from Buzzfeed in 2018 to form 2nd Try LLC, they have only grown in popularity. They won the 2018 Streamy Awards, have released their hit book “The Hidden Power of F*cking Up” which immediately hit #1 on the New York Best Sellers List, recently began their own TV show, and are generally recognizable as a reliable source of comfort on Youtube. Unfortunately, this image has taken a heavy blow following an affair between one of their own and an employee of theirs. The internet is on fire again; here is your rundown of what's happening.

On September 27th, photos of Ned Fulmer and his Associate Producer (who is also a part of the ensemble for the Try Guys side series Food Babies), Alex Herring, were posted in an anonymous Reddit thread after the two attended a Harry Styles concert together. The photographer claimed to have seen the two making out and engaging in romantic actions. The photos alone were far from incriminating and could easily have been interpreted as platonic in nature. However, fans had also begun to notice that Ned was seen less and less in videos and that his title card in the Try Guys intro was glaringly missing.

The internet did what it did best and exploded into a flurry of angry tweets and confused TikToks. Thousands called for a response from The Try Guys and specifically from Ned's wife, Ariel.

Ned and Ariel Fulmer got married in June of 2012. It likely helped to form his persona as a ‘wife-lover’ as this was only a few years before the first Try Guys video was posted. In 2018, they had their first son Wesley and Ariel gave birth to their second son, Finley, in 2020. Most of Ned's jokes revolved around loving his wife or being a father so the idea of an affair was not only taboo, it was inconceivable. It should be noted that Alex was also in a relationship. She was engaged to Will Thayer, who she had been dating for 10 years.

Unfortunately, not 24 hours after the Reddit thread was posted, Ned released a statement on Twitter saying, “Family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship.” He continues to say, "I'm sorry for any pain that my actions may have caused to the guys and the fans, but most of all to Ariel. The only thing that matters right now is my marriage and my children, and that's where I am going to focus my attention."

Sad as this is, the important part to focus on is the use of the term 'consensual workplace relationship.’ By all accounts, Ned was Alex’s workplace superior. That opens the company to a lot of scrutiny from lawyers. To prevent any possibility of a lawsuit, the Try Guys began an internal investigation. Minutes before Ned's statement, the company posted a tweet saying, “Ned Fulmer is no longer working with The Try Guys…we do not see a path forward together.”

The Try Guys would go on to post two short videos on the matter. One professionally discusses the decision-making and betrayal this caused and another titled ‘what we really wanted to say’ in which Keith and Zach scream for a minute and then show Eugene sipping tea on FaceTime.

The Try Guys podcast the TryPod, a podcast that now only includes Keith and Zach, revealed that they were aware of the affair on Labor Day weekend. At the time, Keith was on tour for his band ‘Lewberger’ and was unable to tell the other members of his band anything about the affair. They also revealed an interesting piece of information: their response to the cheating was not coordinated with Ned. Despite this, the font and style of the two responses are similar.

They made it very clear that no videos were edited after posting but that their editors worked very hard to heavily edit the photos until Ned was no longer in any that they had planned to post. Reddit user Pixiecrimson identified the 3 videos that were privatized as Women Wear Wedding Dresses For The First Time, Try Guys Extreme Japanese Street Food Challenge (ft. The Food Babies), and Food Babies 60oz Tomahawk Steak Challenge. During the podcast, they never directly mentioned Alex or used the word affair.

Skit comedy show, Saturday Night Live, released a sketch in which they portray the Try Guys video response as a breaking news story. They have received backlash from fans who argue that the video made too much fun of the remaining Try Guys while toning down the severity of Ned's actions. The sketch was co-written by Gary Richardson, Bowen Yang, Celeste Yim, and Will Stephen, as credited by SNL actress Heidi Gardener on Twitter. Will is known to be close friends with Ned, causing people to claim he wrote the skit in an attempt to cover for his friend. As of now, there is no official statement confirming or denying this.

So why did so many people get so upset over this? According to junior Samaira Sandil, “A lot of people establish connections with people they don't know on the internet. They feel like they know these people personally.”

Ariel has requested that the family be left alone to process this, a fact that has been stressed by every member of 2nd Try LLC. For her sake and the sake of her family, please respect her wishes.