Who is The Try Guys member Ned Fulmer, and why is he in the news now?

September 28th, 2022

Zach Kornfeld and Ned Fulmer of the Try Guys seen at Lionsgate Premiere of "Dirty 30" at ArcLight Cinemas on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Steve Cohn/Invision for Lionsgate Home Ent./AP Images)

One of The Try Guys, Ned Fulmer, has been released from the show after he admitted to cheating on his wife, Ariel Fulmer, with an employee of the show.

“Family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship,” Fulmer said. “I’m sorry for any pain my actions 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.”

The show, in which four guys try things like colonics, wig making and tap dancing for the first time, has since severed ties with Ned Fulmer, saying in a statement, “As a result of a thorough internal review, we do not see a path forward together. We thank you for your support as we navigate this change.”

Who are The Try Guys?

The Try Guys was started by former BuzzFeed employees Fulmer, Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger, and Zach Kornfeld during their time at the company. They made their first video trying ladies’ underwear for the first time in 2014.

Their videos amassed about 100 million views on the BuzzFeed YouTube channel. The quartet left the outlet in 2018 to start their own production company and channel. Their independent channel has almost 2.2 billion views and 7.8 million subscribers.

Ariel Fulmer appeared alongside her husband in several videos doing DIYs, and as part of the group’s “Try Wives” series.

‘The end of an era’

Devin Lytle, a former BuzzFeed producer for its show “Lady Like,” which she described as a woman version of “The Try Guys,” said Fulmer’s departure from the show is “the end of an era.”

“BuzzFeed was kind of leading the way on different formats of what became popular and a lot of it was done through experimentation,” she said. “And The Try Guys … were really on the cutting edge of a lot of that.”

Lytle also said she felt BuzzFeed employees at the time were pigeonholed into creating an online persona, and Fulmer crafted a brand image as a doting and devoted husband.

“I think something that really struck with the folks is the fact that Ned marketed himself as like the family guy, wife guy,” she said. “And I think that’s what is so shocking about … the truth that has come out about this relationship.”