Ariel can do whatever she wants after all this but I think the funniest possible thing for her to do is divorce Ned but keep working for Try Guys and keep being on the You Can Sit With Us podcast
@@HS-lv3is Yes, the other 3 announced that they voted him out of being a manager/owner of the company (as well as an employee) so he is gone completely.
We also need to remember that Ned was the designated financial person within the company. He dealt with all the money. He approved funding and purchases and most likely sorted all the paycheques. Including Alex's pay check. That immediately makes the power imbalance even worse
the best tweet i saw about this was as such: "The Try Guys went from 25% gay to 33% gay and that, my friends, is a win for the LGBTQ community" Edit: ...is this your application to join the try guys?
@@roreo1612 I agree But do they have to be? It's still nice that a key member is gay Representation matters And this may be an unpopular opinion but being gay shouldn't be inherently political or radical We should also be allowed to just be people existing no?
On your speculation of them “wanting to get caught” I think you are vastly underestimating the human capacity for complacency. That feeling that how things are now is how they will stay and it’s ok to relax. Keeping it secret required active work. Being found out doesn’t require any work. It just takes doing slightly less work to keep it quiet. Comfort and complacency is what blows up most affairs. Not intent to be caught.
Exactly. They get too comfortable which causes the slip-up that makes them get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if they were comfortably open about their relationship (flirting openly at work like that one claim) but the others couldn't do anything because of Ned's position. With how fast the other Try Guys dropped him, I wouldn't be surprised if this was their chance to drop him and they took it.
@@tama3162 I suggest taking this with a grain of salt but I saw someone on a different video about this situation comment that their friend that lives in LA said that Ned was known for messing around extramaritally. Obviously there’s no way to verify it, but given the whole “affair was at least a year quite possibly more” thing, it’s a decent possibility.
@@Polyeurythane Yeah, that was the post I was trying to remember! But it makes the whole situation worse imo. He's the highest grossing Try Guy, with the others having net worths significantly lower than Ned's, even when put together. I wouldn't be surprised if the other Try Guys were aware of his cheating in some way but couldn't do anything about it. Or anything in a way that'd _actually_ affect Ned, until his cheating became known to the public. Apparently the scandal ruined a major TV show deal the Try Guys were trying to secure too.
The thing that gets me about this whole situation is that last year, I bought Ned's date night cookbook for my dad for Father's Day, but because it didn't arrive until September, it didn't arrive until after he and my stepmom got divorced. It later came out that they got divorced because he cheated on my stepmom. So while I don't really have a pair of social relationship with ned, I was the least attached to him out of the try guys, the whole situation just has a certain amount of crazy irony to it
@@bxnny0374 Problems with using voice to text without proper editing, whoops. Def meant parasocial relationship. But honestly more funny if I leave it the way it is
I don't think he was trying to get caught. He was just arrogant and thought he could get away with it. So many of these guys who get caught harassing or assaulting women truly believe nothing will happen to them. In part, it's because, most of the time, nothing does. He probably got away with so much more that we don't even know about.
Thank you for addressing that Alex’s fiancé isn’t a public figure. It sucks for all people impacted. But damn to be the poor guy who never choose to share his life publicly. Ouch. Sucks.
I’ve been getting kinda annoyed with people lumping Adam Levine and John mulaney and Ned into the same category, I’m really glad you didn’t play into that at all with this video. Not only because in the case of John, the only real evidenced judgement the internet can make is that he moved on too fast, there’s only the one anonymous source saying any cheating went on. But also because it feels disrespectful to Ariel. Adam was sh¡tty, John was potentially sh¡tty, but neither of them were “wife guys” in the way Ned was, nor were their transgressions in any way comparable. Ned had a year long blatantly disrespectful relationship with a coworker he had power over. He wasn’t just messaging other girls (which is already horrible). He wasn’t just moving on too fast. This is a whole other ballpark, and to associate it with the other two I think lessens the impact of just how uniquely awful his actions were.
@@peaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa someone sent in a picture of him and Alex having a date in may of this year, so there's proof it goes back at least that far
@@sora1498 I really don’t see it. He had that bit where he talked about “I have a Jewish wife which is cool, she stands up for me” but other than that there isn’t anything like the constant adoring praise and centering of her in his identity that Ned or other “wife guys” have. Yeah, there’s the “could be a nursery” story, but Anna is just kinda implied to be there, she could be switched out with anyone, the story is about the housing person. The wife guy narrative seems, at least to me, to be entirely fan made. Maybe I could see the argument that he should’ve put an effort into telling his fans to not see him that way?
I agree for the most part, except that John Mulaney was absolutely a Wife Guy. Not to the same extent as Ned where it was his entire brand, but he had a lot of jokes about loving his wife in most of his specials, was always talking her up, and speaking positively about how much he likes being married. People absolutely recognized John Mulaney for his affection toward his wife at the time because for decades so many male comics have made shitty jokes about how miserable marriage is and how annoying their wives are, etc., whereas Mulaney was like one of the only comics to speak super positively about marriage. This is why everyone was shocked when he got divorced and even more shocked when he got Olivia Munn pregnant less than 6 months after announcing his divorce, especially considering how he and his ex-wife were known to be intentionally child-free.
Never underestimate the power of using your SuperHusband brand as a shield to get away with all kinds of side-eye behavior. Ie: “Guys, come on, you know how much I love my wife” **keeps bringing younger coworker her starbucks** 👀
Honestly as someone who's father did have an affair which I knew about when I was 8 and, being 8 and dumb, I blamed myself because, as an 8 YEAR OLD, all I understood was that my dad went on a date with another woman and dates were something adults did to eventually get married and have a family so I thought dad was replacing mom and I and, since he pretty much yelled at me every single day of my life at that point, I thought it was my fault. So because of my own experiences I find what Ned and Alex did completely unforgivable ESPECIALLY since Ned has kids, which Alex KNEW about since her and Ariel seemed like they were friends in all the videos they were in together (which also makes me sick to my stomach) so it's not like Alex didn't know that Ned was married with kids. I'm just so thankful that those boys are as young as they are so they won't be affected by this.
yeah, I don't like how people are trying to protect Alex only because what? because she is a woman? she was talking to Arial, seeing her from time to time, and yet acting like she has never fucked with her husband discussting behaviour, we should stop acting like lovers did nothing wrong. they did, if they know it is an affair.
@@dariavalgutskova355 ok I’m not saying Alex is innocent at all but people aren’t protecting her because she’s a woman people are protecting her because she was a CHILD when she met the try guys and she was his EMPLOYEE meaning there’s a power imbalance. Those are two very very icky factors that we need to wait for information to see if those had anything to do with the affair. No one wants to dog pile a potential victim of grooming and workplace abuse.
This scenario reminds me so much of when Kristen Stewart was pictured cheating on Robert Pattinson with the director from her film (Rupert something?). He was her director (so power imbalance) and she was apparently close with his wife and kids. I guess the only difference I can think of is in this case Ned is the famous one whereas in the other case, Kristen got all the flack because she was more famous (and probably also because she’s a woman). But god, it’s horrible. I feel so bad for Ariel and Will.
The wording of "consensual workplace relationship" feels so off to me. If you're in a monogamous relationship and you don't have your partner's consent to engage in another relationship, I don't think that counts as consensual.
Also it feels like saying “consensual high five” like…the fact that you’re specifying it’s consensual makes me question that statement more than if you’d just left it out. “My ‘not involved in human trafficking’ shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt” kinda vibes.
@@LittleFugueFlute While I understand why you’d want to make the clarification, Ariel was a party involved the relationship. Perhaps consent isn’t quite the right word, as it implies sex acts were done to someone without their consent, rather than that sex acts that involve them but are not physically done to them took place without their consent. It does seem like a pretty important distinction.
The Kitchen and Jorn channel is one of my favorite things to come out of Buzzfeed, it's a joy, and delight, and I am so glad you found Kristen, and her wife, they just recently did a 2 years into transition update video, and it was so sweet! ❤️
this has also been in my brain rent free for the past week it feels like 😭 I’m glad you made this because it’s kind of a lighthearted topic (in comparison to what’s happening in Florida, Iran, and Cuba) and we need that for sure.
Yeah, so much of these are the same thoughts I’ve been having. Seeing so many people wondering why she wasn’t also getting fired was so baffling to me. Like neither of them were doing good, but the power dynamics and workplace ethics make it so much more out of line for Ned
It's unsubstantiated that the employees knew. You said that this was just one source and not to take it at fact, and yet you took that part as fact, which I find strange. My parent had multiple affairs for 2 years and yet none of my family suspected at all. It really can blind side you. I doubt most people knew about this; even if you see the signs, you deny it. Trust me; it's very likely that this came as a shock to most of the people involved. Not one person who knew my parent suspected this, and yet it happened. Yes, the signs were there, but even with that, it never once occurred to me that that could have happened until it was undeniable. It's only in hindsight that it's obvious, and only from the outside after everything is said and done.
there are other former buzzfeed employees who worked with them years ago saying they werent surprised, which at the very least heavily implies shady behavior or an affair had occured during the time Try Guys was together at Buzzfeed considering so many others suspected it, it doesnt seem like a stretch to think the trio at least also saw some shady behavior and ignored it for whatever reason
@@absolutetrash8118 That again is the hindsight bias like OP was talking about. Just because someone is a former Buzzfeed coworker and throws shade at someone doesn't mean they actually knew at the time they were employed together. They could easily have saw stuff and not put it together until they heard the news. Just like the staff at Second Try didn't have to know when they were around one another in the office. It is a logical fallacy and we should not perpetuate that "feelings/vibes being off" is actual evidence. Let's not try to make people responsible for things they may just not have known. Right now we do not have any first-hand accounts of wrongdoing or evidence outside of the leaked DMs and photos. That means we can't just lump in other people when we have no proof they had any knowledge of the situation. And as for the "this feels like a salad that cheats on its wife" comment from Keith. We can suppose/speculate he was aware/catching on to Ned's behaviour but we just do not know until we get first hand accounts from the Second Try staff or former mistresses about Ned's behaviour outside of those photos and videos catching them in the act.
I’m a mod on Kristins (and Jens) discord server and when she started to do Twitch streams back in 2020 and she told us to keep a secret (at first) that her wife is transitioning! Everyone in the server all love and supported her and her wife sm! Brie is a beautiful person! (I know it’s off topic sorry…but after talking about the Ned thing sm I need a break from it lol)
One question I have about the situation is if people in the office were aware of this relationship for a year, why not fire him when it first became noticeable in the workplace, as that is the moment it made the workplace unsafe? If true that the relationship was "secret but noticeable" for that long, that must have made the office a pretty horrible environment at times for all of the more junior team members.
Tbh the average worker there for sure won't bring up any allegations against him. It would have been very possible they'd lose their job and nothing else comes from this. That aside, many people don't like to meddle in others affairs if it doesn't affect them.
The try guys most likely needed for the cheating to be public so that they have a legal reason to fire him saying that he is damaging their brand + also for the fans to accept the firing. The try guys message didn't say why they fired him so if they had fired him back then and wrote the same message, some fans could have turned against them.
It just gets my goat that if Ned had just divorced Ariel he would probably still have a career, just not doing his usual gimmick. He has plenty of money to get a divorce and make sure Ariel and his kids would still have a good, comfortable life but he decided to disgrace his entire family instead.
No he wouldn't, he didn't get fired for cheating, he got fired for having a workplace relationship with someone he has power over. And ned was the HR guy for them, which makes it even MORE of a mess. If he had cheated with someone outside of the show, then he'd be less likely to have been fired. He'd probably have been made to quit, considering the guys likely wouldn't want to work with him anymore.
The thing about consent in a power imbalance, how many people become quite a bit more .. alluring… when they’re a 10+ millionaire. Even semi-subconsciously, because **we live in a society** 😣
I had heard a bunch of stuff about this, but as I didn’t know anything about them other than they sometimes pop up on my recommendations, this was very helpful context. Thanks!
Thank you so much for making this video. Buzzfeed was professional about this but my old job wasn’t when something similar happened. Your video made me realize that.
It is now the 5th of October and he STILL hasn't changed his profile picture on twitter or his twitter bio. Like it's just painfully awkward at this point.
As someone who has never watched anything by the Try Guys but has been exposed to vague references to Ned's removal, I'm intrigued to find out what's going on
After the video the guys just put out last night, I believe that they didn't know ahead of time. It's possible the unverified post is made up, or has gone through too many rounds of The Telephone Game, or maybe people are just putting things together in hindsight. It seems from the reactions of the other guys, they are shocked and crushed and upset. I don't see all of them collectively agreeing to ignore the situation for a year, all the way until it went public, only to put on a "We had no idea!" fake act once Ned was caught. Poor Zach sounded really choked up, like he was really on the verge of tears, while Eugene looked like he should be kept away from sharp objects. Keith just seems very tired.
27:52 and this is why I think that this has happened before! like, Keith Eugene and Zach have known this man for years and has gone out to events and parties with him for YEARS... i believe that, whether it was with Alex or not, at least one of them knew that Ned was like this and this was a final straw kind of thing. i just have doubts that this was the only time he dated outside of his marriage. The rest of the Try Guys know what a big deal losing Ned would be and didn't drop him before because it wasn't a reason to fire Ned, let alone get involved in their marriage. this is all speculation, i hope that I'm wrong about all of this. to add, i think that the reason why we have so few pictures of him cheating is because... Ned looks the most like any other white guy. at least when i saw the screenshots, i didn't recognize him. so i doubt that people minding their own business could recognize him from afar in dim lighting without the rest of the Try Guys or without Ariel, let alone with his arms around another woman.
They definitely knew. There was a Reddit post made a couple months ago first exposing Ned's cheating, and someone added to the post mentioning that Ned allegedly tried grinding on them in a club even though they clearly weren't interested. He was apparently really persistent as well. They asked Keith if he was always like this, and he said he indeed was. If this alleged interaction isn't true, I think it's worth mentioning that there's a video of the Try Guys all taking lie detector tests, and when Eugene was asked if he thought Ned and Ariel would ever get a divorce, he tried saying no, but it was determined that he was lying.
@@inez5110 i found the Reddit post. i don't even know what to say. even though I had a hunch that the other guys knew, it sucks to know that there is a chance that I'm right
Well rumor has it he danced with a recent ex when they first got together and he fessed up to her, I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the first time she's found out and wanted people not to make it a big deal, but because this time it was with an employee hands were forced, which makes the whole thing double awful. But, as you said, everything we're saying is speculation
I believe they knew he crossed lines being flirty/creepy to people, but I don't think they knew he was having a full on affair. I don't see them hiding that from Ariel and their own partners successfully, their partners being people who are even closer to Ariel.
This is basically the equivalent of Rachel Hollis and her husband getting a divorce; Ariel and Ned are by far WAY less problematic but when your brand is LITERALLY YOUR RELATIONSHIP it does become a bigger issue. I think we should respect their privacy, but it becomes a stickier situation in this circumstance.
24:36 I've checked Ariel's Instagram today and looked at some older pictures of the kids and there were several comments talking about how sad it is that their dad is a d*ck and how horrible it is that they'll have to grow up without him etc. Like...I get the parasocial relationship with the Fulmer family. That's why I was checking the Instagram in the first place. But could people sometimes just...shut up? Or at least place their comments under Ned's posts instead of Ariel's?
Watching people freak out and be SO UPSET about this has been wild to me. I've followed the Try Guys for a while and the most emotion ice felt about this has been "Aww. Poor Ariel." and it just makes me think about "good, unproblematic men" and parasocial relationships and just... there is no perfect online funny man. They're humans. Including them in your view of the world is incredibly flawed and not good for you or them.
I’m embarrassed to have considered Ned’s marriage a relationship goal. But I guess it has helped reinforce the fact that the strongest relationships aren’t performative.
my mom watches a lot of twitch and has been keeping up with this situation a lot, and i can see why. last year we found out my father had been cheating for 4 years. i also have one sibling. hes also a rich white guy and an executive in a company. the whole situation definitely makes me very angry, not only as someone who used to watch them, but also because it reminds me of my own life. this shit happens so often, but its crazy seeing it happen with this much publicity. i feel awful for ariel. my parents could handle this privately and work it out so me and my sister don’t suffer too much, because they didn’t have this spotlight. no one has to know my dad is an infidel unless i bring it up. these kids will not get that. i dont want to rebuild a relationship with my dad right now, but i still could - i dont think these kids will be able to make these decisions in the way i can. it makes it all so much more complicated. i wish it could be private, only for the safety and comfort of ariel and their children. their health matters more than ned’s “downfall”. its so messed up i know this is ranty but wow
I liked the Try Guys for years, and it's just so disappointing because Ned was this example of like a gentle version of masculinity that encouraged being loving and affectionate and devoted to your wife and kids which I thought was a positive thing. And then it turns out he was actually the opposite of that.
Have to point out that even despite the power imbalance; it in no way was consensual. Both of the cheated on partners were unknowingly and unwittingly part of this affair, they never consented to it🤷♂️
Never seen a try guy video, never even seen a buzzfeed video but this blew up my TikTok feed and I'm a messy chismoso so I'm watch this whole video silently judging a man I know nothing about 🤣
i remember one video where ned said his biggest fear was failure, mostly failure in the company, and now… i think they just got sloppy with hiding it edit: i totally forgot about the fact that they have a food network show as well!!!!
To be honest I think it’s naive to believe deuxmoi, like it’s completely anonymous and anyone could have sent these, I just try to take that stuff with a pinch of salt. I don’t think they were flirting around the office and such because others would have noticed
Hey man, don't worry about making videos about the most important drama or whatever's going on. It's fine if you just talk about stuff that interests you I can have actually no clue what you're talking about and I'll still enjoy ur vids
So I'm going to try and add some levity here it is serious but here's a small funny, when me and my mom found out she said she wasn't really surprised someone who mentions his wife THAT much clearly has something else going on but she just assumed he was bad in bed and was making up for that.😆
I’ve watched several videos about the Ned situation and your analysis is by far my favorite I’ve come across. Excellent work! I also fully agree that if there was a new member, having a trans man would be wonderful and a great new perspective to see showcased.
I love the way you made the distinction between two people with a power imbalance being in a non-consensual position without them necessarily having used that coercion. You made that point really well. ❤
this is a great video and the first one of yours ive seen-- and when i saw the OFMD reference i LOST IT. don't mind me binging through all your videos on here-
hey brennen :)) I just hit my ten month on T milestone and hearing try guys try hrt,,, I died. I think it makes good sense for trans men to be included too (it always is) because so much of their fan environment is about safe spaces and being positive role models for young people and loving yourself (I mean I haven't watched consistently since like 2019/2020, but when I was listening). I know that I watched them in high school to feel like I had a group of Friends that were Boys, and it helped me when I was deep in the closet and didn't know I was a trans man yet. I think finding this out sort of took that nice spirit of boyhood, trying things, competing with friends doing silly challenges, trying on different types of clothes and costumes, eating the menu, (not that this IS boyhood or anything, but it's what I felt out I missed out on a bit in high school, and why I was so interested in their channel in the first place) away from me. I just feel so bad for Ariel and her kids. :(( Bringing trans men in can help bridge that gap in brotherhood with other men like me who were isolated and lonely and needing something silly and fun while I tried to work through my own stuff. And seeing that on camera on a channel like the try guys, seeing trans issues that aren't just "what is trans?" "why trans do this?" (rip anthony padilla) and begin to have nuanced discussions about how trans people are discriminated against and what genuine trans joy looks like. So much of our stories are about coming out, being hurt, or how we have to cope to survive in our own skin and the different layers of that. Imagine a whole range of trans mascs just chilling trying cool shit, showing cool trans shit, and being cool trans ppl - literally you're a genius brennen. I want trans try guys.
I checked out Kristine again after learning that she has a trans wife and saw I comment on her video about her wife that said something like “Kristine has the same my wife energy as Ned from try guys”, that did not age well…… 😬
There is a lot being based off of that screenshot that you said yourself hasn't been proven in any way? We have no idea if they were in a relationship for a year. I hate this situation and will never be a fan of Ned's again, but there have just been so many assumptions tossed around even by people who keep saying we shouldn't make assumptions.
I’m not sure Ariel knew fully that this was happening. From watching her on the Podcast she seems to be (sadly) used to tolerating his disrespect and lack of acknowledgement for her hard work irl. There is a significant chance he just told her Alex was like an office girlfriend that was strictly flirting and nothing else. A number of gossips from Buzzfeed have (quite insensitively to Ariel) come out to say Ned and invasive conduct is “normal” stuff. Kristin and Devin rub me the wrong way honestly. The fact that they posted and kept the shade about the controversy up after Ariel’s post would be why. If you look at how Safiya and Quinta acted during the same period, they look EXTREMELY petty.
I wonder if he went the affair way because he tied so much of his identity into being the wife/family guy that he needed something that was just his. This sort of opposite extremes tend to work that way. This doesn’t excuse him, just speaks to the importance of self-identity.
Hope that your family in Florida is okay, Brennen. There sure is a lot of dire and major stuff happening in the world, yeah. To do what Ned did, I think you'd have to actively kill off any self-awareness of what you were doing, you'd have to convolute what you were doing, convince yourself somehow that 'it's not wrong' or maybe 'this is normal' and I imagine that's why he was so careless. Can't take all of the precautions to get away with the 'crime' if you're pretending to yourself it's fine and not a crime. I'd guess he just wanted to enjoy the stability and social status of a conventionally successful marriage and also enjoy the thrill of an affair and having a mistress. Is it that he thought he could get away with it or that he felt entitled to it by his fairly easily attained position of privilege, power, and financial success? Clearly, he's never really questioned what he has, never given enough thought to the responsibilities that come with it. Bit of a speculation tangent, but I wonder whether this kind of thing is a natural result of 'conform and perform the norm' ie the broad issues with comphet and other repressing, socially-enforced norms of society. Like, did he ever truly love Ariel? Or is it that she checked all the boxes of someone who would raise his own status? Like at this point, looking back the excess of '~my wife~' seems pretty performative.
I'm embarassed to admit this, but I found out what trans men were thank to a buzzfeed video. I was a very avid buzzfeed fan for a few years from 2014-2017. They had such a huge impact on our culture and stuff like this is always huge and crazy.
Hypothesis (having only seen one Try Guys video in my life): Tri Guys knew about the affair before the Labor Day Weekend exposure, there was an exit strategy, Ned didn't follow the plan. Do educate me if this is or isn't likely, I haven't seen enough if their dynamic to know if this is probable.
So now the guys who really do just genuinely enjoy living with their wives somehow look worse than they did a week ago through no fault of their own. 😂
Brennen oh my stars and garters I didn't even realize it was you until you said your name, I haven't seen you in forever it feels! You look lovely and it's a pleasure to know you're alright
I think "you as a public figure have to keep things you want private private" is extremely salient, realistic advice, and that doesn’t necessarily make anyone who "takes that risk" and gets burned by it not still a victim of the force of the internet's invasive eyes. I also just... don't care about cheating scandals, in particular. The mass public calling out abuse and calling for accountability is only ever really appropriate because perpetrators get away with it and there are rarely repercussions. Cheating sucks, but society already takes it way more seriously than sexual assault tbh. It's a breach of trust between two internet strangers and the fact that Ned isn't holding to monogamy like he said he would doesn't affect me, or anybody on the internet. And there HAS been accountability. They fired him!
I think the REASON he cheated was because his relationship was his brand. If he fell out of love or in love with someone else, it would be hard to publicly own up to separation or divorce when his built that brand off of being wife guy. So he tried to have his cake and eat it too. He knows be doesnt have thar same success without Ariel and thus cheated. That is my guess as to why it happened in the first place and went on for so long, allegedly. No proof though so I'm only speculating.
Well, in an at-will state, you might be able to fire a guy for cheating on his wife. But yeah, you can't fire Alex without exposing yourself to liability.
I'd love to chat about this. No one irl really cares. It's interesting watching younger folks react. I too, have been watching a long time but I don't have the same kind of parasocial relationship cause I was already olllllld when I was watching them.
as much as i think introducing another try guy would be interesting i also think they could do a lot with having three of them, like the "tri" guys or whatever. make little jokes about it
Something I find weird about the whole "don't have a relationship with a coworker" is as you point out, Ariel worked with them too, all the partners of the try guys have been involved in the business to some degree, and I would say if you ignore their relationship, it's pretty clear that Ned would have been above his wife from a strictly business perspective which would then imply an uneven power dynamic with ariel too, like the only difference is as far as I know ariel and ned didn't start out as coworkers getting together, but is that really the only thing that matters? because by that logic if ned and alex had been having their affair before alex ever joined the try guys then technically his dynamic with alex would be no different than his dynamic with ariel and in that case the only morally questionable thing would be the cheating. idk it just seems really weird that people hyper fixate on workplace relationships as something you should never do and that should never ever happen under any circumstance and then they let married coworkers slide for some reason?
Literally you can fire anyone for any reason in a good majority of the states....luckily they are not based in those states. It is called fire at will and is very heavily protected in a vast majority of states. Cali is one of the few with different labor laws!
I agree it was definitely consensual. At least btwn Ned & Alex that is lmao. Like going to a Harry Styles concert isn’t something you do with your subordinate who you’re forcing into a sexual relationship?? That’s a romantic relationship thing & it’s so upsetting that they both threw away their long term relationships for this😢
The thing for me is if Alex was being coerced into it the other Try Guys would likely take her side especially with evidence, leading me to believe she's not innocent. of course it's all speculation atm so I could be wrong.
I think the tryguys hamdled this correctly, but I kinda hate when heavy branded youtube channel makes videos about interpersonal drama affecting the channel. It's like I get second hand embarrassment from watching people discuss very private things with perfect strangers over the internet. I actually prefer watching other youtubers discuss than watch the videos from the people themselves.
If I were Ariel, I would try marriage counseling to see if the relationship can be saved or, at the very least, end things amicably and mutually so that the kids are not caught up in a nasty, petty divorce. If that doesn't work: 1. Divorce Ned and get as much as possible as they were married before Try Guys LLC was formed and she's part of that business, so she will get a looooooot of money. And she has earned that since she's provided content AND supported him through so much in leaving BuzzFeed and starting his own business, using their life for clout, etc. 2. Negotiate more Try Guys LLC content that is centered around a female experience, and how to have these conversations with children. Especially with raising boys to be respectful of others rather than just teaching girls how to protect themselves. Maybe they could do like a subsidiary company? 3. Have openness with fans about being divorced and a single mom that is positive and does not center around the pain Ned caused but the recovery she's on. He doesn't need more attention. 4. Start a patreon or some sort of special group of fans who are dealing with the loss of a marriage or long-term relationship that is a support group for everyone. Maybe a discord server that has regular meetings there to truly support fans. Maybe even start in-person chapters in various parts of the country and/or world. But that's long-term and anything to gather people together like with discord and different times to provide mutual aid and support and gather resources for others to use such as therapy, community services, housing, financial support, etc. 5. House tour after Ned is fully moved out that ends with the partners of the others sitting down, drinking wine, and generalizing about (sr8) men in a validating friendship circle. Ariel deserves at least one public session that is all about "f*ck men who hurt their partners and/or families" with her friends. Maybe it's not released but it's content that she can revisit when anger comes back in the on-going grief cycle. 6. Maintain a positive working relationship with Ned because he is the father of her children after all and being open about co-parenting and eventually bring him into my content to talk about co-parenting because that's part of support and recovery. Sure, he'd be getting attention, but it'll be years down the line, it'll be accountability, and won't let him off the hook either. 7. Find a super handsome partner who is an amazing step-parent and co-parent that will give the kids and Ariel a new kind of dream life. This isn't going to be easy. The kids are going to feel this at school and from peers. The other three guys are acting like it's the end of the world. Yes, they lost a friend and business partner. They're losing a lot of money. But after watching the podcast, it's like the whole thing is about them and they even forgot that there are children at the heart of this. Fans can move on. They will move on. The children are witnessing their father's infidelity in real time, constantly, over and over because their dad is Ned Fulmer. Ariel is going to relive this infidelity over and over with all the news coverage. Ned is getting accountability, sure, but his family? I cannot imagine the trauma of all of this displayed for all the world to see. It's hard enough living through a nasty divorce without it being worldwide news. Thank you for reading my novel on polite pettiness and feelings.
Ariel can do whatever she wants after all this but I think the funniest possible thing for her to do is divorce Ned but keep working for Try Guys and keep being on the You Can Sit With Us podcast
What a power move
Yes it is what I hope for, but completely understand isn’t exactly super likely. It’s a lot to deal with publicly after all.
When they fired ned did he stop being an owner of try guys? If he still holds the majority of their company would that make him her boss?
@@HS-lv3is they probably bought out his share of the company, assuming they've cut ties professionally
@@HS-lv3is Yes, the other 3 announced that they voted him out of being a manager/owner of the company (as well as an employee) so he is gone completely.
We also need to remember that Ned was the designated financial person within the company. He dealt with all the money. He approved funding and purchases and most likely sorted all the paycheques. Including Alex's pay check. That immediately makes the power imbalance even worse
the best tweet i saw about this was as such:
"The Try Guys went from 25% gay to 33% gay and that, my friends, is a win for the LGBTQ community"
Edit: ...is this your application to join the try guys?
Best tweet for sure
They’re not an asset to the movement tho.
@@roreo1612 I agree
But do they have to be? It's still nice that a key member is gay
Representation matters
And this may be an unpopular opinion but being gay shouldn't be inherently political or radical
We should also be allowed to just be people existing no?
Somebody posted a screenshot of this tweet on Tumblr and that's how I found out about the cheating scandal
my favorite was: a try guy had an affair with a woman? i thought they were gonna try guys.
On your speculation of them “wanting to get caught” I think you are vastly underestimating the human capacity for complacency. That feeling that how things are now is how they will stay and it’s ok to relax. Keeping it secret required active work. Being found out doesn’t require any work. It just takes doing slightly less work to keep it quiet. Comfort and complacency is what blows up most affairs. Not intent to be caught.
Exactly. They get too comfortable which causes the slip-up that makes them get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if they were comfortably open about their relationship (flirting openly at work like that one claim) but the others couldn't do anything because of Ned's position. With how fast the other Try Guys dropped him, I wouldn't be surprised if this was their chance to drop him and they took it.
@@tama3162 I suggest taking this with a grain of salt but I saw someone on a different video about this situation comment that their friend that lives in LA said that Ned was known for messing around extramaritally. Obviously there’s no way to verify it, but given the whole “affair was at least a year quite possibly more” thing, it’s a decent possibility.
@@Polyeurythane Yeah, that was the post I was trying to remember! But it makes the whole situation worse imo.
He's the highest grossing Try Guy, with the others having net worths significantly lower than Ned's, even when put together. I wouldn't be surprised if the other Try Guys were aware of his cheating in some way but couldn't do anything about it. Or anything in a way that'd _actually_ affect Ned, until his cheating became known to the public.
Apparently the scandal ruined a major TV show deal the Try Guys were trying to secure too.
@@Polyeurythane So possibly this is the first prolonged affair
@@Polyeurythane have to wonder why man didn’t just consider polyamory if he was gonna be out here doing all that
The thing that gets me about this whole situation is that last year, I bought Ned's date night cookbook for my dad for Father's Day, but because it didn't arrive until September, it didn't arrive until after he and my stepmom got divorced. It later came out that they got divorced because he cheated on my stepmom. So while I don't really have a pair of social relationship with ned, I was the least attached to him out of the try guys, the whole situation just has a certain amount of crazy irony to it
*parasocial
Geezus christos....but yo, still give him the cookbook for the irony points xD
Pair of social lol
Pair of social relationship I’m crying 😂😂 did you mean parasocial relationship?
@@bxnny0374 Problems with using voice to text without proper editing, whoops. Def meant parasocial relationship. But honestly more funny if I leave it the way it is
I don't think he was trying to get caught. He was just arrogant and thought he could get away with it. So many of these guys who get caught harassing or assaulting women truly believe nothing will happen to them. In part, it's because, most of the time, nothing does. He probably got away with so much more that we don't even know about.
Great point
Thank you for addressing that Alex’s fiancé isn’t a public figure. It sucks for all people impacted. But damn to be the poor guy who never choose to share his life publicly. Ouch. Sucks.
His face hasn’t been attached to any of the vids though, right? It pays to keep yourself offline. Privacy is underrated
I’ve been getting kinda annoyed with people lumping Adam Levine and John mulaney and Ned into the same category, I’m really glad you didn’t play into that at all with this video. Not only because in the case of John, the only real evidenced judgement the internet can make is that he moved on too fast, there’s only the one anonymous source saying any cheating went on. But also because it feels disrespectful to Ariel. Adam was sh¡tty, John was potentially sh¡tty, but neither of them were “wife guys” in the way Ned was, nor were their transgressions in any way comparable. Ned had a year long blatantly disrespectful relationship with a coworker he had power over. He wasn’t just messaging other girls (which is already horrible). He wasn’t just moving on too fast. This is a whole other ballpark, and to associate it with the other two I think lessens the impact of just how uniquely awful his actions were.
it’s not confirmed that ned cheated for a year that’s a rumor from deuxmoi
@@peaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa someone sent in a picture of him and Alex having a date in may of this year, so there's proof it goes back at least that far
very good points HOWEVER ... john was 100% a "wife guy" without a doubt
@@sora1498 I really don’t see it. He had that bit where he talked about “I have a Jewish wife which is cool, she stands up for me” but other than that there isn’t anything like the constant adoring praise and centering of her in his identity that Ned or other “wife guys” have. Yeah, there’s the “could be a nursery” story, but Anna is just kinda implied to be there, she could be switched out with anyone, the story is about the housing person. The wife guy narrative seems, at least to me, to be entirely fan made. Maybe I could see the argument that he should’ve put an effort into telling his fans to not see him that way?
I agree for the most part, except that John Mulaney was absolutely a Wife Guy. Not to the same extent as Ned where it was his entire brand, but he had a lot of jokes about loving his wife in most of his specials, was always talking her up, and speaking positively about how much he likes being married. People absolutely recognized John Mulaney for his affection toward his wife at the time because for decades so many male comics have made shitty jokes about how miserable marriage is and how annoying their wives are, etc., whereas Mulaney was like one of the only comics to speak super positively about marriage. This is why everyone was shocked when he got divorced and even more shocked when he got Olivia Munn pregnant less than 6 months after announcing his divorce, especially considering how he and his ex-wife were known to be intentionally child-free.
Never underestimate the power of using your SuperHusband brand as a shield to get away with all kinds of side-eye behavior.
Ie:
“Guys, come on, you know how much I love my wife” **keeps bringing younger coworker her starbucks** 👀
Honestly as someone who's father did have an affair which I knew about when I was 8 and, being 8 and dumb, I blamed myself because, as an 8 YEAR OLD, all I understood was that my dad went on a date with another woman and dates were something adults did to eventually get married and have a family so I thought dad was replacing mom and I and, since he pretty much yelled at me every single day of my life at that point, I thought it was my fault. So because of my own experiences I find what Ned and Alex did completely unforgivable ESPECIALLY since Ned has kids, which Alex KNEW about since her and Ariel seemed like they were friends in all the videos they were in together (which also makes me sick to my stomach) so it's not like Alex didn't know that Ned was married with kids. I'm just so thankful that those boys are as young as they are so they won't be affected by this.
yeah, I don't like how people are trying to protect Alex only because what? because she is a woman?
she was talking to Arial, seeing her from time to time, and yet acting like she has never fucked with her husband
discussting behaviour, we should stop acting like lovers did nothing wrong. they did, if they know it is an affair.
@@dariavalgutskova355 ok I’m not saying Alex is innocent at all but people aren’t protecting her because she’s a woman people are protecting her because she was a CHILD when she met the try guys and she was his EMPLOYEE meaning there’s a power imbalance. Those are two very very icky factors that we need to wait for information to see if those had anything to do with the affair. No one wants to dog pile a potential victim of grooming and workplace abuse.
This scenario reminds me so much of when Kristen Stewart was pictured cheating on Robert Pattinson with the director from her film (Rupert something?). He was her director (so power imbalance) and she was apparently close with his wife and kids. I guess the only difference I can think of is in this case Ned is the famous one whereas in the other case, Kristen got all the flack because she was more famous (and probably also because she’s a woman). But god, it’s horrible. I feel so bad for Ariel and Will.
@@SunBeeSmoked how old was she when she met them?
@@WafflesOinc like 17 or something, I can’t remember her exact age.
Kristen and her wife are so cute together. Glad to see them getting the hype they deserve
Yeah! her and Jen's channel, the Kristen and Jorn show is just so wholesome .
The wording of "consensual workplace relationship" feels so off to me. If you're in a monogamous relationship and you don't have your partner's consent to engage in another relationship, I don't think that counts as consensual.
!!! Perfectly worded tbh
I think his main focus in saying that is to insist there was no coercion or similar seeing as he's her boss
Also it feels like saying “consensual high five” like…the fact that you’re specifying it’s consensual makes me question that statement more than if you’d just left it out.
“My ‘not involved in human trafficking’ shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt” kinda vibes.
The parties involved in the actual relationship consented, and that's the point of the phrase -- making sure no one thinks any kind of SA was involved
@@LittleFugueFlute While I understand why you’d want to make the clarification, Ariel was a party involved the relationship. Perhaps consent isn’t quite the right word, as it implies sex acts were done to someone without their consent, rather than that sex acts that involve them but are not physically done to them took place without their consent. It does seem like a pretty important distinction.
The Kitchen and Jorn channel is one of my favorite things to come out of Buzzfeed, it's a joy, and delight, and I am so glad you found Kristen, and her wife, they just recently did a 2 years into transition update video, and it was so sweet! ❤️
this has also been in my brain rent free for the past week it feels like 😭 I’m glad you made this because it’s kind of a lighthearted topic (in comparison to what’s happening in Florida, Iran, and Cuba) and we need that for sure.
first, i first thought this was a very casual way to say he died, and i was like whattt??
Yeah, so much of these are the same thoughts I’ve been having. Seeing so many people wondering why she wasn’t also getting fired was so baffling to me. Like neither of them were doing good, but the power dynamics and workplace ethics make it so much more out of line for Ned
It's unsubstantiated that the employees knew. You said that this was just one source and not to take it at fact, and yet you took that part as fact, which I find strange. My parent had multiple affairs for 2 years and yet none of my family suspected at all. It really can blind side you. I doubt most people knew about this; even if you see the signs, you deny it. Trust me; it's very likely that this came as a shock to most of the people involved. Not one person who knew my parent suspected this, and yet it happened. Yes, the signs were there, but even with that, it never once occurred to me that that could have happened until it was undeniable. It's only in hindsight that it's obvious, and only from the outside after everything is said and done.
there are other former buzzfeed employees who worked with them years ago saying they werent surprised, which at the very least heavily implies shady behavior or an affair had occured during the time Try Guys was together at Buzzfeed
considering so many others suspected it, it doesnt seem like a stretch to think the trio at least also saw some shady behavior and ignored it for whatever reason
@@absolutetrash8118 That again is the hindsight bias like OP was talking about.
Just because someone is a former Buzzfeed coworker and throws shade at someone doesn't mean they actually knew at the time they were employed together. They could easily have saw stuff and not put it together until they heard the news.
Just like the staff at Second Try didn't have to know when they were around one another in the office.
It is a logical fallacy and we should not perpetuate that "feelings/vibes being off" is actual evidence.
Let's not try to make people responsible for things they may just not have known. Right now we do not have any first-hand accounts of wrongdoing or evidence outside of the leaked DMs and photos. That means we can't just lump in other people when we have no proof they had any knowledge of the situation.
And as for the "this feels like a salad that cheats on its wife" comment from Keith. We can suppose/speculate he was aware/catching on to Ned's behaviour but we just do not know until we get first hand accounts from the Second Try staff or former mistresses about Ned's behaviour outside of those photos and videos catching them in the act.
@@kraziiXIII honestly valid, i did not consider that!
thanks my dude, i appreciate it
I’m a mod on Kristins (and Jens) discord server and when she started to do Twitch streams back in 2020 and she told us to keep a secret (at first) that her wife is transitioning! Everyone in the server all love and supported her and her wife sm! Brie is a beautiful person! (I know it’s off topic sorry…but after talking about the Ned thing sm I need a break from it lol)
One question I have about the situation is if people in the office were aware of this relationship for a year, why not fire him when it first became noticeable in the workplace, as that is the moment it made the workplace unsafe? If true that the relationship was "secret but noticeable" for that long, that must have made the office a pretty horrible environment at times for all of the more junior team members.
I think there's very little telling how long anyone knew outright, and legal proceedings may have required some sort of proof clause
Tbh the average worker there for sure won't bring up any allegations against him. It would have been very possible they'd lose their job and nothing else comes from this.
That aside, many people don't like to meddle in others affairs if it doesn't affect them.
The try guys most likely needed for the cheating to be public so that they have a legal reason to fire him saying that he is damaging their brand + also for the fans to accept the firing. The try guys message didn't say why they fired him so if they had fired him back then and wrote the same message, some fans could have turned against them.
Not Ned pretending the word "affair" just doesn't exist
He’s avoiding that me too like a baby dolphin lathered in baby oil
“Ned was the quintessential family guy”
Unfortunately he still is. 🤦♀️
Amen
This is one of THE BEST breakdowns online of the situation , don’t monetize your life , children , relationship and then cry and say we want privacy….
It just gets my goat that if Ned had just divorced Ariel he would probably still have a career, just not doing his usual gimmick. He has plenty of money to get a divorce and make sure Ariel and his kids would still have a good, comfortable life but he decided to disgrace his entire family instead.
Also I can’t be the only one who thinks the Try Guys as an entity won’t be able to recover from this
No he wouldn't, he didn't get fired for cheating, he got fired for having a workplace relationship with someone he has power over.
And ned was the HR guy for them, which makes it even MORE of a mess.
If he had cheated with someone outside of the show, then he'd be less likely to have been fired. He'd probably have been made to quit, considering the guys likely wouldn't want to work with him anymore.
Honestly this whole situation is so weird. He's basically her boss and they're both in a committed relationship (as far as we know)
The thing about consent in a power imbalance, how many people become quite a bit more .. alluring… when they’re a 10+ millionaire. Even semi-subconsciously, because **we live in a society** 😣
I had heard a bunch of stuff about this, but as I didn’t know anything about them other than they sometimes pop up on my recommendations, this was very helpful context. Thanks!
Thank you so much for making this video. Buzzfeed was professional about this but my old job wasn’t when something similar happened. Your video made me realize that.
The more I watch the more it mirrors what happened…. but the wrong person was fired in my case
Oftopic but I would really like to see a video about your patch jacket! I’ve gotten obsessed with diy clothes these days.
I think he has a story highlight about it on his instagram
It is now the 5th of October and he STILL hasn't changed his profile picture on twitter or his twitter bio. Like it's just painfully awkward at this point.
As someone who has never watched anything by the Try Guys but has been exposed to vague references to Ned's removal, I'm intrigued to find out what's going on
The three remaining guys will finally be addressing a bit of it on Thursdays podcast. So even if you don’t listen, I am sure tea will be spilt.
After the video the guys just put out last night, I believe that they didn't know ahead of time. It's possible the unverified post is made up, or has gone through too many rounds of The Telephone Game, or maybe people are just putting things together in hindsight. It seems from the reactions of the other guys, they are shocked and crushed and upset. I don't see all of them collectively agreeing to ignore the situation for a year, all the way until it went public, only to put on a "We had no idea!" fake act once Ned was caught. Poor Zach sounded really choked up, like he was really on the verge of tears, while Eugene looked like he should be kept away from sharp objects. Keith just seems very tired.
ngl when you said "I take steps to protect my privacy" I thought this was about to be a nord vpn sponsorship-
damn what a missed opportunity fr
@@brennenbeckwith We'll just act surprised if it does come up in the future.
27:52 and this is why I think that this has happened before!
like, Keith Eugene and Zach have known this man for years and has gone out to events and parties with him for YEARS... i believe that, whether it was with Alex or not, at least one of them knew that Ned was like this and this was a final straw kind of thing. i just have doubts that this was the only time he dated outside of his marriage. The rest of the Try Guys know what a big deal losing Ned would be and didn't drop him before because it wasn't a reason to fire Ned, let alone get involved in their marriage. this is all speculation, i hope that I'm wrong about all of this.
to add, i think that the reason why we have so few pictures of him cheating is because... Ned looks the most like any other white guy. at least when i saw the screenshots, i didn't recognize him. so i doubt that people minding their own business could recognize him from afar in dim lighting without the rest of the Try Guys or without Ariel, let alone with his arms around another woman.
They definitely knew. There was a Reddit post made a couple months ago first exposing Ned's cheating, and someone added to the post mentioning that Ned allegedly tried grinding on them in a club even though they clearly weren't interested. He was apparently really persistent as well. They asked Keith if he was always like this, and he said he indeed was.
If this alleged interaction isn't true, I think it's worth mentioning that there's a video of the Try Guys all taking lie detector tests, and when Eugene was asked if he thought Ned and Ariel would ever get a divorce, he tried saying no, but it was determined that he was lying.
@@inez5110 i found the Reddit post. i don't even know what to say. even though I had a hunch that the other guys knew, it sucks to know that there is a chance that I'm right
Well rumor has it he danced with a recent ex when they first got together and he fessed up to her, I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the first time she's found out and wanted people not to make it a big deal, but because this time it was with an employee hands were forced, which makes the whole thing double awful. But, as you said, everything we're saying is speculation
I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume that was the ex Ned wanted at their wedding but, Ariel explicitly told him that person was not to be invited.
I believe they knew he crossed lines being flirty/creepy to people, but I don't think they knew he was having a full on affair. I don't see them hiding that from Ariel and their own partners successfully, their partners being people who are even closer to Ariel.
This is basically the equivalent of Rachel Hollis and her husband getting a divorce; Ariel and Ned are by far WAY less problematic but when your brand is LITERALLY YOUR RELATIONSHIP it does become a bigger issue. I think we should respect their privacy, but it becomes a stickier situation in this circumstance.
24:36 I've checked Ariel's Instagram today and looked at some older pictures of the kids and there were several comments talking about how sad it is that their dad is a d*ck and how horrible it is that they'll have to grow up without him etc. Like...I get the parasocial relationship with the Fulmer family. That's why I was checking the Instagram in the first place. But could people sometimes just...shut up? Or at least place their comments under Ned's posts instead of Ariel's?
Dude your jacket is so rad. Great video btw
Watching people freak out and be SO UPSET about this has been wild to me. I've followed the Try Guys for a while and the most emotion ice felt about this has been "Aww. Poor Ariel." and it just makes me think about "good, unproblematic men" and parasocial relationships and just... there is no perfect online funny man. They're humans. Including them in your view of the world is incredibly flawed and not good for you or them.
Omg you’re truly human 2.0. How does it feel to be superior to us plebeians that still experience emotions?
@@maddieb.4282 I mean they kinda got a point tho
I’m embarrassed to have considered Ned’s marriage a relationship goal. But I guess it has helped reinforce the fact that the strongest relationships aren’t performative.
my mom watches a lot of twitch and has been keeping up with this situation a lot, and i can see why. last year we found out my father had been cheating for 4 years. i also have one sibling. hes also a rich white guy and an executive in a company. the whole situation definitely makes me very angry, not only as someone who used to watch them, but also because it reminds me of my own life. this shit happens so often, but its crazy seeing it happen with this much publicity. i feel awful for ariel. my parents could handle this privately and work it out so me and my sister don’t suffer too much, because they didn’t have this spotlight. no one has to know my dad is an infidel unless i bring it up. these kids will not get that. i dont want to rebuild a relationship with my dad right now, but i still could - i dont think these kids will be able to make these decisions in the way i can. it makes it all so much more complicated. i wish it could be private, only for the safety and comfort of ariel and their children. their health matters more than ned’s “downfall”. its so messed up i know this is ranty but wow
I liked the Try Guys for years, and it's just so disappointing because Ned was this example of like a gentle version of masculinity that encouraged being loving and affectionate and devoted to your wife and kids which I thought was a positive thing. And then it turns out he was actually the opposite of that.
Have to point out that even despite the power imbalance; it in no way was consensual. Both of the cheated on partners were unknowingly and unwittingly part of this affair, they never consented to it🤷♂️
Never seen a try guy video, never even seen a buzzfeed video but this blew up my TikTok feed and I'm a messy chismoso so I'm watch this whole video silently judging a man I know nothing about 🤣
I agree with your assessment of the situation. Very nuanced and balanced ❤️
i remember one video where ned said his biggest fear was failure, mostly failure in the company, and now… i think they just got sloppy with hiding it
edit: i totally forgot about the fact that they have a food network show as well!!!!
Is it strange that I consider it strange when a company cares about morality?
I think Ariel and the kids deserve the privacy, but Ned kinda.... screwed himself there
To be honest I think it’s naive to believe deuxmoi, like it’s completely anonymous and anyone could have sent these, I just try to take that stuff with a pinch of salt. I don’t think they were flirting around the office and such because others would have noticed
Hey man, don't worry about making videos about the most important drama or whatever's going on. It's fine if you just talk about stuff that interests you
I can have actually no clue what you're talking about and I'll still enjoy ur vids
So I'm going to try and add some levity here it is serious but here's a small funny, when me and my mom found out she said she wasn't really surprised someone who mentions his wife THAT much clearly has something else going on but she just assumed he was bad in bed and was making up for that.😆
NOT ED AND STEDE OVER THE CONSENTUAL WORKPLACE RELATIONHSIP, OMG 🤣
I’ve watched several videos about the Ned situation and your analysis is by far my favorite I’ve come across. Excellent work! I also fully agree that if there was a new member, having a trans man would be wonderful and a great new perspective to see showcased.
I love the way you made the distinction between two people with a power imbalance being in a non-consensual position without them necessarily having used that coercion. You made that point really well. ❤
petition for Brennen to be the new Try Guy
35:56 ("it makes more sense for the try guys to just be 3 guys")
Heh, *tri* guys
this is a great video and the first one of yours ive seen-- and when i saw the OFMD reference i LOST IT. don't mind me binging through all your videos on here-
hey brennen :)) I just hit my ten month on T milestone and hearing try guys try hrt,,, I died. I think it makes good sense for trans men to be included too (it always is) because so much of their fan environment is about safe spaces and being positive role models for young people and loving yourself (I mean I haven't watched consistently since like 2019/2020, but when I was listening). I know that I watched them in high school to feel like I had a group of Friends that were Boys, and it helped me when I was deep in the closet and didn't know I was a trans man yet. I think finding this out sort of took that nice spirit of boyhood, trying things, competing with friends doing silly challenges, trying on different types of clothes and costumes, eating the menu, (not that this IS boyhood or anything, but it's what I felt out I missed out on a bit in high school, and why I was so interested in their channel in the first place) away from me. I just feel so bad for Ariel and her kids. :((
Bringing trans men in can help bridge that gap in brotherhood with other men like me who were isolated and lonely and needing something silly and fun while I tried to work through my own stuff. And seeing that on camera on a channel like the try guys, seeing trans issues that aren't just "what is trans?" "why trans do this?" (rip anthony padilla) and begin to have nuanced discussions about how trans people are discriminated against and what genuine trans joy looks like. So much of our stories are about coming out, being hurt, or how we have to cope to survive in our own skin and the different layers of that. Imagine a whole range of trans mascs just chilling trying cool shit, showing cool trans shit, and being cool trans ppl - literally you're a genius brennen. I want trans try guys.
Sir , this is a Wendy’s
@@roreo1612 Actually, it's a youtube comment section.
@@gayfrogribbit yes, not a therapist office or a diary
@@roreo1612 It's related to the video and content creator and has nothing to do with you.
@@gayfrogribbit ill comment what i want. dont like it ? cope
I think it’d be good to stay three, too, but some people were floating around Kwesi, and I think that would be great as well.
I checked out Kristine again after learning that she has a trans wife and saw I comment on her video about her wife that said something like “Kristine has the same my wife energy as Ned from try guys”, that did not age well…… 😬
That’s what you get for assuming the most suburban dude didn’t have a mistress. That’s as cliche as white picket fence
You’re the first one to comment on his profile picture and to me that’s one of the funniest bits😭😂😅🤣🤣
There is a lot being based off of that screenshot that you said yourself hasn't been proven in any way? We have no idea if they were in a relationship for a year. I hate this situation and will never be a fan of Ned's again, but there have just been so many assumptions tossed around even by people who keep saying we shouldn't make assumptions.
I’m not sure Ariel knew fully that this was happening.
From watching her on the Podcast she seems to be (sadly) used to tolerating his disrespect and lack of acknowledgement for her hard work irl.
There is a significant chance he just told her Alex was like an office girlfriend that was strictly flirting and nothing else. A number of gossips from Buzzfeed have (quite insensitively to Ariel) come out to say Ned and invasive conduct is “normal” stuff.
Kristin and Devin rub me the wrong way honestly. The fact that they posted and kept the shade about the controversy up after Ariel’s post would be why. If you look at how Safiya and Quinta acted during the same period, they look EXTREMELY petty.
MAH WAIF!
Seriously, thanks for this thorough education in several things that were totally off my radar.
I saw a tweet that predicted these essays and I'm here for it
I wonder if he went the affair way because he tied so much of his identity into being the wife/family guy that he needed something that was just his. This sort of opposite extremes tend to work that way. This doesn’t excuse him, just speaks to the importance of self-identity.
Love watching this now bc we now have a trans try guy with Ash! 🙂↕️🙌🏼
Lol, was looking for this comment! Hi five fellow watcher!
Wild to think Ned has the highest net worth out of all the guys considering his on-camera personality is so one dimensional
Hope that your family in Florida is okay, Brennen. There sure is a lot of dire and major stuff happening in the world, yeah.
To do what Ned did, I think you'd have to actively kill off any self-awareness of what you were doing, you'd have to convolute what you were doing, convince yourself somehow that 'it's not wrong' or maybe 'this is normal' and I imagine that's why he was so careless. Can't take all of the precautions to get away with the 'crime' if you're pretending to yourself it's fine and not a crime. I'd guess he just wanted to enjoy the stability and social status of a conventionally successful marriage and also enjoy the thrill of an affair and having a mistress. Is it that he thought he could get away with it or that he felt entitled to it by his fairly easily attained position of privilege, power, and financial success? Clearly, he's never really questioned what he has, never given enough thought to the responsibilities that come with it.
Bit of a speculation tangent, but I wonder whether this kind of thing is a natural result of 'conform and perform the norm' ie the broad issues with comphet and other repressing, socially-enforced norms of society. Like, did he ever truly love Ariel? Or is it that she checked all the boxes of someone who would raise his own status? Like at this point, looking back the excess of '~my wife~' seems pretty performative.
I'm embarassed to admit this, but I found out what trans men were thank to a buzzfeed video. I was a very avid buzzfeed fan for a few years from 2014-2017. They had such a huge impact on our culture and stuff like this is always huge and crazy.
The Beanie is a W
Hypothesis (having only seen one Try Guys video in my life): Tri Guys knew about the affair before the Labor Day Weekend exposure, there was an exit strategy, Ned didn't follow the plan.
Do educate me if this is or isn't likely, I haven't seen enough if their dynamic to know if this is probable.
Ngl, Ned was my least favourite of the try guys.
If alex doesn't quit and it causes views of food babies to plummet YB is gonna suffer even tho she's done nothing wrong. Total BS
I can genuinely listen to you talk about anything.
So now the guys who really do just genuinely enjoy living with their wives somehow look worse than they did a week ago through no fault of their own. 😂
prozd is the only wife guy ever and thats bc hes not actually a wife guy/it's not part of his brand a la ned or john mulaney
Brennen oh my stars and garters I didn't even realize it was you until you said your name, I haven't seen you in forever it feels! You look lovely and it's a pleasure to know you're alright
I can't wait to listen to this and also check out your library but I have to ask: Is your cat a burmese? 🥺❤️ either way they’re beautiful
I think "you as a public figure have to keep things you want private private" is extremely salient, realistic advice, and that doesn’t necessarily make anyone who "takes that risk" and gets burned by it not still a victim of the force of the internet's invasive eyes.
I also just... don't care about cheating scandals, in particular. The mass public calling out abuse and calling for accountability is only ever really appropriate because perpetrators get away with it and there are rarely repercussions. Cheating sucks, but society already takes it way more seriously than sexual assault tbh. It's a breach of trust between two internet strangers and the fact that Ned isn't holding to monogamy like he said he would doesn't affect me, or anybody on the internet. And there HAS been accountability. They fired him!
since the company was under Californian labour laws, it is possible to fire someone under any circumstances
I think the REASON he cheated was because his relationship was his brand. If he fell out of love or in love with someone else, it would be hard to publicly own up to separation or divorce when his built that brand off of being wife guy. So he tried to have his cake and eat it too. He knows be doesnt have thar same success without Ariel and thus cheated. That is my guess as to why it happened in the first place and went on for so long, allegedly. No proof though so I'm only speculating.
Well, in an at-will state, you might be able to fire a guy for cheating on his wife. But yeah, you can't fire Alex without exposing yourself to liability.
OH!! A trans man on the Try Guys would be so exciting!!
I'd love to chat about this. No one irl really cares. It's interesting watching younger folks react. I too, have been watching a long time but I don't have the same kind of parasocial relationship cause I was already olllllld when I was watching them.
Puplic opinions means that both Ned and Alexandria are fired from the internet. They are now just like James Franco radioactive
Me getting a notification for the Try Guy video whilst watching this lmao
as much as i think introducing another try guy would be interesting i also think they could do a lot with having three of them, like the "tri" guys or whatever. make little jokes about it
You can definitely tell where ned started to develop an ego.
Something I find weird about the whole "don't have a relationship with a coworker" is as you point out, Ariel worked with them too, all the partners of the try guys have been involved in the business to some degree, and I would say if you ignore their relationship, it's pretty clear that Ned would have been above his wife from a strictly business perspective which would then imply an uneven power dynamic with ariel too, like the only difference is as far as I know ariel and ned didn't start out as coworkers getting together, but is that really the only thing that matters? because by that logic if ned and alex had been having their affair before alex ever joined the try guys then technically his dynamic with alex would be no different than his dynamic with ariel and in that case the only morally questionable thing would be the cheating. idk it just seems really weird that people hyper fixate on workplace relationships as something you should never do and that should never ever happen under any circumstance and then they let married coworkers slide for some reason?
Love your takes. Found it great when you started eating pie 🤣 was like having a good bitch with a friend!
He is still set for life with 10 mil 😅😂
Literally you can fire anyone for any reason in a good majority of the states....luckily they are not based in those states. It is called fire at will and is very heavily protected in a vast majority of states. Cali is one of the few with different labor laws!
I agree it was definitely consensual. At least btwn Ned & Alex that is lmao. Like going to a Harry Styles concert isn’t something you do with your subordinate who you’re forcing into a sexual relationship?? That’s a romantic relationship thing & it’s so upsetting that they both threw away their long term relationships for this😢
The thing for me is if Alex was being coerced into it the other Try Guys would likely take her side especially with evidence, leading me to believe she's not innocent.
of course it's all speculation atm so I could be wrong.
I think the tryguys hamdled this correctly, but I kinda hate when heavy branded youtube channel makes videos about interpersonal drama affecting the channel. It's like I get second hand embarrassment from watching people discuss very private things with perfect strangers over the internet. I actually prefer watching other youtubers discuss than watch the videos from the people themselves.
i think kwesi could be a good try guy, or maybe they stay as three and make sense of the triceratops as their mascot (also, tri guys)
Hi. New sub here. Thanks for this video and I love your vibe.
He's worth 10 million dollars?!
If I were Ariel, I would try marriage counseling to see if the relationship can be saved or, at the very least, end things amicably and mutually so that the kids are not caught up in a nasty, petty divorce.
If that doesn't work:
1. Divorce Ned and get as much as possible as they were married before Try Guys LLC was formed and she's part of that business, so she will get a looooooot of money. And she has earned that since she's provided content AND supported him through so much in leaving BuzzFeed and starting his own business, using their life for clout, etc.
2. Negotiate more Try Guys LLC content that is centered around a female experience, and how to have these conversations with children. Especially with raising boys to be respectful of others rather than just teaching girls how to protect themselves. Maybe they could do like a subsidiary company?
3. Have openness with fans about being divorced and a single mom that is positive and does not center around the pain Ned caused but the recovery she's on. He doesn't need more attention.
4. Start a patreon or some sort of special group of fans who are dealing with the loss of a marriage or long-term relationship that is a support group for everyone. Maybe a discord server that has regular meetings there to truly support fans. Maybe even start in-person chapters in various parts of the country and/or world. But that's long-term and anything to gather people together like with discord and different times to provide mutual aid and support and gather resources for others to use such as therapy, community services, housing, financial support, etc.
5. House tour after Ned is fully moved out that ends with the partners of the others sitting down, drinking wine, and generalizing about (sr8) men in a validating friendship circle. Ariel deserves at least one public session that is all about "f*ck men who hurt their partners and/or families" with her friends. Maybe it's not released but it's content that she can revisit when anger comes back in the on-going grief cycle.
6. Maintain a positive working relationship with Ned because he is the father of her children after all and being open about co-parenting and eventually bring him into my content to talk about co-parenting because that's part of support and recovery. Sure, he'd be getting attention, but it'll be years down the line, it'll be accountability, and won't let him off the hook either.
7. Find a super handsome partner who is an amazing step-parent and co-parent that will give the kids and Ariel a new kind of dream life.
This isn't going to be easy. The kids are going to feel this at school and from peers. The other three guys are acting like it's the end of the world. Yes, they lost a friend and business partner. They're losing a lot of money. But after watching the podcast, it's like the whole thing is about them and they even forgot that there are children at the heart of this. Fans can move on. They will move on. The children are witnessing their father's infidelity in real time, constantly, over and over because their dad is Ned Fulmer. Ariel is going to relive this infidelity over and over with all the news coverage. Ned is getting accountability, sure, but his family? I cannot imagine the trauma of all of this displayed for all the world to see. It's hard enough living through a nasty divorce without it being worldwide news.
Thank you for reading my novel on polite pettiness and feelings.
Why is Birth of a Bachelor my ear worm?
TRY GUYS TRY HRT