On September 27, the internet was buzzed with reports that the famous YouTube channel ‘The Try Guys’ parted ways with one of its members Ned Fulmer. The reason behind the move was the revelation that Fulmer cheated on his wife. Notably, Fulmer had stopped appearing on the channel’s videos for the last couple of weeks. The whole fiasco revolving around ‘The Try Guys’ prompted discussion over the toxic work culture among former Buzzfeed employees.
The toxic work culture at the Buzzfeed
Before we move on to Ned Fulmer’s story, let’s have a look at what Buzzfeed’s former employees are talking about about the work culture at the company.
Sam Stryker, who worked at Buzzfeed between 2014 and 2017 and appeared in The Try Guys series as well, said, “You have to understand working at BuzzFeed from 2014-2017 was like being a part of the suicide squad.”
if you had 5 free minutes you would get pulled into a video to try deer penis for the first time. hilary duff glitterbombing you in the office. going undercover to nail a hollywood predator bc you were the only twink in the office
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) September 27, 2022
He mentioned how the employees were not let be free even for a short break. He wrote, “If you had 5 free minutes, you would get pulled into a video to try deer penis for the first time. Hilary duff glitter bombing you in the office. Going undercover to nail a Hollywood predator bc you were the only twink in the office.”
Some netizens discussed that Ned, who was a manager at Buzzfeed, was allegedly a very toxic person himself in the office. Many people that he had hired left the company allegedly because of him.
Heard he was actually also toxic during the Buzzfeed days, he was a manager and hired lots of the employees and they left because of him. Wow, the actual personality behind a family man.
— Arsya (@laIunenoire) September 28, 2022
Former BuzzFeed employee Candace Lowry Bryant said that the period between 2014 and 2018 at BuzzFeed deserves a documentary.
Today taught me that we need a documentary about what it was like to be a BuzzFeed employee between 2014-2018.
— Candace Lowry Bryant (@TheCandaceLowry) September 28, 2022
While replying to a Twitter user, she said, “It was pretty wild times.”
It was pretty wild times
— Candace Lowry Bryant (@TheCandaceLowry) September 28, 2022
So how toxic is the work culture at BuzzFeed? Well, imagine you are an intern at a company that makes videos, and they tell you to drink your own urine as a part of an experiment and that was just only one example.
The people who appeared on videos were made to eat weird stuff including, well, the genitals of different animals.
Buzzfeed India was accused of perpetuating similar toxic work culture
Buzzfeed India, which had shut shop, was no different. In September 2018, a then-employee of BuzzFeed India Pranav Dixit bullied a woman on Twitter, stalked her on the professional networking site LinkedIn, and reached out to her employers just because she countered him on his views.
It happened when filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri prepared a list of “urban Naxals”. Dixit did not agree with the list and when a woman named Seema Trivedi disagreed with Dixit, at one point he snapped. He went out against Trivedi on social media platforms and reached out to her employers for an ‘official statement’ on her contrary views.
He even wanted to use BuzzFeed as a platform to bully Trivedi, in an attempt to intimidate her from expressing her views. While BuzzFeed as a platform has always tried to portray itself as a champion of freedom of speech. Because, how dare you ‘troll the press’?
Ironically, Dixit has written on online bullying and how Twitter needs to ‘step it up’ after talking to ‘survivors of harassment, journalists and cops’.
Later, after many netizens stood against him and threatened to file a formal police complaint, Dixit apologised.
Who are ‘The Try Guys’
Those who are not aware of the YouTube channel The Try Guys, it is a company formed by four former Buzzfeed employees, Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfield and Eugene Lee Yang. Before starting their own venture, they had a very successful series by the same name on Buzzfeed.
In 2018, they left Buzzfeed and started their own venture, and millions of fans who had followed their videos on Buzzfeed followed them on their new channel. At present, they have around 7.5 million subscribers on YouTube. The whole concept of the channel revolves around trying new things. They have shared many personal experiences since the beginning under the concept of “trying new things”.
Ned Fulmer, the “Wife Guy”
Ned Fulmer was known as someone who loved his wife Ariel dearly from the beginning. The couple got married back in 2012 after living together for over a year. In 2014, after the group started working on the ‘The Try Guys’ series on Buzzfeed, Ariel appeared on several videos in and out of the series.
When the group separated from Buzzfeed, the couple was expecting their first child, and the whole experience was covered in multiple videos as well. Ariel has also appeared in the podcast ‘You Can Sit With Us’ by The Try Guys productions. However, she has been missing from the recent episodes as well.
Ned Fulmer admitted cheating on his wife
Fulmer confirmed on September 27 that he had cheated on his wife. As per some reports, it was The Try Guys producer Alex Herring (Alexandria Herring) with whom he was involved in an extramarital affair. Herring appears in the series “The Food Babies”.
In a social media post, Ned wrote, “Family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship. 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.”
— Ned Fulmer (@nedfulmer) September 27, 2022
A few days before the revelation, there were some rumours that Ned and Alex were caught kissing at a New York City bar, following which the group announced that he was fired from the group. The post read, “Ned Fulmer is no longer working with The Try Guys. 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.”
— The Try Guys (@tryguys) September 27, 2022
Following the controversy, Ariel also published a post on Instagram and urged everyone to respect her family’s privacy. She wrote, “Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me – it means a lot. Nothing is more important to me and Ned than our family, and all we request right now is that you respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
Ned’s wife Ariel released a statement at the same time. “Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me—it means a lot,” she said. “Nothing is more important to me and Ned than our family, and all we request right now is that you respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
The Reddit user who exposed Ned’s extramarital affair
According to Twitter user Camitwomeyy, a Reddit user Hamilton390 claimed he got a blurry video of Ned kissing Alex in the bar from an unknown user. He further claimed that he talked to Ariel about the issue as well.
7) A Reddit user (hamilton390) claims they caught Ned doing something bad. When another user asked for proof this is what they sent: pic.twitter.com/bpNkYGgeuM
— Cami (@camitwomeyy) September 27, 2022
Following the expose, Will Thayer, Alex’s fiancé, removed all her photographs from his account and made his account private.
9) Will Thayer who is Alex from the Food Babies fiancée removed all his photos with her and does not follow her anymore. (his account is now back to private)
— Cami (@camitwomeyy) September 27, 2022
Furthermore, YB, another Buzzfeed employee who edited The Try Guys videos and appeared in the series The Food Babies, unfollowed Ned and Alex. YB is one of the most famous former Buzzfeed employees who rose to fame with her content on YouTube.
10) YB who is close friends with Alex and is the other of the Food Babies is no longer following both Alex and Ned.
— Cami (@camitwomeyy) September 27, 2022
Please note that all the reports about an affair between Alex and Ned are just speculations. The names have been confirmed by the persons involved or The Try Guys.
