Three years after his cheating scandal shook the YouTube world, Ned Fulmer is speaking out.
The former Try Guy is making a return to the spotlight after stepping away from the YouTube channel and group that made him famous, following an internal review of what he called a “consensual workplace relationship” with an employee outside of his marriage.
Fulmer told People magazine in an interview published Tuesday, Sept. 16, that he feels “ready to share my story and to move on into a new chapter.” The former YouTuber is set to debut a new podcast, “Rock Bottom,” on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
In September 2022, after fans discovered photos and videos of perceived intimacy between Fulmer and an employee, The Try Guys announced Fulmer would no longer be working with the channel. Fulmer later released a statement admitting to losing “focus” and apologized to The Try Guys, fans and his wife, Ariel Fulmer, for “any pain that my actions may have caused.”
“For a long time, I wanted nothing to do with social media or the internet,” Fulmer now tells People of the aftermath. “I didn’t think it was particularly beneficial to my mental health.”
Fulmer said he came clean to his wife, dug into why he had been unfaithful and started his journey to healing and taking stock of “how much pain I had caused.”
Who are the Try Guys?
The Try Guys, which boasts more than 7.9 million YouTube subscribers, began as a BuzzFeed webseries in 2014 that chronicled founders Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger, Eugene Lee Yang and Fulmer’s zany exploits in trying new things – experiencing labor pain simulation, baking without a recipe, taste-testing everything on a fast food chain’s menu and driving while intoxicated (under professional supervision), to name a few. In 2018, the four left BuzzFeed and founded their own production company to continue the Try Guys brand.
The former foursome is now down to two after Yang left in 2024.
Are Ned and Ariel Fulmer still together?
The couple began couples counseling, but he said there were “many points” where it was unclear whether their relationship would survive. Through therapy, Fulmer said he began to recognize his discomfort with honesty and that the couple rebuilt a new “foundation of trust.”
He added that “every cent that we spent on therapy was worth it.”
“It’s certainly stronger than it was before,” he said of their marriage. “We have a much clearer sense of boundaries – understanding and respecting each other’s boundaries – as well as integrity and being direct with each other, even when it might be unpleasant.”
Ned Fulmer reflects on ‘ironic’ scandal: ‘I was presenting myself as a wife guy’
Reflecting on the uproar from the cheating scandal, Fulmer acknowledges his behavior came in stark contrast to the way he presented himself online.
“It’s pretty well known that I was presenting myself as a wife guy who talked about his adorable relationship,” he said. “It was something fans seemed to resonate with and I leaned into consciously.”
He added: “I understand that that’s why it was such a big scandal – because it’s ironic and it feels like a rug pull to people. That must have been really painful and devastating to the viewers.”
Fulmer said his internet persona didn’t reflect reality. “It’s obviously not how real relationships work. And I think that disconnect was challenging for me to deal with, and I obviously dealt with it in a very self-destructive and painful way.”
The internet personality will make his official return to the spotlight with “Rock Bottom,” a podcast created out of his need to create things again. The podcast will feature interviews with people about their lowest moments, and his first episode is with his wife. “The conversation was so brutal at times that we wanted to get up and walk out of the room,” he said of the episode.