Viral superstar Ned Fulmer, the disgraced former member of the Try Guys, has spoken out for the first time since his cheating scandal canceled his career.
Fulmer shared he was “ready” to speak publicly on the affair that ended his career and reputation during an interview with People on Tuesday.
“I feel ready to share my story and to move on into a new chapter,” said Fulmer, who created a “wife guy” persona and then cheated.
The Try Guys was a comedy act of four men who began as part of media company Buzzfeed in 2014. After finding success on YouTube with a devout fan base, the Try Guys became independent in 2018 and enjoyed viral success, amassing nearly eight million subscribers on the platform.
Alongside Fulmer were founding members Keith Habersberger, Eugene Lee Yang, and Zach Kornfeld. Fulmer developed his persona as the “wife guy” for his obsession and open devotion to his partner, Ariel Fulmer. But in September 2022, Fulmer was caught having an affair with a company employee, leading to a viral scandal that shocked the internet.
Fulmer was immediately let go from the company. Remaining members Habersberger, Kornfeld, and Yang announced Fulmer’s departure in a video titled “What Happened,” which garnered 13 million views.
The incident became mainstream with Saturday Night Live parodying the scandal, and Time listed the incident as one of the most viral moments of 2022, calling the scandal “The Try Guys Try Adultery.”
Since the public fallout, both Ned and his wife have gone radio silent. Ned’s last post on Instagram dates back to September 2022, and Ariel made her Instagram account, with nearly half a million followers, private.
“For a long time, I wanted nothing to do with social media or the internet,” Fulmer said. “I didn’t think it was particularly beneficial to my mental health.”
Ned, 38, who is still married to Ariel, 39, revealed how the couple has rebuilt their relationship. Ned came clean about his affair and said he was “trying to understand why I had done what I had done.”
“That was most devastating to work through and to realize—how much pain I had caused her. If I were looking at a past version of myself, how I’d really want to change [is] the way I’d been interacting with her,” he said.
The couple also began therapy, which Ned has shared “every cent…was worth it for the improvements in our family life,” which has become “stronger than it was before.”
With his return to the public eye, Ned is also launching a new podcast titled Rock Bottom with Ned Fulmer, set to release on Wednesday, September 17. As the title suggests, the podcast will feature conversations with people about their lowest moments.
“Anyone who’s overcome something challenging,” is on the table, Ned said, including drug addictions, convicted gang members, and canceled social media stars.
The first episode will be a conversation with Ariel, where the pair will recount their moment.
“The conversation was so brutal at times that we wanted to get up and walk out of the room,” he admitted. “It’s a really hard thing to have that conversation in such a way where you know people are watching it. But once we watched the full episode, it was something we were really proud of.”
Ned said the podcast was a “necessary step” to move on from the past.
“As a creator, you have a responsibility to reestablish the context of who you are after something like that,” he said. “I know that addressing the past is something that people care about and want to hear about from me, so it’s kind of this necessary step to move into a new chapter.”
Ned, who has since shed his “wife guy” persona in an effort to ditch “a caricature or this one-dimensional type of person,” vowed to be more transparent with his viewers.
“It’s pretty well known that I was presenting myself as a wife guy who talked about his adorable relationship,” he said. “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,” he acknowledged.
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