This could be the end of an era. Ned Fulmer, the “I love my wife” guy from The Try Guys, has been caught having an affair with one of his employees, and it’s a mess.

Some of you reading this may be wondering who The Try Guys even are. (In that case — why are you reading this? [JK, please don’t go.]) If you were an extremely online millennial in the mid-2010s, consuming Buzzfeed videos and quizzes probably took up a considerable chunk of your free time. The Try Guys were easily the most popular series on the platform, even if it did have the most basic concept: four guy friends trying new things. But that was peak internet entertainment back in the day, and the guys made it work by being generally lovable and funny. The Try Guys have since left Buzzfeed, started their own company, and have even recently gotten a TV deal with The Food Network.

A huge part of their success is due to how open they were about their personal lives. So when this cheating scandal broke online, netizens are now in shock. Here’s what went down.

What happened

Rumors of Ned’s infidelity have been swirling around the subreddit r/TryGuys for about a month, but it wasn’t until last night (September 27) that it blew up online. It all came to a head when a Redditor exposed “evidence” of the cheating in a now-deleted post, and it was pretty damning.

ned fulmer cheating on ariel, his wife, with “evidence” 1-10

(recently deleted) pic.twitter.com/DlO1UeHyG7

— NED FULMER EXPOSED (@nedfulmerexpose) September 27, 2022

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Nah because Ned from Try Guys is wearing the same shirt in the pictures and Alex from Food Babies also has the same purse…. It ain’t looking good for them 🥴 pic.twitter.com/g6p0ArgNUz

— 🌸✌🏽 TAYLOR WON MFS 🗣🎉🎉 (@Majestic_Wonder) September 27, 2022

According to the screenshots, Ned was caught on video in New York making out in a club with Alex Herring, one of the producers at Try Guys. The person who took those videos apparently sent them to Alex’s fiance Will Thayer and Ariel Fulmer, Ned’s wife.

More “evidence”

Netizens also noticed that Ned seems to have been edited out of recent videos and promos as early as the beginning of September.

4) Fans are also speculating that it looks like Ned was edited out of both the Try Guys Ruin Chocolate Eclairs Video and Try Guys Try Standup Comedy. pic.twitter.com/XMybu3zv38

— Cami (@camitwomeyy) September 27, 2022

The unfollowing

The screenshots were quite blurry, so they still left some room for doubt. But internet sleuths soon found out that Alex and Ned had been unfollowed by several people:

• Alex had been unfollowed by her fiance Will Thayer.
• Alex had been unfollowed by her coworker and friend YB Chang.
• Alex and Ned had been unfollowed by former Buzzfeed employee Kelsey Impicciche, who is also one of YB’s close friends.
• Alex and Ned had been unfollowed by Try Guys social media manager Jake La Rosa.
• etc, etc.

It’s a lot, but you get the picture. After this all went down, Ned has also been unfollowed by his fellow Try Guys Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Yang, as well as the official Try Guys account.

Why is this so shocking?

Ever since his Buzzfeed days, he’s been gushing about his wife and how much he loves her, so much so that there are several compilation videos of it.

He’s also capitalized on his loyal husband brand by creating online content around being married, launching a cookbook with his wife, and even hosting relationship talks in universities. He’s literally built his brand around being “the married one” on The Try Guys, so this infidelity has shaken their fans to the core.

Ned and Ariel have been married for 10 years, and they have two sons together.

The fallout

Many fans say that The Try Guys have probably been working up to revealing this news for a while (since Ned has been edited out of videos for a month now), but after the scandal erupted online, they had no choice but to acknowledge it on the internet’s terms. In a statement, they revealed that Ned is no longer working with The Try Guys.

The confession

After being officially booted from The Try Guys, Ned finally confessed publicly to the affair.

Many took issue with his wording (“consensual workplace relationship”, anyone?), but that’s probably due to the very sketchy fact that Alex was his subordinate, and the legalese is necessary to cover his ass.

Ariel Fulmer (who has since removed “Ned’s wife” from her Instagram bio) has also posted about this whole mess. She thanked people for their support, but also requested privacy as she and Ned focus on their family.

Ex-Buzzfeed employees weigh in on the mess

For people who *~love mess~*, seeing ex-Buzzfeed employees sound off on this scandal has been a trip.

Ex buzzfeed employees commenting on Ned and the Try Guys is my avengers assemble. pic.twitter.com/dlFEos59nX

— vi 🍮 (@vincyagain) September 27, 2022

If only we could see what’s going on in their group chats.

lmao the bf alum chats are ablaze

— Matt Ortile (@ortile) September 27, 2022

The future of Try Guys

This is a sad day for almost everyone who’s enjoyed Try Guys content — even the ones who haven’t watched their videos since their Buzzfeed days.

This is also horrible timing for The Try Guys, who just signed their first TV deal with The Food Network. We can only imagine just how pissed the rest of the guys were after they found out.

do u think eugene had to be restrained from killing ned when he found out

— viivi ☄. *. ⋆ TOMORROW ⋆ (@holmussy) September 27, 2022

Though Keith, Zach, and Eugene are hugely talented and can definitely hold their own without Ned, it’s undeniable that this has hurt their brand as a whole.

the try guys try adultery pic.twitter.com/HdaEO5My3I

— katherine pierce sympathizer (@TeeNotHereRN) September 27, 2022

Some fans see this as a good thing — an opportunity for the Try Guys to add more diversity to their too-white lineup. But for many of us (this writer included), this has served as a wake-up call to stop forming parasocial relationships with internet celebrities who don’t know we exist.

What do you think of this Ned Fulmer from Try Guys cheating scandal?