The founders of popular YouTube show The Try Guys said they were ‘shocked and saddened’ to learn their co-host Ned Fulmer was cheating on his wife with an employee, and explained why they decided to fire him from their company.
Fulmer, 35, will be edited out of most of their un-aired material, the founders said, and erased from marketing and publicity work.
The trio – Keith Habersberger, 35, Zach Kornfeld, 32, and Eugene Lee Yang, 36 – published a video to their YouTube channel on Monday, updating their 7.8million subscribers to the latest developments.
They confirmed that they were alerted on Labor Day to the existence of footage showing their fellow co-founder, Fulmer, passionately kissing Alexandria Herring, who is a producer for their show.
The three said that Fulmer was fired from their company on September 16.
‘Ned confirmed the reports and since confirmed that this had been going on for some time, which was obviously very shocking to us,’ said Habersberger.
‘And we just want you to know that we had no idea this was going on. All of that information was just as shocking to us as all of this has been for you this week.’
The Try Guys – from left: Eugene Lee Yang, 36, Zach Kornfeld, 32, and Keith Habersberger, 35 – on Monday published a video to their YouTube channel confirming that they had fired their colleague Ned Fulmer from their company, after he had an affair with an employee
Ned Fulmer (left) admitted to having a long-running affair with Alexandria Herring (right)
A picture of Fulmer and Herring (pictured) has been circulating the internet, exposing their affair
Fulmer is married to Ariel Fulmer, who made frequent appearances on the YouTube show, and the couple have two young sons.
Fulmer and his wife also hosted a podcast together called Baby Steps – an unvarnished look at how they raise their ‘Instagram-worthy family.’
Yang, who is in a long-term relationship with Olympic gold-winning swimmer Matthew McLean, said the three of them were devastated at the damage Fulmer had done to their company and brand.
‘From the jump, we were acutely aware of just how contrary this was to the values of the company we’ve built and those of everyone who works here,’ said a noticeably angry Yang.
‘This is something we took very seriously.We refused to sweep things under the rug. That is not who we are and is not what we stand for.’
Kornfeld struggled to contain his emotion when he spoke of the hurt and sadness they felt at Fulmer’s actions.
‘I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to fully articulate the pain we feel at this moment,’ he said.’It’s hard to re-watch old videos that we love and are proud of.
‘We’re losing a friend, we’re losing someone we built a company with, we have countless memories with.’
Ned Fulmer is pictured with his wife Ariel before being caught cheating in a New York City club with a producer of his show
Producer Alexandria Herring (pictured with her fiancé Will Thayer) was caught on camera making out with married YouTube star Ned Fulmer.Thayer was contacted by someone who saw Herring and Fulmer together
A social media user messaged Herring’s fiancé about the affair before sending over the video
Fulmer (pictured here with Ariel) was known for consistently talking about his wife in his content
Habersberger explained that they had commissioned an independent review into Fulmer’s actions, and concluded that they could no longer work with him.
‘Now, we can’t talk about the details of the review, but suffice to say we found that Ned had engaged in contact, well, conduct unbecoming of our team and we knew that we could not move forward with him,’ he said.
Kornfeld then explained how they had edited Fulmer out of their shows.
‘Over a few weeks, that’s included removing his section from videos, digitally removing him from others, and choosing not to feature him in our merch throws,’ said Kornfeld.
‘There are several videos that we’ve deemed as fully un-releasable.You will never see them and that is due to his involvement,’ they announced. ‘And that’s a decision that has cost us lots of money.’
He said the three of them had decided it was worth the cost, but added that they were all ‘working with our editors in finding creative solutions to the footage.’
The three stressed that there were families involved, and urged fans of the channel not to vilify the woman.
Both Ned and Ariel Fulmer were seen wearing wedding rings in late September as well as being spotted walking out of their house together
Ariel Fulmer appeared to still be wearing her engagement ring and wedding ring in this photo of her holding the steering wheel of her car. Likewise, Fulmer was also still sporting his wedding ring on his ring finder
Ned’s wedding ring appeared to catch the sunlight as he went for a jog in his neighborhood
‘We also wanna remind you that the internet has a tendency to be a lot harsher towards women than men,’ said Yang.’So please, we ask that you exercise kindness.’
Kornfeld concluded: ‘We were obviously incredibly shocked and deeply hurt by all of this.
‘This is someone who we’d built a brand and a company with for eight years.
‘We feel saddened, not just personally, but on behalf of our staff and our fans who believed in us.’
The saga began when a sharp-eyed person at a New York City club recorded the Fulmer and Herring making out.
The bar patron contacted a user, who appears to be Herring’s fiancé, Will Thayer.
He then posted the messages he received to prove that Fulmer and Herring were making out.
‘So basically I went out to Niagara the club last night and saw her making out with Ned from the Try Guys, I have video if needed,’ said the unnamed accuser, in messages to Thayer.
Thayer then asked the person where it occurred before being told ‘the entire time they were making out.He was touching her too all that stuff.’
Fulmer confirmed the affair on Twitter after the Try Guys released a statement.The former member said his ‘family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship’
His wife also posted on her social media, thanking everyone for reaching out, but asking for ‘privacy for the sake of our kids’
While the posts to Reddit only show grabs from the video and not the videos themselves, this was apparently enough for Thayer to conclude his girlfriend had cheated on him.
Thayer said he spoke to Fulmer’s wife Ariel for an hour about the allegations, before he deleted all pictures with Herring from his Instagram and made his account private.
Much of it appeared to be unproven speculation until recently when the Try Guys released an official statement on their Instagram confirming Fulmer was no longer with the group.
‘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 statement read.
The statement from the group was backed up by a following statement from Fulmer, who admitted the affair.
‘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,’ Fulmer said.
‘The only thing that matters right now is my marriage and my children, and that’s where I am going to focus my attention,’ he continued.
Try Guys began in 2014 when the members, who were then employees at Buzzfeed, began making content centering around them trying new things
The pair were seen loved-up across their content and even released a cookbook last year together called: ‘The Date Night Cookbook.’
Just after that, Ariel Fulmer released a statement on her Instagram that read: ‘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.’
Fulmer and his wife share two sons: Wesley, who was born in April 2018, and Finley, born in November 2020.
In late September, Fulmer and his wife were seen wearing wedding rings during a school run.
They were also seen out and about together, putting on a united front, despite the media storm.
The group, which started at Buzzfeed in 2014 when the four men were employees at the publication and started creating videos trying new things.
Herring starred in a separate YouTube show called Food Babies but also served as a producer for the Try Guys.
Fans of the show noticed something was suspicious when Fulmer did not appear in recent Try Guys videos, missed out on podcast episodes and even appeared to have been edited out of some videos.
Ariel also missed out on recent episodes of You Can Sit With Us, a podcast comprised of each of the Try Guys’ wives.
