The Try Guys

[nycinthesun]

So SNL did a Try Guys skit. It's not very funny TBH and minimalises the whole thing (probably because Ned is friends with an SNL writer):

I have been an SNL fan longer than I've been a Try Guys fan, but that skit rubbed me the wrong way. While I initially chuckled at the accuracy of the look of the video (outfits, background, the actors, etc) I couldn't find anything funny about the skit. I wondered if I was in the minority in feeling like the skit was done in poor taste, and relieved to see that others felt the same. People who are lampooning the guys for taking this so seriously and being so transparent about it forget that their majority audience are comprised of girls and young women, who may have, or will experience/witness multiple instances of a man in power not being held accountable for his actions. The Try Guys handled this situation very well, and I think it serves as a great example to their audience of the change in tides on how a white, hetero, cis-man who is in a position of power (and also friends and business partners with other men in power) can't just get away with everything.

 

[Roarr]

Ned has made a statement fully admitting it, his poor wife.

 

[AvaKnight]

The latest paparazzi piks r really strange. They look like nothing is wrong. I know it could be a brave face act but I dunno it’s odd. Looks like this issue has been dealt with a while ago.

Ooh it's strange us being out of our usual Snooks thread!

I agree - the recent footage and snaps are just....odd. Having seen the fallout from cheating (within a marriage) at very close quarters, nobody involved looked that 'calm', not for months. I absolutely appreciate being somewhat in the public eye changes things, but even so. Ariel deserves an Oscar for that level of performance!

I know, and understand, so many people saying how can she stay, she deserves more (she does) and she needs to leave. But with two small children, in a marriage, their professional lives also so tied up in them as a couple (proof if ever it were needed *not* to use your marriage as a product)....its not easy. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I would understand if she stayed. All my sympathies are with her and the kids, can't even imagine how Ariel must have felt when she found out.

Also, I really don't believe the guys knew. Nothing concrete. Becky and Ariel are incredibly close, and I don't believe for one second Becky would have tolerated that from Ned, or Keith knowing and not telling her. Maybe I am being too idealistic. I think they knew he was a prick, and acted like one, but until you have proof, what on earth can you say? Like, your husband is a knob - thanks, I know? Not easy.

 

[Westeryonder21]

Eugene is very career focused and proud of his/their achievements and worrying about their public image will be important to him I think. And as Zach said they just filmed a tv show ffs and Ned was stupid enough to flaunt his affair in public. They have lost so much money out of this anyway plus potentially the tv show as well. They are all angry but Eugene is raging.

I do think E & Z are very emotional people outwardly though. Keith less so but you can tell all three are deeply betrayed and I doubt they are acting/lying. Surely they must be angry at Alex as well? I know the power imbalance however IMO she had full control and could have told any of the guys if Ned made advances and they would have put a stop to it. Unless something else has gone on we don't know. We do know it was a long affair not a lapse of judgement.

I would be so angry, lost a friendship and income. Personally I think they've handled this very well following legal processes before reacting and trying to keep it quiet for Ariel. If it didn't come out I genuinely don't think they would have told us publically what went on.

 

[emm]

Ooof. I also suffer with RBF much like Eugene, but I actually really respect him for showing his clear upset and rage with Ned. So often, especially professionally, we are told to keep our feelings inside and not to allow them to dictate decisions etc. But Eugene is clearly betrayed and enraged with Ned and by Ned's behaviour - I'm glad that's clear to see. I certainly don't read the video as any kind of performance from the three remaining chaps - I don't think any of them are that good at pretending, tbh!

For me, what is wildly apparent is how disappointed they all are in the length of time this was going on for, but also how long they have invested in their company and brand and what Ned's actions have done to both of those things. No wonder Eugene is absolutely apoplectic, they have put close to a decade of work into this. I would be seeeeething.

Yeh, I agree, it is not only a betryal on a business level but also a friendship one, which makes it so much bigger. I actually liked the video for them clearly showing their emotions like this tbh, much better to see than the usual "we are still great friends and..." blabla bullshit that would usually be the case. Also does convince me that they didn;t have a real idea about it, as someone else said he was close to Ariel so i assume he wouldn;t have just ignored anything he knew. I also liked the appreciation they have for their staff and how this is all affecting them, I cannot begin to imagine the money they are losing now because of Ned being a total moron. I do wonder what he will end up doing? And also her, I doubt she would want to continue working somewhere where people probably hate her. I hope that Ariel continues to participate in the channel as the ultimate FU to ned

 

[emm]

I just got recommended a youtube video about how ned wS apparently caught having sex in a car during the day with someone (not his wife) months ago

 

[squatternutbosh]

The latest paparazzi piks r really strange. They look like nothing is wrong. I know it could be a brave face act but I dunno it’s odd. Looks like this issue has been dealt with a while ago.

 

[BubbleDuck]

what could the other guys have done though before it became something that impacted the business. Knowing your business partner is a creep who is likely cheating on his wife is something you can ( and hopefully they did ) condemn on a friend basis but not something you could use as a reason to fire someone . It only becomes a workplace issue when Ned brought it to the workplace by being with Alex.
And getting caught

 

[instant_callout]

LOL. not Zach saying "parasocial relationships are totally cool". The dude wants to make sure the coin keeps flowing because parasocial relationships are their whole business model. Really clever and subtle manipulation.

 

[emm]

I’ve seen some people point out how a lot of Ned’s expressions about Ariel were saying she is his wife rather than just naming her

I wonder if there’s a level of control in the relationship where Ariel wasn’t really allowed to go and set up her brand away from Ned in case the worst happened

that is very true, i saw something on youtube yday which kind of mashed together all the times he said "my wife", i had never noticed it at the time, but thinking about it I couldn't remember her name, I know Keith's wife Becky as he always names her as such (and I am not good with names). Looking back it is bizaree. If I were Eugene I would be pitching for more videos with Ariel

 

[squatternutbosh]

Hmm looks like Neds infidelity has been going on for longer than we thought. It does add fuel to the open relationship theory. Maybe due to the amount of investment and complex business stakeholdership both parties (Ned & Ariel) have with the try guys, they carried on the charade? Now that there’s public screenshots it’s unravelled very quickly and hence the sudden announcements. Coz Neds been edited out since early sep so something has been on the back burner for a while.

Neds lost 100k followers on insta

 

[qwikti]

I feel so bad for Ariel and the kids. And for Alex's fiance, who was with her for 10 years as well. God, what a terrible situation to be in. Didn't even have the decency to do it covertly, just all out in public together without a care in the world.

 

[folklorevermore]

Question from somebody that knew that Try Guys exist but never really followed anything: would you consider the fact that they seperate from him harsh or entirely expected? I get that the personality he portrayed was very "I love my wife" and may have no longer worked and relationships to employees are always grey area, but my initial reaction was really "wow, pretty harsh to get rid of someone for something in his personal life without breaking any laws", you get what I mean?

I don’t think they had much of a choice.

On one side, Ned was her boss. So there’s the subordinate relationship issue going on. They frequently joked in videos that Ned was HR. So his relationship really looks dodgy from that perspective. Not to mention any allegations of sexual harassment or general inappropriate acts in the workplace could reduce their sponsorships etc so they’ll need to distance themselves from it as quickly as possible and as publically as they can.

Also, increasingly the Try Guys have become intertwined with the marriage too. Ariel’s on her own podcasts with them and has done lots of videos. There’s an entire “Try Wives” line up of videos, merch etc. I imagine they feel pretty betrayed by the whole thing (and the fact that he could have ruined the business and reputation they’ve built up for the past decade (?)) so they want to move away pretty quickly. It will be interesting to see if Ariel remains in anything in the future.

 

[knivesnflowers]

the whole consensual relationship thing in the statement was purely to save himself from an actual legal 'uh oh here's the literal police coming to arrest me for sexual harassment' situation, which is completely different from 'uh oh i broke a clause in my work contract by sleeping with an employee'.

snl focussing on that instead of the other three's right to be hurt by ned losing them millions of existing dollars, prime time tv show slot, millions of hypothetical dollars, trust, respect from their audience (but obvs they've handled it well), legal costs, costs in buying him out as majority stakeholder, costs in paying editors more hours to digitally remove him, and above all a really decent adult friendship is quite insulting.

the try guys will be fine, but ned couldn't guarantee that when he slept with alex could he? they're making content about it because they need to provide context to upcoming work with him in. there's so many layers to this that snl dismissing it as being 'woke' or whatever makes them look really fucking stupid imo

 

[DanDanTheIceCreamMan]

The latest paparazzi piks r really strange. They look like nothing is wrong. I know it could be a brave face act but I dunno it’s odd. Looks like this issue has been dealt with a while ago.

From reading the subreddit, it looks as if it all came out around the beginning of Sept. So I guess they've had a few weeks to get the initial arguments out of the way and most of the business stuff has already been worked out. Meaning while it's news for all of us they've had time to sit with it.

They're probably in the middle of some serious marital counselling at this point. I don't care what happens to him, but I hope she'll be ok in the long term.

P.S. The podcast (TryPod) has been delayed and looks like it will address what's gone on (next episode Oct 6th)

 

[Cloudycoffee501]

It’s whether they’ve had to buy him out and whether they can afford to. Also I wonder if Ariel has money tied up in Neds company. I think they have new premises now don’t they but they were filming in Ned and Ariel’s old house for a long time.

Could all be super messy. He’s just an idiot. Why cheat in public like that when your whole online persona is “I love my wife” makes you wonder if something is going on with him and he almost wanted to be caught out. And for her, it’s bad enough being cheated on, and then having to make a decision about whether you are staying in that relationship or not with 2 young children without it being all over the internet. She must feel horrible!

 

[squatternutbosh]

Yeah clearly there was some resentment in the video, and I’m sure Ned tried to be clever and maybe sue them for unfair dismissal or something. here’s my take:
- Ned probably thought he could temporarily step back from the Try Guys as he tries to salvage his marriage and come back once the shitstorm has blown over
- the rest of the guys weren’t having it and decided to cut ties fully
- Ned resorted to legal action
- maybe the internal review bought to light some more unsavoury behaviour from Ned and maybe more ppl involved?
- Alex is spoken about with great empathy from the guys, “imagine having ur greatest fuck up broadcasted to the world” “death threats”
- Ned may have considered suing them for defamation as there’s a lot of legal restrictions which the guys constantly highlight.
It seems to me It’s not a simple case of someone shagging in the office. There’s a lot of complexity surrounding it and it definitely does not look like Ned went down quietly.

 

[Spoke]

It’s refreshing to see males talking about an emotional impact of a life event and how they navigated their way around it. Usually it’s rarely spoken about. Also one thing that struck me was when Zach said “the allegations against Ned”

I think this is another way to protect themselves from being sued. I’ve listened to the episode and I agree, it sounds like Ned tried to get litigious and that might have been an additional factor to them feeling betrayed.

 

[starri]

eugene's rage is so clear oh my god.

In fairness, while he obviously is angry, he does have RBF at baseline.

 

[emm]

Can’t remember if I read it on here or somewhere else but YB had some strong words about her ‘not being friends with either party involved’ and she’s angry about her content being deleted, she’s also disassociated with the try guys on her insta handle. No way Alex would continue to work there. She might get a settlement to stay quiet and probably go back to buzzfeed lol

Even if she is not sacked imagine working there and everyone just gossiping about you behind your back all the time. The atmosphere must be awfull, not to mention everyone being angry at all of the brand deals and money the channel has lost