If you’ve been on the Internet recently, you’d have come across the “greatest social experiment”.
Nikocado Avocado, a US YouTuber, has just conducted the greatest social experiment.
So, what is it about?
What is Mukbang, The Genre that Made Nikocado Avocado Popular
Before anything, you need to know what Mukbang is.
Mukbang is the act of filming oneself consuming large quantities of food. For many, being a mukbang content creator seems like the ultimate dream job—you simply eat, record, and watch the views pour in.
For example, Zach Choi, one of the most-subscribed mukbang YoutTuber, has amassed over 10 billion views across his videos.
And of course, there’s Nikocado Avocado, the American YouTuber who broke the mold by becoming one of the first Western creators to embrace the mukbang trend back in 2016.
Initially, Nikocado Avocado, whose real name is Nicolas Perry, was just like any other mukbang YouTuber—skinny and focused on his food-centric content.
His videos stood out thanks to his unique blend of humor, erratic reactions, and loud outbursts, keeping viewers on their toes.
As time went on, unlike some mukbang stars who managed to maintain their figures, Nicolas began to gain a significant amount of weight. His on-camera rants about his health and weight, coupled with his increasingly large belly, only served to draw more attention and views.
And that was when things went out of control.
The Backlash and Criticism
Nicolas’s weight gain and seemingly unhealthy lifestyle soon came under fire from both viewers and fellow YouTubers in the “commentary genre.” Many accused him of sacrificing his health for the sake of content and setting a poor example for his audience.
Despite the criticism, Nicolas appeared to double down on his mukbang videos, even as he revealed severe health issues like needing a CPAP machine.
Some went so far as to label him “the most hated person on the internet.”
But it turned out that it was all just a…social experiment.
The Social Experiment
On 7 September 2024, Nikocado Avocado dropped a bombshell: he had lost over 125kg in the last two years.
The twist?
During those two years, he had still been publishing videos of himself in his obese state, consuming massive amounts of food.
Like this video:
Or this:
In his latest video, titled “Two Steps Ahead,” Nicolas revealed that it had all been part of a social experiment, and that he had lost over 114kg in the last two years.
Using a panda head as a motif and an ant colony as a metaphor, he explained that he had started his weight loss journey two years prior but had continued to post pre-recorded videos of himself eating to maintain the narrative that people had come to expect.
But there’s a deeper message.
Through this elaborate ruse, Nicolas aimed to demonstrate how people consume online content by following the narratives set by creators and the world around them. He wanted to show that people are being controlled by online content, rather than the other way around.
By presenting a stark contrast between his real life and the life portrayed in his current “videos,” Nikocado Avocado highlighted his ability to control the narrative, even when it didn’t align with reality.
Given how many negative feedback he garnered during the last two years, you can say that he has succeeded.
In the meantime, he’s back to doing mukbang videos, although no one can now say how unhealthy he looks now.
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