# I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship is a catchphrase lifted from Ned Fulmer's September 2022 apology after his affair with a Try Guys coworker went public[1]. Fans mocked the clinical wording within hours, and by the next day Twitter users were captioning Succession screencaps and stills from The Handmaiden with the line. ## Origin The Try Guys, an ex-BuzzFeed YouTube quartet, confirmed in late September 2022 that Ned Fulmer was out of the group after fans spotted him in New York with coworker Alexandria Herring instead of his wife Ariel[7]. On September 27, 2022, Fulmer published a notes-app statement to Twitter[1] and Instagram[2] apologizing for 'the mistakes I made,' writing that he 'lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship.' Readers zeroed in on that single sentence within hours. User @ynaishteru replied the same day that the clinical wording was 'such a lousy way to say cheating,' telling Fulmer to put his Yale chemistry degree to use. The reply collected roughly 53,700 likes in two days[3]. Fulmer's own tweet reached about 26,400 likes and his Instagram post around 145,600 in the same window[7]. - **Platform:** Twitter / Instagram (original apology), Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Ned Fulmer (source quote); @princekendalI (earliest known image macro) - **Date:** 2022 ## Overview Posts in this format pair Fulmer's buttoned-up corporate wording with chaotic visuals of romance, cheating or workplace scheming. Users caption screencaps of fictional affair plots with the exact apology line, drawing much of the imagery from prestige television such as HBO's Succession[4]. The joke works because Fulmer, a Yale graduate and family-vlogger brand, reached for HR-speak at the exact moment that language sounded absurd[3]. Variants also wire the quote into other 2022 Twitter trends. User @tattyoIdthing linked the line to the Slut Era format in a tweet that hit roughly 160,400 likes in two days[5]. User @RhodeToLove used a sultry still from Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden with the quote underneath, gaining around 54,000 likes in a day[6]. The further the paired image lands from a wholesome Try Guys video, the sharper the gag. ## How to Use To use the line, writers typically caption an unrelated image of lust, cheating or workplace drama with Fulmer's exact wording. Common choices include still frames from Succession or other prestige television[4], paired with no additional commentary so the mismatch between the clinical sentence and the sordid visual does the comedy. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship? It is a line from Try Guys member Ned Fulmer's September 27, 2022 apology for cheating on his wife with a younger coworker[1]. Twitter users spun the clinical wording into image macros within hours[4]. ### Where did I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship come from? The sentence appears in a notes-app statement Fulmer posted to Twitter[1] and Instagram[2] after his affair with Alexandria Herring went public and got him removed from The Try Guys[7]. ### What does I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship mean? On its surface it is Fulmer saying his affair was mutual. Readers heard it as HR-speak that softened cheating, which is why @ynaishteru's reply calling it 'a lousy way to say cheating' took off[3]. ### How do you use I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship? Writers caption an unrelated image of flirting, cheating or workplace scheming with Fulmer's exact words. @princekendalI's Succession screencap set the pattern[4], and @RhodeToLove applied it to a still from The Handmaiden[6]. ### Is I Lost Focus and Had a Consensual Workplace Relationship still popular? The catchphrase had its biggest moment in the days right after Fulmer's apology on September 27, 2022[1]. It is still recognized as a reference to the Try Guys scandal, though the viral image-macro output slowed once the news cycle moved on[7]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/nedfulmer/status/1574840236495945728]() 2. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CjBYMTov2-m/]() 3. [https://twitter.com/ynaishteru/status/1574840758988726272]() 4. [https://twitter.com/princekendalI/status/1574845903017545733]() 5. [https://twitter.com/tattyoIdthing/status/1574848525925380098]() 6. [https://twitter.com/RhodeToLove/status/1574976083559972865]() 7. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-lost-focus-and-had-a-consensual-workplace-relationship]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/i-lost-focus-and-had-a-consensual-workplace-relationship Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library