“Two steps ahead. I am always two steps ahead.” Currently reaping around 4.36 million followers on YouTube, 4.3 million followers on TikTok, 156K followers on Instagram, and gaining millions of views for each video posted, Nicholas Perry has been a huge (no pun intended) creator on social media. From making videos of eating ginormous meals that could feed three families, to playing the violin half-naked, he has made a huge influence on the mukbang ASMR community. His videos were deemed “disgusting” and “excessive” by society, but his most recent video had the internet in shock. A 25-minute video titled “Two steps ahead” was abruptly uploaded on his YouTube channel. This clip was not the usual “eating five packs of ramen plus three buckets of Korean fried chicken” but instead, it was of a lean figure with a panda mask on. Freshman Ranin Alwishah shares her shocked reaction.
“I was pretty astounded,” Alwishah said. “I thought he was like a big giant whale, but actually he’s just this little twig now.”
For context, this is how the video played out. “This has been the greatest social experiment of my entire life.” The mysterious panda continues; “all these unwell disorientated beings roam the internet.” He continues talking about consumers and how people are “thirsty for distraction from time” which is spoiling their minds while stimulating their brains. He says it is brilliant, so brilliant that it is dangerous. The panda then rants on and on about how he feels like he is monitoring ants on an ant farm, where each one follows another. Finally, he lifts the panda mask where it is revealed: the skinny figure is none other than Nikocado Avocado himself. He says, “So I am the villain,” and claims we will consume the stories about him for as long as he continues to be the villain. For the rest of his introduction, he talks about how just yesterday people were calling him fat, sick, boring and irrelevant. He continues, saying people are the most messed up creatures on the entire planet; yet he has managed to stay “Two steps ahead.” All of a sudden, he flashes a creepy grin that looks like it could be the sequel for “Smile 2”. This monologue was identical to the script he read two years ago when he was still titled for being morbidly obese. That video is now deleted and unavailable. Something smells fishy here…
The video cuts to Perry sitting behind a food tray with his bird “Mr. Noodle” resting on the handle. His personality seems bright and positive, the complete opposite of what was shown a second ago. For the rest of his video, he talks about waking up from a bad dream while eating his favorite spicy black bean noodles. At the end of the video, he says something out of the ordinary. He says that mukbang is supposed to be a way to connect, and he is trying to bring this original sentiment back to the internet.
The videos were truly a rollercoaster for its millions of viewers. It is shocking to see Nikocado Avocado lose 253 pounds within a single day– transforming from 411 pounds to 158 pounds. The most shocking part is how he pulled this off. Perry had posted pre-recorded videos for two years straight while losing weight behind the scenes. This facade is really not that shocking since the internet is a place where everything and anything can be edited, faked, and manipulated—the perfect platform for someone like Nikocado Avocado.
Everyone has seen heavily edited videos and cheap pranks that even a three-year-old would not laugh at, but it has been a while since the internet has encountered a plot twist like this. Unlike Jojo Siwa’s “drastic” change, Nikocado Avocado has thrown one of the biggest curveballs in internet history. From editing his drafts to seem more recent, to shaving his head so others would not recognize him in public, this man has dedicated his entire career to fooling society. The most surprising aspect that many watchers do not truly understand is that this might not be his final plan. Who knows, maybe that video he uploaded was actually a year ago and now he is getting extremely buff! Nikocado Avocado is unpredictable. Since he has been able to fool the internet in such a clever way, he can surely do it again. The scary part of social media is that viewers never truly know what is on the other side of the screen. His words of being the villain were not a ruse– he is the internet’s Joker.
However, there is always a motive behind every confusing change. The question “But why?” comes to mind. Why did he decide to lose weight? Why did he choose this social experiment? Who else knew about this change? Is this AI? So many questions rushed onto the media after his video appeared. Yet practically none of them have been answered yet. Some speculate that he did this to prove the internet is hateful, while others say that it was a change of heart. The scariest part is his persona. The character built around Nikocado Avocado is in theory way more complicated than the entire “Five Nights at Freddy’s” lore. He outed himself doing horrendous acts, created a channel where every single embarrassing video was uploaded for the whole world to see, and for the cherry on top; did creepy role-playing dialogue similar to what every narcissist says in a “Gacha Life” mini movie. Nikocado Avocado has such differences in his persona to the point where it could be deemed as an evil twin.
Details on whatever is happening behind the scenes will most likely come out in the near future. For all we know, Nikocado Avocado might be planning another grand scheme. In the end, people will continue to consume his content, like little ants trapped on an ant farm.