Nyema Gillespie
Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado revealed a remarkable 250 lbs. weight loss journey. “Two Steps Ahead” the YouTube video has amassed 39 million views in which Perry talks about his social experiment involving the reposting of old Mukbang videos while undergoing a transformative weight loss journey behind the scenes. “I woke up having lost 250 pounds off my body. And just yesterday, people were calling me fat and sick and boring and irrelevant,” Perry remarked in the popular video.
“Perry was born in Kherson, Ukraine, adopted by an American family and raised in Pennsylvania.” He attended the Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama and Art and moved to New York in hopes of becoming a violinist and playing on Broadway.
His origins on YouTube began with making vegan content, creating videos dedicated to his plant-based diet and showing his classical violin skills. In early September 2016, he uploaded a video where he announced he would no longer be a vegan stating that the online community was “unbalanced, hostile and mentally unstable.” In late 2016 he made the ultimate switch and started making mukbang content. Mukbang originated in South Korea, where the creator eats large amounts of food while interacting with the audience, it gained popularity in the United States in the late 2010s due to creators such as Perry, Stephanie Soo and Zach Choi.
Although Mukbang is a popular form of content, it has harsh effects on the obesity epidemic throughout the United States. Obesity is classified as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to a person’s health. The effects of obesity vary from Type 2 diabetes to higher risk for strokes. Obesity in the United States alone is a public health concern, according to the National Institute of Health, one in three adults are classified as obese. The research study, “Addictive Symptoms of Mukbang Watching: A Qualitative Interview Study Using Directed Content Analysis "showed that there is an association between screen-based eating and increased risk of overweight and obesity.
Perry has reinvented himself as the “King of Mukbang” under the alias of Nikocado Avocado. As of today, he holds over 2.5 billion total views across social media platforms and is one of the most followed mukbang creators. He holds a significant role in popularizing mukbang, contributing to the trend’s growth and its adaptation across different social media platforms. In addition, for his notoriety for his videos he has also been a staple of meme culture for the dramatic outbursts he has in his videos. Perry has faced criticism from viewers and multiple media outlets over his use of exploiting his health and mental state for views.
Perry seems to be taking a new path for himself, although he will continue to move forth in his absurd eating content, it appears to viewers that now he will have more in-depth care for his health, although viewers do not seem convinced about his “natural” weight loss. Theories vary from Ozempic use to the video being a hoax. Nobody is sure of what to think of this new persona of Nikocado Avocado. We will just have to wait and see how long this will last.
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