The latest video from famed mukbanger Nickocado Avocado opened on a skinny man wearing a large novelty panda head. It was a shock to long time viewers because Avocado hadn’t uploaded a video in months and the last time anyone saw him online, he was 411 pounds.
“Two steps ahead. I am always two steps ahead. This has been the greatest social experiment of my entire life,” the panda head said. It was Avocado, but he’d pitched his vocal register down. Presumably to sound like a cartoon villain.
Avocado’s real name is Nicholas Perry and his YouTube channel is legendary among streaming fans and train-wreck watchers. The story goes that Perry was a health-food conscious mukbanger who enjoyed eating salads and avocados in front of a camera. Then he lost his way, and his health, chasing the algorithm. The past few years, millions of people have watched as the skinny 158 pound man ballooned to a shocking 411 pounds.
Along the way he recorded videos where he downed massive amounts of food. The thumbnails were grotesque, often showing Perry’s food-stained maw slurping down an uncomfortable amount of food. The personal drama was worse. Perry’s marriage was on and off the rocks. His health, it seemed, was in danger. He sometimes broke down crying on camera while shoveling fast food into his mouth.
To everyone watching, it seemed that Nickocado Avocado had consumed Nicholas Perry.
A cottage industry of Avocado-commentary flourished. People uploaded reaction videos of every twist and turn of the journey. MeatCanyon, a popular YouTube animator parodied Perry’s channel in a video. Then Avocado recorded his own video reacting to the animation. Drama channels cataloged every moment of Avocado’s life. Whole podcasts were recorded that recapped the drama and begged the question: “What happened to Nicholas Perry?”
It was, to hear Perry tell it, all a show. “I have been strategically posting pre-recorded videos for 2 years, on both YouTube and TikTok,” he told NBC. “I edited the videos so that they would appear recent, allowing me to focus on healing my body behind the scenes.”
In the video he uploaded on September 6, he monologued for three straight minutes about the dangers of social media and compared his viewers to ants. “It’s alluring. It’s compelling. It’s gripping. To observe all these unwell, disoriented beings, roam the internet in search of stories. Ideas. Rivalries. Where they feel encouraged and engaged. Where they involve themselves with the stories and become a product of influence. Thirsty for a distraction from time unspent. Spoiling their minds yet stimulating them at the same time. It’s brilliant and it’s dangerous. I feel as if I’m monitoring ants on an ant farm. One follows another follows another follows another. It’s mesmerizing. It’s spellbinding. All these little consumers. All these lost and bored people. People consume anything that they’re told to consume.”
At this point, he takes off the panda mask. Gone is the Jimmy Neutron-style pompadour that defined his persona and helped sell merch. He’d replaced it with a buzz-cut. He leered at the camera, his head tilted forward so he looked evil. “So I am the villain. Because I made myself one. And you will continue to consume these stories about me. Year after year after year. For as long as I tell the internet that I am the villain. Stories that permeate and linger and infect the minds of the ants. Influence the ants. Brainwash the ants. You are the ants,” he said.
After the monologue, the video cuts to black. When Avocado returns, he’s smiling. His voice has moved back up the vocal register. He sat for 20 minutes and ate spicy noodles alongside his beloved parrot, Noodles.
Perry told NBC the panda mask was a symbol. “The world of social media is not as black-and-white as it appears.”
The same day as the villain reveal, Perry started new accounts on Instagram and X. He posted a new video to Nikocado Avocado 2 where he cheerily ate cheesy noodles alongside his parrot.
“Welcome to Nikocado 2,” Perry said. “This is my second channel and I hope you consider subscribing because I don’t even know if people like me or if they want to hear from me. I haven’t made a video in like two years.”
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