Outdoor Boys YouTuber explained real reason he quit his channel in rare interview
Former YouTuber Luke Nichols has revealed the 'real reason' behind why he bid bon voyage to his Outdoor Boys channel.
The father-of-three has spoken out about his decision to retire from the online realm after producing ridiculously popular videos for more than a decade.
He captured the attention of people across the globe with his videos which showed off his survival skills and adeptness for the great outdoors, earning him more than 18 million subscribers.
But in May this year, Nichols, 47, announced he would no longer be churning out content - and he's since drastically changed lanes after deciding to devote more time to his Mormon faith.
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The outdoorsman did make a brief return to YouTube a few weeks ago, as he offered to create a video for his friend Steven Smith, who runs the MyLifeOutdoors channel.
Nichols kindly offered to pilot his page for a brief period as the dad-of-four is caring for his wife, who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Now, the two men have sat down to film another video for the MyLifeOutdoors channel - and this time, they delved into 'the truth' behind why Nichols no longer wants to be an online star.
The keen camper explained that although a 'lot of people think that it's because of the criticism' he faced from trolls, it's actually all to do with how much 'attention' being a YouTuber brought him.
Nichols was never interested in achieving celebrity status with his channel, as he revealed that in his eyes, being in the spotlight 'is not healthy for human beings'.
Speaking of his decision to bow out from the Outdoor Boys, he said: "I always knew that I wasn't going to do this forever.
"The idea of me being out 60 or 70 years old [and saying] like, click, subscribe! Being a YouTuber is probably analogous to being a professional athlete.
"It's not a career that most people grow old in, so I've always kind of knew that there would be an end to it. I've been thinking about retiring for a couple years, actually."
He said his wife Rebecca has been super supportive throughout his rise to online fame, but he decided that quitting would be best for his family.
"There was a lot of reasons for it," Nichols continued. "A big part of it was the exposure.
"The channel blew up really big and it kind of went from people recognising me every once in a while, to people recognising me everywhere I go, all the time.
"We started have to really have serious conversations about security issues and the safety of the family."
The Alaska-born content creator reckoned that his YouTube audience could have doubled in size over the next few years if he carried on, so he decided to nip it in the bud before things went any further.
Nichols said he feared a 'full-blown celebrity lifestyle' was soon on the horizon, explaining: "I don't want that. I don't want it for the kids. I don't want to live that way.
"I want to be able to go out in public and eat dinner with my wife at a restaurant and not have it cause problems.
"I want to be able to go to my kids' school events and not have it be a distraction to them. You know what I mean? So, that was a big part of it."
Nichols said that at the height of his Outdoor Boys success, he had also been living an 'unhealthy lifestyle' as he was working up to 100 hours each week on a regular basis.
Ever the outdoorsman, he then used a fitting analogy to explain why he called time on his YouTube channel.
Nichols said: "When is enough, enough? It's weird. It's like clam digging, you know... I love going out and clam digging and stuff, and it's so much fun.
"But if you're not careful, you'll walk away with like six five-gallon buckets of razor clams and then you look around and go, 'What on earth am I going to do with six buckets of razor clams?'
"And you spend 12 hours cleaning clams, processing clams, and you eat clam chowder for three years... you have to know when is enough.
"I think fame can be like digging clams. You need to know when is enough and stop. I limited out on clams, and it was time."
Once an outdoorsman, always an outdoorsman, eh?
Topics: Parenting, Social Media, US News, Viral, YouTube, Lifestyle
Olivia Burke