Why Outdoor Boys quit YouTube before coming out of retirement for heartbreaking reason
Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.
Popular YouTuber Luke Nichols, who runs The Outdoor Boys channel, came out of retirement to appear in someone else's video - but sadly, that doesn't mean he's rethinking his retirement from running his channel.
Nichols saw his channel become one of the fastest-growing on the platform, but earlier this year, he made a goodbye video announcing that he was going to quit YouTube for a while.
The Outdoor Boys followed the adventures of Nichols and his three young sons as they went camping, fishing and hunting in all sorts of places across the United States, before he said back in May that he was going to be wrapping things up.
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However, in recent days, his fans were able to see him return, albeit under tragic circumstances, as he kindly offered to step in and cover for a fellow outdoorsy YouTuber who was going through a tough time.
The MyLifeOutdoors channel is run by Steven, who is currently caring for his wife after she was diagnosed with cancer.
"Some of you may know that Steven with the MyLifeOutdoors YouTube channel is helping his wife battle cancer while also raising four kids and running a YouTube channel," Nichols explained on social media, as a video where he visited Alaska was posted to the channel.
"That's a lot to deal with, so I made a video for him to have and post exclusively on his channel so that he didn't have to worry about making a video over the holidays."
The return to YouTube has been widely praised, with people saying: "The GOAT came out of retirement to help a friend. What a legend."
Many others took the rare chance to offer positive comments to Nichols, since The Outdoor Boys videos were posted with comments up, making it clear they missed him.
Nichols had quit YouTube earlier this year, announcing his decision in a video where he explained that 'even good things can be taken too far' and he thought things had reached that point.
"I'm not just talking about the time and energy I spend making YouTube videos. I'm also talking about the attention it brings," he said of his decision to indefinitely pause his channel.
He said he was finding the 'sheer volume of fans trying to contact me, trying to take pictures with me, or just trying to come up and talk to me in public' somewhat 'overwhelming'.
Nichols also said he and his wife had concerns about what such a level of fame might do to their sons if the channel kept growing.
He said: "The time to stop is before this problem gets so out of hand that my family and I can't live normal lives."
So he's decided to step back and help his children with their own channels, as it's what they want.
A few more recent videos were posted on The Outdoor Boys, but if you thought that meant he'd made a comeback with his own content then hold your horses because those were just unfinished projects which he'd promised to release 'at the end of the year all in one big dump'.
Topics: YouTube, Cancer, Health, Community, Social Media
Joe Harker