'Outdoors Boys' Dad Luke Nichols Quits Beloved YouTube Channel
The beloved YouTube channel Outdoor Boys is no more.
According to Outkick, Outdoor Boys is "run by father-of-three Luke Nichols."
In a May 17 video on his YouTube channel titled "Goodbye," Nichols announced he was retiring the channel. The video has more than 6 million views in less than 24 hours.
"Hey, everyone. This is going to be my last video for a while," he announced.
He said he's made 1,110 videos. "It's been a wild ride," Nichols said, adding that there have been "so many late nights " editing, camping, and running the channel.
He said in the YouTube video that he's made "wonderful memories," but "even good things can be taken too far." He said the attention that his videos bring means that his family has been viewed billions of times.
"The sheer volume of fans trying to talk to me... can be overwhelming at times," Nichols says. He said he and his wife were concerned about the impact of the attention on their family and whether they could live normal lives if they continued.
The news surprised and disappointed fans.
"YouTuber Outdoor Boys (14.8m subs) just announced he’s retiring the channel for now. One of the most wholesome creators on the platform stepping away due to the fame and to focus on helping others/his children’s channels. End of an era," wrote a fan on X.
Nichols started his channel in 2015 to "share his love of fishing, camping, and enjoying the wilderness with his boys," Outkick reported.
Along the way, he posted a series of videos that highlighted "surviving in nature," according to Outkick.
The Outdoor Boys channel says, "Me and my boys, Tommy, Nate and Jacob are the Outdoor Boys. We love all things outdoors: family projects and adventures, travel, forging, camping, campfire cooking, fossil hunting, magnet fishing, metal detecting, goofing around whatever we darn-well feel like!!"
Nichols' page has 14.9 million subscribers.
Nichols said he is going to focus on other things for now. He said he has three kids who want to run YouTube channels. He wants to step back and "focus on helping other people for a change."
He said he does have some half-finished videos, and he might post them at the end of the year "in one big dump."
Nichols said he's hoping people can go find people they can help if they found his videos helpful to them.
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