Image: Nikocado Avocado in his YouTube video “Two Steps Ahead”
Nicholas Perry, more popularly known as Nikocado Avocado, is a YouTube and internet celebrity known for his Mukbang videos. Mukbang content is a series or channel dedicated to a host eating various quantities of food while interacting with viewers. This genre of content became popular in South Korea in the early 2010s. Creators who make Mukbang content, or Mukbangers, have gained a considerable amount of popularity, therefore making Mukbang a possible content creator career path. These creators have the potential to earn income through advertising, endorsement and even sponsorships. However, with this growing trend of content, there is also growing criticism. Some viewers believe that this type of content is a promotion of unhealthy eating habits, eating disorders, food waste and other food-related controversies. Today, when the topic of Mukbang content comes into conversation, the most common Mukbang host that comes to people’s minds is Nikocado Avocado. He started filming his Mukbang content in 2016 and since then has gained many followers. As of right now, Nikocado Avocado has 4.45 million subscribers on YouTube alongside 4.5 million followers on TikTok. Many people would agree that Nikocado Avocado is the most popular Mukbang content creator in today’s society.
In 2014, the persona of Nikocado Avocado first appeared on the internet. However, during the start of his channel, his content was much different than what it is today. His early content consisted of vegan and lifestyle vlogs. It also featured musical performances by the creator who, at the time, was trying to pursue his dream of being in a Broadway orchestra. This all changed when Nikocado Avocado explained to his audience that he did not want to be a part of the vegan community anymore. On Sept. 1, 2016, Nikocado Avocado emphasized his frustrations with the vegan community stating “I think vegans are imbalanced, hostile, militant, and mentally unstable, among the different types of groups or communities out there in the world.” This was the moment Nikocado Avocado’s online persona became what it is today. For the past seven years, Nikocado Avocado continued to make his Mukbang content, eating various types and portions of food in front of the camera. From ramen to fast food to giant lobsters, Nikocado Avocado made his mark on the internet. It is important to note, with this lifestyle he chose, Nikocado Avocado gained a lot of weight. He weighed 411 pounds during the rise of his popularity, which is not surprising considering his occupation.
“Two Steps Ahead” is the title of Nikocado Avocado’s most recent YouTube video. The video starts with Nikocado Avocado sitting in front of the camera with an abnormally large panda mask on top of his head, saying the words “Two steps ahead. I am always two steps ahead. This has been the greatest social experiment of my entire life,” reciting almost the exact same script from his 2022 video “Two Steps Ahead – Original 2022.” He begins his familiar monologue with a supervillain tone, stating “I feel as if I’m monitoring ants on an ant farm, one follows another, follows another follows another.” Eventually he takes off his panda mask, revealing that he had lost over 200 pounds. During his speech, he claims ownership over his role as a villain for misguiding his audience and manipulating them into believing lies. Not long after this, Nikocado Avocado states “Today I woke up from a very long dream, and I also woke up having lost 250 pounds off of my body.” This obviously is not possible overnight, but he continues saying, “People are the most messed up creatures on the entire planet, and yet I still managed to stay two steps ahead of everyone.” After this, the video continues on as normal. The video also features his pet parrot named Mr. Noodle. Because of this small attention to detail, the reality of what Nikocado Avocado did finally came to light.
On March 2, 2019, Nikocado Avocado posted a video to YouTube with the title “I Can’t Be With Him Anymore.” In this video, Nikocado Avocado explains to his viewers that Mr. Noodle is no longer in his life. His distress is very apparent throughout the entire video. You can tell he is extremely upset about being separated from his parrot. There aren’t too many details given but what is known is that the parrot was alive and well and relocated to a new home in Colombia.
So how did Mr. Noodle make an appearance in Nikocado Avocado’s 2024 “Two Steps Ahead” video? The truth is that there is a possibility he didn’t: the recent YouTube video may have been pre-recorded during the beginning of Nikocado Avocado’s career. It was never a secret that Nikocado Avocado has pre-recorded his content in the past. In fact, in his video where he talks about Mr. Noodle, “I Can’t Be With Him Anymore,” he mentions how he pre-records his videos, stating “I did like 20 Noodle videos like back to back to back to back to back and they’re all prerecorded.”
Not many people have taken note of Mr. Noodle’s strange appearance in the 2024 video “Two Steps Ahead.” If they did, I’m sure there would be a lot less conversation around Nikocado Avocado’s “social experiment.” Many people are convinced that everything Nikocado Avocado posts is a part of one big grand scheme. Others believe everything Nikocado Avocado posts is prerecorded and viewers will be met with another transformation in the future. There are many wild hypotheses about what Nikocado Avocado may be planning.
But what is he planning? This is explained in a recent TikTok video by Nikocado Avocado. In this particular video, Nikocado Avocado, looking the same as he did before his “Two Steps Ahead” upload, starts the video off by breaking down the situation for the “low IQ’s.” He briefly summarizes his “Two Steps Ahead” monologue, going on to say “What was the result of that video? Billions of people believed it.” He scolds the viewers that made up theories, sparking this huge conversation, saying that he is “scared for society.” “Two Steps Ahead” was a prerecorded video Nikocado Avocado made years ago and was just posted recently. The social experiment was about how people would react to the video, not about his entire life being one grand scheme. This is what Nikocado Avocado told his viewers and also seems like the most logical situation. However, there is still a lot of conversation about the subject — mostly because of the few TikTok posts of Nikocado Avocado and the way he looked in the “Two Steps Ahead” video. These could also very well be drafts. But what if they aren’t? There are quite a few of them, and people are convinced Nikocado Avocado did in fact lose the weight. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Noodle, Nikocado Avocado’s former parrot, made an impossible reappearance, meaning that the video may have been pre-recorded quite some time before 2019.
There is a lot of speculation about this situation, but there are also facts that help set a clearer understanding of what is likely going on with Nikocado Avocado. There aren’t many clean cut answers, but it’s easy to see the situation clearly after noticing select details. In conclusion, Nikocado Avocado had completely blown up the internet for a short period of time, and after understanding what exactly he did, you learn just a tad bit more about online content consumption. Lots of people are left confused and lots of people are also coming up with more outrageous theories. At the end of the day, I guess Nikocado Avocado really is “Two Steps Ahead.”
Payton Vogt is a second-year English major. PV1017396@wcupa.edu