YouTube legend Outdoor Boys reveals heartbreaking reason he's come out of retirement

A popular YouTuber has briefly come out of retirement and shared the moving reason for the decision.

Luke Nichols, AKA 'Outdoor Boys', was known for his hugely popular YouTube videos on survival skills in Alaska, gaining a whopping 18 million followers on his channel.

Some of his most watched videos include 'Solo Camping in Survival Shelter During Snow Storm' and 'Camping on Frozen Ocean'.

In May 2025, Luke confirmed that he had decided to step back from the platform in order to protect his family's privacy, though he said in his goodbye video that he did have some pre-recorded content that he would release later.

Since then, Outdoor Boys has popped back up on social media, though in a surprise appearance on a different channel.

Luke filmed and sent a video to his friend and fellow survivalist YouTuber Steven Smith, who runs the 'MyLifeOutdoors' channel.

Steven's wife has been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and is four weeks into a 22 week program of chemotherapy treatment.

Steven is supporting both her and their four children, as well as keeping the YouTube channel going.

In a touching gesture, Luke said that he made a video and donated it to Steven to keep his channel ticking over through Christmas, and allow him to spend more time supporting his family.

Taking to Instagram, Luke wrote: “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.

“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.”

A description of the video, titled 'Camping in Snowstorm With No Tent, No Sleeping Bag', reads: “Racing against the early Arctic sunset, he builds a fire-heated shelter from scratch, gathers enough wood for a 17-hour night, cooks moose stew over the flames, and even squeezes in a bit of gear talk along the way.”

Steven has also taken to social media to thank Luke for the kind gesture.

He wrote: “I’m incredibly honored and grateful for the support of my new friend Luke Nichols from outdoorboyschannel and so many others in the YouTube community.

“He came out of retirement and endured a cold night in the Alaskan Wilderness just to film a video on my behalf. I have yet to meet an Outdoor YouTuber who isn’t an incredible human being!

“Thank you Luke and thank you to everyone who watches, likes and subscribes. It means the world to me and my family.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.