A well-known YouTuber has temporarily returned from retirement to share a heartfelt reason for doing so.
Luke Nichols, also known as ‘Outdoor Boys’, gained fame through his YouTube channel focused on survival skills in Alaska, amassing an impressive 18 million followers.
Among his most popular videos are ‘Solo Camping in Survival Shelter During Snow Storm’ and ‘Camping on Frozen Ocean’.
In May 2025, Luke announced his decision to step back from making videos to prioritize his family’s privacy. However, he mentioned in his farewell video that he had some pre-recorded content that he planned to release subsequently.
Recently, the Outdoor Boys name appeared again on social media, but this time on a different channel.
Luke created and sent a video to fellow survivalist YouTuber Steven Smith, the owner of the ‘MyLifeOutdoors’ channel.
Steven’s wife is currently battling triple negative breast cancer and is undergoing a 22-week chemotherapy regimen, four weeks into the treatment.
He is juggling his responsibilities of supporting his wife and four children while maintaining his YouTube channel.
In a generous move, Luke produced a video and gifted it to Steven to keep his channel active during the holiday season, giving Steven more time to focus on his family.
On Instagram, Luke shared: “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.”
The video, titled ‘Camping in Snowstorm With No Tent, No Sleeping Bag’, is described as: “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 expressed his gratitude on social media, acknowledging Luke’s kind act.
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.