YouTube’s The Try Guys cast member Marissa Rivera navigates infertility and the realities of having a child. It’s a dilemma familiar to many women in their 30s.
Long before The Try Guys became one of YouTube’s most recognizable comedy groups, their premise was right there in the name: they would try things. What began in 2014 with Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld, Eugene Lee Yang, and Ned Fulmer putting themselves through unfamiliar and frequently ridiculous experiences for BuzzFeed eventually grew into an independent media company, 2nd Try, built around comedy, curiosity, and a willingness to get deeply personal on camera.
Ned Fulmer was officially removed from the group in September 2022 following a scandal and an internal investigation.
Since their founding, The Try Guys have gone beyond food challenges, travel experiments, and physical stunts. They have increasingly used their platform to talk about relationships, health, and the messier realities of adulthood. Their new docuseries Marissa: In Fertility, which premiered on YouTube in June 2026, is one such example.
The three-episode series follows cast member Marissa Rivera as she documents her solo fertility journey. It’s a funny, emotional, and eye-opening look into the complicated process that women go through to get pregnant.
The series begins with Marissa candidly talking about her infertility diagnosis and how it’s affected her and past relationships. Infertility affects roughly 1 in 6 of adult women worldwide. But despite the initial hopelessness, Marissa is determined to find alternate ways to get pregnant, from IVF to egg freezing. She takes viewers with her to doctor consultations, ultrasounds to check her ovarian reserve, and even the process of choosing her sperm donor.
As an actress and comedian, Marissa is still able to bring lightness to her difficult journey, especially in the sperm donor episode. Still, it’s like a punch in the gut to watch for any woman who is considering having kids but is being held back by various factors—infertility, financial preparedness, or singlehood, among many reasons.
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Women in their 30s and the pressure of having kids
One of the reasons why Marissa: In Fertility strikes a chord with many women like myself is because it also tackles the pressure placed on women in their 30s. Marissa is in her late 30s—just a few years older than I am. She mentions in the series how it could potentially be more difficult to get pregnant at this age, which makes her journey feel more urgent somehow.
Pregnancy is no joke. Apart from the drastic changes in one’s body and the pain of childbirth, it can be expensive. You also have to be mentally and financially prepared to take care of a child. It’s why many Gen Z and Millennial adults are choosing to go child-free, with financial pressure being a major concern. The Philippines’ fertility rate dropped to 1.7 children per woman, indicating a continued decline since 1993. The rise of DINK (double income, no kids) households is also evident in the country, with many opting for pets as their “kids.”
Being child-free is perfectly fine, and so is deciding to have kids. We are all free to decide what we want to do with our lives. What women don’t need is to be pressured about getting pregnant. Regardless if they’re single or in a relationship, women have their own reasons for not getting pregnant, which may include a health problem that we don’t know about.
Meanwhile, there are women like Marissa who are fortunate enough to have the resources to explore options to get pregnant. Of course, with any medical procedure, it’s not always a walk in the park.
The cost of having options
As a single woman in her early 30s who would like to have kids if possible, I was once asked about egg freezing. The suggestion is honestly tempting because it could increase my chances of getting pregnant in the future once I’m ready—with or without a partner. What’s mostly stopping me is the cost of egg freezing.
In the Philippines, egg freezing could go for around P100,000 to P300,000 depending on the facility. This excludes lab tests, ultrasounds, and medications. On top of that, there’s an annual fee of around P20,000 for freezer storage. While HMO coverage could help lessen the cost of certain tests and some hospitals offer deals for egg freezing, it’s still a hefty price for a regular person. And if having children isn’t high on one’s priority list, it might not be worth the investment either.
There’s also the painful preparation before an egg retrieval. The final episode of Marissa: In Fertility shows how Marissa has to self-inject every day prior to the procedure. She doesn’t just get bruises from all the needles, but also experiences the side effects of injecting hormones into her body, like water retention, brain fog, and heightened emotions. Some might say it’s a painful sacrifice they’re willing to go through. Others may understandably not be able to handle the stress.
Ultimately, what Marissa: In Fertility teaches everyone is that women go through so much when it comes to their fertility and health. You can’t help but salute women like Marissa Rivera who willingly undergo tough procedures for a chance to have kids in the future. It’s an honest showcase of what women should expect, as well as open up possibilities for those who might’ve lost faith in their fertility journey. And perhaps it could teach more people to stop asking women about when they plan to have kids.
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