Guy Masson

Guy Masson (French: gi məssɑn; GEE MA-ss-ohn; born September 8, 2001), is a French travel journalist and student of Hope's Peak University. He is known for his blog, Le Voyages de Guy (Guy's Travels), and his title at Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Travel Journalist.^[1][2] Masson is the second holder of this title.^[2]

Early Life

Masson was born on September 8, 2001 in Matoury, French Guiana, France.^[3] As a child, he gained an interest in unlikely events, resulting in him often visiting tourist attractions with his family during vacations. He also enjoyed sharing his experiences and information about these events, often using them as material for reports.^[4]

Career

Travel Journalism

Masson created his main blog on August 3, 2012. Early on, Guy's Travels was a more personal blog, with a primary focus on the individual experiences of himself and his older sibling, Sylvain^[a] Masson. The blog was also primarily run by Sylvain, who edited the posts and maintained the website itself.

Later on, the style of the blog changed due to a change in Masson's writing and Masson having greater control over the blog. The blog, while still containing Masson's anecdotes, became more informational, resulting in the blog becoming a respected resource for tourists. The blog also began to have pictures to accompany the posts, being of the places Masson visited, himself, and occasionally Sylvain.

Food Blogging

On December 9th, 2016, Masson started a second blog, La Bouffe de Guy (Guy's Grub). This blog focuses on the restaurants he visits, reviewing them and recommending certain items. Posts on this blog are often split into two sections, one for his own thoughts and one for those of Sylvain. Posts such as these are still wholly written by Masson, however.^[5]

Hope's Peak Review

On October 1st, 2023, the first day of the fall semester, Masson posted his review of Hope's Peak University. It was his longest review to date, covering all that he had experienced in three years as an Ultimate and delving into aspects he has not experienced, such as the Graduate and Reserve Course programs.^[6]

The review sparked some controversy due to a number of factors that mainly stem from it being posted at the height of criticism against Hope's Peak.^[7] Those against Hope's Peak took issue with his generally positive review of the school, calling it "an amazing opportunity that would otherwise not exist."^[8] Those for it took issue with his criticisms of the Reserve Course program, calling it "misleading, at the end of the day. A reserve course student and an ultimate student are basically not attending the same school."^[9]

Youji Ueda

In July 2021, Masson met his fellow Ultimate, Youji Ueda, at a bar.^[10] In a review of a bar around the same time, Masson recommended it as a place to meet "interesting people."^[11] Shortly thereafter, in September 2021, the two officially announced on Ueda's social media that they were dating.^[12][13] Followers of Ueda were shocked at the announcement, and while opinions towards Masson shifted to being positive over time, initially most of the material surrounding him revolved around who he even was.

Regardless, in November 2021, Ueda decided to take their relationship to the next level with a public proposal at Abazu Kadowaki before a live audience.^[12][14] Masson accepted the proposal and the two were wed the next year in March 2022 in Paris, France.^[12][15][16] During the time of their marriage, Masson's name and reputation became more widespread as he would occasionally appear in Ueda's social media content, and the couple's name, "Youguy" even reached the top 10 trending tags on Twitter for Japan and France after a few events.^[12][17] Masson would mention Ueda indirectly as "[his] husband" in some blog posts.^[1]

However, in August 2022, the couple announced on Ueda's social media that they would be getting divorced.^[12][18] Masson did not officially or physically appear in any of Ueda's content following the announcement, though Ueda did reference his ex-husband and the divorce occasionally in conversations with his followers, Tweets, and livestreams.^[12] Masson made no mention of the divorce or his ex-husband in any blog posts.^[1] In February 2023, the divorce was officiated by Luna Rozario Maria-Luisa de Leon in Paris, France.^[12][19]

Acceptance to Hope's Peak University

On July 15th, 2019, Masson posted "Plans for the Future," an update post regarding the state of his blogs, to both Guy's Travels and Guy's Grub. This was the first post of its kind created by Masson, and the only one created to this day.^[1]

"Plans for the Future" served as Masson's official announcement of his invitation to Hope's Peak, which prompted the post and changes to the blogs. He explained that he was receiving tutoring from Sylvain for the entirety of his blogs' lifetimes, but will be posting less beyond this point due to attending classes at Hope's Peak.^[1]

Masson attached a picture of himself and Sylvain holding his acceptance letter to Hope's Peak. The photo revealed that he was mainly accepted for the consistency and reliability of his blogs across seven years. Not included in the letter was the rumored "Guy Trend," in which attractions and restaurants have a small spike in visitors after positive reviews from Masson.^[1] Masson accepted his invitation "as soon as [he] got it" and is now in his fourth year at Hope's Peak University as of October 1st, 2023.^[1][2]

Notes

Sylvain uses the spellings of Sylvain and Sylvaine for their first name. This article uses Sylvain for consistency.

References

Name:	Guy Masson
Ultimate:	Travel Journalist
Age:	22
Birthday:	September 8, 2001
Pronouns:	He/Him
Class Number:	125
Nationality:	French
Height:	165 cm, 5'5"
Weight:	60 kg, 132 lbs