KSI Olajide Olatunji |
W2S Harry Lewis |
Miniminter Simon Minter |
Vikkstar123 Vikram Barn |
Zerkaa Josh Bradley |
Behzinga Ethan Payne |
TBJZL Tobi Brown |
The Sidemen |
The Sidemen Yearbook |
“ | Hey guys and welcome to the Sidemen channel! | ” |
— First introduction of the Sidemen from the channel.[1]
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The Sidemen (formerly known as the Ultimate Sidemen), created on 19 October 2013, are a British YouTube group made up of Zerkaa (Josh Bradley), Miniminter (Simon Minter), TBJZL (Tobi Brown), KSI (Olajide "JJ" Olatunji), Behzinga (Ethan Payne), Vikkstar123 (Vikram Barn) and W2S (Harry Lewis) respectively. They are the biggest YouTube group in the United Kingdom.
The Sidemen are a group of friends who began playing video games online together in the early 2010s. As the decade progressed, they branched out into more varied content and created a commercial brand from their name. Since January 2018, they have uploaded weekly videos to their group channel under the banner of "Sidemen Sunday".
They created a second channel called MoreSidemen in 2018, which was originally used for compilations, but evolved into a channel where multiple videos are posted a week. In 2020, they made a third channel called SidemenReacts, where they exclusively post "reaction videos". In 2021, they created a fourth channel called SidemenShorts which utilises the YouTube Shorts section of the website.
The Group
The members of the group are:
- Zerkaa / Josh Bradley (2013 — Present)
- Miniminter / MM7Games / Simon Minter (2013 — Present)
- TBJZL / Tobi Brown (2013 — Present)
- KSI / KSIOlajideBT / Olajide "JJ" Olatunji (2013 — Present)
- Behzinga / Ethan Payne (2013 — Present)
- Vikkstar123 / Vikram Barn (2013 — Present)
- W2S / wroetoshaw / Harry Lewis (2014 — Present)
History
- Main article: The Sidemen Yearbook
In 2005 (aged 12–13), Miniminter became friends with KSI and would help him record videos for fun. The two eventually ended up connecting with Zerkaa in 2012, who was already long-term friends with TBJZL from secondary school. On Josh's 21st birthday in September 2013, the four were all in a voice hangout and started watching a stream from Behzinga, whom they then invited to the group. This initial group was nicknamed - by Simon - as "The Original Five". Ethan coined the official name of the group, which is an allusion to a term to refer to those who are "behind the scenes" in a group and are much less popular than the main members.[2] Originally, Simon was a "sideman" to JJ while Tobi was a "sideman" to Josh.[3]
They started recording and playing Grand Theft Auto V together over the following months. After a while, they invited Vikkstar123 into a call to help with technical support. He fit the group despite not being as invested in FIFA/football as the others, but joined anyway as it was an informal group at the time. The Ultimate Sidemen - minus wroetoshaw - officially formed on 19 October 2013. A few months later, in early 2014, they asked Harry to record with them and he too fit in and eventually became integrated. The Sidemen released a video on their second channel in 2019 explaining in detail how each member was added into the group and how the group was officially formed. British rapper JME allegedly played a key part in the group's formation behind the scenes.
In August 2017, KSI "left" the group (he claimed it was "because of Ethan", triggering events known as the "Sidemen War/Beef") which in turn prompted a series of diss tracks and online spats. The majority of the "beef" was fabricated and was deemed by some as a ploy to gain more views/attention. In reality, JJ never actually left the group and the seven remained friends.
In 2018, the Sidemen launched a web television series for YouTube Originals called The Sidemen Show. It premiered in June 2018 to positive reviews and reactions. However, the group denied any intent to make further episodes due to the high costs involved.
The Sidemen have a diverse fan base. As shown in vlogs made by individual Sidemen members, the majority of the fans that show up to events are young teenage males. A majority of their fanbase has grown up with the group and spent a large proportion of their teenage years watching the Sidemen's videos.
In the 2020s, the Sidemen cemented themselves as a commercial brand. The seven members are all directors for the main Sidemen companies (Sidemen Clothing Ltd., Sidemen Holdings Ltd., Sidemen Entertainment Ltd. and Sidemen Ventures Ltd.) with all these companies officially operating from their headquarters in Worthing, West Sussex.[4]
As of 2024, the Sidemen have used their brand to create multiple businesses and and expand the ones they already own, such as; Side+, Sides, XIX Vodka, Sidemen Clothing, SideCards and Best.
Events
As their popularity began to grow, the Sidemen began hosting their own events. Appearances at commercial gaming events such as Insomnia, as well as unofficial meet-ups are not included:
Released Events:
- 2016 Charity Football Match (3 June 2016)
- Release of Sidemen: The Book and Sidemen: The Audiobook (18 October 2016)
- Upload Event #1 (TBA November 2016)
- 2017 Charity Football Match (21 May 2017)
- Sidemen War/Beef (3 August 2017)
- Upload Event #2 (TBA September 2017)
- KSI V Joe Weller Boxing Match (3 February 2018)
- 2018 Charity Football Match (2 June 2018)
- Release of The Sidemen Show (18 June 2018)
- KSI V Logan Paul Boxing Match (25 August 2018)
- KSI V Logan Paul Boxing Rematch (9 November 2019)
- KSI V Swarmz & Pineda Boxing Match (27 August 2022)
- 2022 Charity Football Match (24 September 2022)
- KSI V Temperrr Boxing Match (14 January 2023)
- KSI V Joe Founier Boxing Match (13 May 2023)
- 2023 Charity Football Match (9 September 2023)
- KSI V Tommy Fury Boxing Match (14 October 2023)
Cancelled Events:
- KSI V Alex Wassabi Boxing Match (27 August 2022)
- KSI V Swarmz & Ivan Nikolov (27 August 2022)
- KSI V Danis Boxing Match (14 January 2023)
Accommodation
This is an overview of where each of the Sidemen has lived since their formation in 2013. Prior to moving into the locations below, most of the members lived with their parents/family except for Zerkaa who had a flat:
LOCATION | SIDEMEN |
---|---|
First Sidemen House (February 2014 – May 2016) |
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Second Sidemen House (May 2016 – March 2019) | |
Stratford Halo Tower (September 2014 – present) |
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Centre Point Tower
(January 2019 – January 2022) |
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Separate Flat/House |
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Cars
As the Sidemen have grown more popular and individually grown wealthier, their cars have become more high profile and notable. Here is a gallery of some of the current and former cars owned by each of the Sidemen.
KSI's purchase of a Lamborghini Aventador LP700 in 2014 first made people aware of how much money YouTubers can make and spend, and it has become a trend for YouTubers to show off their expensive cars in the years since.
Supported Football Clubs
Football is a sport which has been a constant in the Sidemen's development. Many of the members built their channels off FIFA videos so naturally most of them are fans of major clubs in the English Football League (EFL). Some of the group are more committed football fans than others - W2S is known for wearing any branded football kit he feels like.
SIDEMEN | CLUB |
---|---|
Zerkaa | Millwall F.C. |
Miniminter | Leeds United F.C. |
TBJZL | Manchester United |
KSI | Arsenal F.C. |
Behzinga | West Ham United |
Vikkstar123 | Sheffield United F.C. |
W2S | Chelsea F.C. |
Games
All of the Sidemen are fans of association football and FIFA, specifically pro clubs, is one of the main games that is commonly featured on the MoreSidemen channel. Each member of the group used to have at least two YouTube channels; one for FIFA and "real life" videos and one for other games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty. Vikkstar123 was an exception; his main channel was not FIFA-focused and his second channel was Minecraft-focused. Now, however, they rarely use their main channels to play these games, instead playing on their second channels or on the MoreSidemen channel as a group.
This is a list of video games played by the Sidemen since the group began in 2013.
- This list is potentially endless. You can help out by adding any video games we may have missed. Please make sure they are genuine and you have sourced them reliably.
- A game that gains a position on this list must have had AT LEAST two Sidemen playing together (i.e. a video game that Miniminter has played on his own would not count towards this list).
List
- Golf It
- Mad Verse City
- FIFA
- Geoguessr
- Quiplash
- Gartic Phone
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Higher or Lower
- Murder Party - Jackbox Games
- Among Us
- Survive the Internet
- Codenames
- Draw My Thing
- Rocket League
- Cards Against Humanity
- Monopoly
- Pinturillo 2
- Draw With Friends
- Call of Duty
- Tower Unite Minigolf
- Golf with Your Friends
- 3D Ultra Minigolf
- Dead by Daylight
- Garry's Mod (GMOD)
- Trivial Pursuit Live
- Pokémon Go
- Shellshock Live
- Agar.io
- Slither.io
- Uno/Uno Rush
- H1Z1
- Sniper Elite 4
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands
- Gang Beasts
- Google Feud
- Ratty Catty
- Winning Putt
- Ballistic Overkill
- Slender
- Doom
- Overwatch
- Tom Clancy's The Division
- Last Will
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- NHL
- WWE 2K
- Plastic Warfare
- Akinator
- Fishing Planet
- NBA 2K
- DiRT 4
- Depth
- VR Pool
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Steep
- London 2012 Olympics
- Skate 3
- Portal 2
- The Forest
- Snow
- Minecraft
- Mount Your Friends
- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- Fortnite Battle Royale
- Quiz Night Tonight
- Trials
- Skribbl.io
- Bus Simulator 18
- Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader
- Team Fortress 2
- Peggle
- Ultimate Fishing Simulator
- YouTubers life
- UFC 2
- Fall Guys
- Who's Your Daddy
Trivia
- Simon runs and maintains the "MoreSidemen" channel.
- XIX, which represents the number 19, stands for the day the Sidemen were formed (19/10/2013).
- Their club on FIFA is also named XIX.
- The group, mainly those that lived in the Sidemen House, would record game play throughout the night and spent up to 14 hours a day sat at their desks. This resulted in abnormal sleep patterns/schedules. Vik revealed that, in order to sustain his near-constant upload schedule on YouTube, he went to sleep at around 11:00 am and woke up at 6:00 pm. This was seen a lot, especially when streaming with friends overseas.
- During the time that Simon and JJ shared a flat (2019 until 2022), the Sidemen would use it as base to film their less-extravagant group videos such as Q&A's and indoor low-budget challenges.
- The Sidemen have a system in which they count how many videos each member has made (presented or organised) a year. A yellow card is given if a member is late/does not show to a video shoot. Two yellow cards introduce a red card. If a member receives a red card, one of their videos is discounted. The member with the most yellow/red cards, or least amount of videos made that year, is given the next available video to organise.
References
External links
- Sidemen (YouTube group) on Wikipedia
- Sidemen on Wikitubia
- Sidemen on TV Tropes
- Sidemen CuriousCat a website that was used for fans to send in assumptions of the Sidemen.
THE SIDEMEN WIKI NAVIGATION | |||||||||
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THE SIDEMEN | |||||||||
Behzinga Ethan Payne |
W2S Harry Lewis |
Zerkaa Josh Bradley |
KSI JJ Olatunji |
Miniminter Simon Minter |
TBJZL Tobi Brown |
Vikkstar123 Vikram Barn | |||
ONLINE ASSOCIATES (ALPHABETICAL ORDER) | |||||||||
AnEsonGib | Calfreezy | Callux | ChrisMD | Chunkz | Deji | Freya | ImAllexx | JME | JMX | Joe Weller | Jordz | Konstantin | Manny | Memeulous | Mo Syed | Niko Omilana | RackaRacka | Randolph | Rosie Lewis | S-X | Stephen Tries | Talia Mar | TGFbro | TheBurntChip | True Geordie | WillNE | |||||||||
MORE INFO | |||||||||
The Sidemen | Sidemen Sunday | Sidemen Videos 2023 | Sidemen Videos 2024 | MoreSidemen | Sidemen Clothing | SIDEPLUS | Sides |