Ben Phillips
Phillips in 2018
Personal information
Born1992 or 1993 (age 30–31)[1]
OccupationYouTuber
Children1
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2014–present
GenrePranks
Subscribers4.5 million[2]
Total views1.2 billion[2]
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2016
Last updated: August 2023

Ben Phillips (born 1992 or 1993) is a Welsh YouTuber. He began uploading videos on Vine in 2013, gaining an online following with a series of clips featuring his son Harley. After leaving the platform in 2015, he has uploaded videos on Facebook and YouTube, primarily about pranks involving his friend Elliot Giles. Phillips went on a theatrical tour in 2016 and was given a prank-show pilot on Comedy Central in 2017. He also uploads videos to TikTok.[3]

Early and personal life

Before becoming a Viner, Phillips worked in his mother's shoe shop in Bridgend, Wales.[1] He has a son called Harley.[4]

Career

Phillips set up his Vine account in August 2013 and initially uploaded videos of his three-year-old son Harley.[4] He began a "Dr Harley" series in which his son gave out spoof medical advice.[5] In February 2014, they were one of the top 5 viners in the United Kingdom with half a million followers.[4] They were signed by social media agency GrapeStory which was co-founded by Jérôme Jarre.[6] After he and his son's mother broke up, he began to make vines on his own and also upload videos to Facebook.[7] The last vine he did with his son was a Ford Europe advert which he was paid £12,000 to make.[6][7]

Phillips' team consisted of his friends and family who would give him ideas which he called "the Peter Andre model".[1] In March 2015, a couple of days after being interviewed by Newsbeat and BuzzFeed News, he claimed his Vine account was hacked.[7] Phillips moved to YouTube making videos primarily about pranking his friend Elliot Giles such as replacing his hair gel with superglue, putting Viagra in his sports drink and placing him in a lake whilst he was sleeping on an inflatable mattress.[8][9] He said of Vine's closure in 2017 that "Vine just didn't keep with the creator and the influencer" and that "they lost sight of what Vine actually was. YouTube and Facebook have so much more to offer the creator now."[10]

In 2016, he went on a theatrical tour in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and produced a movie featuring footage of the tour that was shown in cinemas in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.[11][12] When asked about his following in Asia, he said that his philosophy was making his videos "universal so you didn't have to understand the language to get the videos".[11] His slogan "sorry bro!" was the title of his book published in 2016.[11][13] In 2017, he was given a prank show pilot on Comedy Central titled Ben Phillips Blows Up.[8]

In 2019, a video by Phillips in which Giles is blindfolded on a railway line as part of a Bird Box challenge was investigated by police.[14][15] The British Transport Police said that Giles was "quite literally playing a game of life and death".[16] In February 2021, YouTuber Jake Paul told Forbes that he had discussed creating a cryptocurrency with Phillips.[17] In February 2022, Phillips and Paul were named in a class-action lawsuit against SafeMoon, a cryptocurrency they had promoted, which claimed they were involved in a "pump and dump" scheme.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rosney, Daniel (7 March 2015). "The 22-year-old who makes a living from Vines". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 "About benphillipsuk". YouTube.
  3. ↑ Long, Jackie (20 July 2020). "'I only put on the internet what I want on the internet' – social media star star Ben Phillips". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Meet Harley, the three-year-old internet sensation". ITV News. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ↑ Palmer, Kate (1 September 2014). "Britain's social media stars making £2,000 a second". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  6. 1 2 Smith, Patrick (6 March 2015). "Meet The 22-Year-Old Making £2,000 Per Second On Vine". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Cresci, Elena (10 March 2015). "Vine star who makes up to £12,000 a clip says account was hacked". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. 1 2 British Comedy Guide (17 January 2017). "Online prankster Ben Phillips gets TV pilot - British Comedy Guide". Comedy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "部落客惡整熟睡好友 讓他「放水流」漂到湖中". Liberty Times (in Chinese). 23 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. ↑ Rosney, Daniel (17 January 2017). "Daz Black, Ben Phillips and Tish Simmonds pay tribute as Vine closes". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 James, Lauren (16 October 2016). "YouTuber Ben Phillips explains why all he ate in HK was McDonald's and he's not #sorrybro". Youngpost: South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  12. ↑ Longridge, Chris (7 July 2016). "YouTuber Ben Phillips: "Everyone wants a slice of the pie when it's hot – and it really is hot"". Digitalspy.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  13. ↑ Crowley, Eleanor (8 November 2016). "Interview: Ben Phillips Chats Pranks And His New Book 'Sorry Bro'". United By Pop. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "Police investigate 'Bird Box Challenge' video of blindfolded man on train tracks". ITV News. 14 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  15. ↑ Horton, Helena (14 January 2019). "YouTube 'prankster' investigated by police over video of him walking along train tracks blindfolded in name of 'Birdbox' challenge". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "YouTube prankster's 'Bird Box challenge' on Bridgend railway". BBC News. 14 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  17. ↑ Bambrough, Billy (17 February 2021). "Exclusive: YouTube Stars Jake Paul And Ben Phillips 'Discussed' Creating A Cryptocurrency As Bitcoin And Dogecoin Mania Spreads". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  18. ↑ Germain, Atahabih (24 February 2022). "Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty Named in Suit Accused of Misleading Crypto Buyers in 'Pump and Dump' Scheme". Atlanta Black Star. Diamond Diaspora Media. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
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