SIXTY SECONDS
THE YOUTUBER, 27, ON DIRTY SECRETS, PREPARING FOR HIS BABY DAUGHTER’S ARRIVAL AND GROWING OLDER WITH HIS FANS
Your second series of The Secret’s Out has started. Where did the idea for a podcast come from?
Myself and a friend were having a couple of drinks one night and we were talking about when we used to have sleepovers and stay up all night gaming and sharing secrets. And I started talking about how when you get older, you don’t really have any secrets. And he said, ‘What do you mean? Everyone has secrets!’ We had this whole back and forth about it so I jumped on my Instagram Stories and put out one of those little question boxes for people to submit their secrets to.
Presumably you got a good response?
The submissions were so crazy I decided I needed to do something with them so I built a little website and asked people to share their secrets through it for a video. Within 24 hours we had more than 100,000 responses. It’s all anonymous so I can’t be held accountable for anything really crazy but it’s also annoying because I can never get an update on what happened next!
What was the craziest secret you heard?
We’ve had somebody who, over a long period of time, slowly ate their grandad’s ashes… we’ve had so many crazy ones!
You’ve managed to get the actor Jamie Laing and Robbie Williams and his actress wife to reveal outrageous things. How do you get celebrities to spill the beans?
When you’re discussing secrets people are inspired to share things that they would never usually say. They feel The Secret’s Out is a safe place to open up – or maybe they feel their secret isn’t that bad compared with what’s already been sent in! Some of the stuff people have said, I wasn’t sure if I should air but when I messaged them and checked if they were OK for it to go live, they said it was fine. So then I’m just there like, ‘Ayda Williams [Robbie’s wife] has just admitted to s****ing on the floor of a supermarket and she’s fine with it going out. OK then!’
You’ve shared so much online over the years. Do you have any secrets left?
I can’t share any more because I don’t have any! I wish I did though.
Congratulations are in order... you and Zoe Sugg – aka YouTuber Zoella – are expecting a baby girl!
I’m incredibly excited and ready for the next chapter! I just want to see her little face so bad.
Some of the stuff people have said I wasn’t sure if should air but I’ve checked if it’s OK
Have you decided on a name? We’ve got a name in mind but often, once they take one look at the baby, people change it to something completely different. We haven’t told anyone the name or fully committed to it yet but we’re 95 per cent sure.
Will you be showing off your daughter on social media?
We’re going to show her and share her name. Then as she grows up and becomes more of an individual it’s not fitting for us to be showing much of her.
What would you be doing with your life if it weren’t for vlogging?
I was doing chemistry, maths, biology and geography at college and wanted to go into environmental science, so a very different career path. After 12 years, I can hardly imagine my life without vlogging – it’s been nearly half my life.
You’ve branched out with your agency A-Z Creatives and clothing brand Future Self.
I’ve always loved trying new things and our new launch last weekend was the biggest collection we’ve done. YouTube is the camera filming my life. I’m not stepping away – just keeping it flowing alongside my other interests.
YouTube is associated with teenagers but your content has become more grown-up... Someone messaged me yesterday and told me they were eight years old when they started watching me and now they are 20! I checked the audience stats recently and 96 per cent of my audience is over 18 and the majority of them are over 25. Having the audience grow up with me means I can shape my videos around the things that I’m interested in. For example, when I bought my first house and was making videos about renovating it, some of my followers were doing the same thing. And now we’re expecting a baby, people are going through the same in their lives.
You used to be plagued by screaming teenaged fans. Have things quietened down? No more screaming teenage girls for sure! Everyone’s grown up a bit, though, so when I get stopped by fans it’s a a lot more relaxed – like bumping into a friend.
The Secret’s Out is available now on all podcast providers