Ethan Payne

Who Is Behzinga?

Behzinga is Ethan Payne — the English YouTube creator and Sidemen collective member who built 4.2 million subscribers by documenting one of gaming YouTube's most distinctive personal narratives: a weight loss and fitness transformation journey that turned the Sidemen's self-described "fat one" into a half-marathon runner, creating content whose emotional authenticity operated at a different register than the challenge and comedy videos that define the rest of the Sidemen's collective output. Born June 24, 1994, in Walsall, West Midlands, he joined the Sidemen at the collective's founding in 2013 alongside KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, Behzinga, TBJZL, and Vikkstar123, bringing a self-deprecating persona to the group's early FIFA, Call of Duty, and GTA content that made him the emotional anchor in a collective otherwise defined by competitive performance and comedic aggression. His solo channel's transformation from gaming content to fitness documentary changed his audience's relationship to his content fundamentally: viewers who had watched him as the comedic relief in Sidemen group content began following his solo channel because his weight loss journey — covering the gym work, the diet changes, the emotional reckoning with physical self-image — was content that had nothing to do with gaming performance and everything to do with the kind of personal accountability that gaming audiences rarely see their creators demonstrate publicly. His 2018 half-marathon completion for charity, his son Zachary's birth in 2019 and the content that followed, and his continued fitness presence have produced a solo channel whose emotional range exceeds the Sidemen collective's group format by design — the individual content that the collective format structurally cannot produce.

His audience's specific characteristic is the Sidemen-adjacent viewer who followed him because of his personal story rather than his gaming performance: viewers whose investment in his content is biographical rather than gaming-genre-specific, producing an audience whose loyalty survives game category migrations because it was never about the games to begin with.

Origins: Walsall 2013, Sidemen Founding & the FIFA-to-Fitness Pivot

Ethan Payne's entry into YouTube content creation was through the Sidemen collective — a group of seven British creators whose founding in 2013 combined individual channels into a collaborative force whose combined reach would eventually exceed 100 million subscribers across all members. His role within the Sidemen was defined from the beginning by the self-deprecating persona that made him distinct from KSI's competitive aggression, Miniminter's composed consistency, and Zerkaa's editorial focus: Behzinga was the one who made the humor of losing funny, who wore the "fat one" label as a character trait rather than as a vulnerability. His early solo content mirrored the collective's FIFA and Call of Duty framework, but the personal narrative that would define his independent channel was developing in the background of his gaming content — the genuine dissatisfaction with his physical condition that he was documenting increasingly openly in vlogs and challenge videos. The pivot from gaming content to fitness documentation was not a content strategy decision but a life decision that happened to be documented: his decision to lose weight and run a half-marathon became content because his audience was already following him and the journey was too significant not to share. The authenticity of that transition — from someone making FIFA content to someone publicly struggling with diet, gym progress, and physical self-image — created a different kind of audience investment than gaming performance content can generate.^[1]

Fitness Transformation, Fatherhood & 4.2M Subscribers

Behzinga's fitness transformation content produced a documentary arc that his 4.2 million subscribers watched in real time: the early gym videos, the dietary changes, the visible physical progress, and the 2018 half-marathon completion for charity that served as the public milestone for the journey's first phase. His son Zachary's birth in 2019 added a second personal narrative layer — fatherhood content that expanded his audience's investment in his life beyond fitness, producing the broad personal vlog audience that solo creators with compelling life stories attract regardless of their gaming origins. His continued presence in Sidemen group content — the football matches, the group challenge videos, the Sidemen Sunday format — maintains his collective context while his solo channel develops the individual narrative that the group format cannot contain. His brand partnerships in fitness equipment, nutrition, and lifestyle categories align with the fitness-credentialed audience his transformation documented: viewers who followed his fitness journey are active consumers of the products that journey required, producing above-average brand deal conversion rates in the health and fitness vertical. The Sidemen's combined ecosystem amplifies his individual reach in ways that solo creators outside major collectives structurally cannot access.^[2]

Brand Deals & Fitness-Credentialed Creator Economics

Behzinga's estimated brand deal rate is $20,000–$55,000 per YouTube placement, with fitness and lifestyle brands commanding premium rates from his transformation-credentialed audience. His documented fitness journey produces above-average conversion rates for gym equipment, nutrition, and health product brand deals — audiences who followed his transformation are active participants in the fitness lifestyle he documented, not passive observers. His Sidemen collective membership adds amplification through cross-promotional reach across the full Sidemen network when relevant. For gaming and fitness creator rate benchmarks, see our influencer pricing guide and brand deal negotiation guide.

Related Creators

Ethan (Sidemen)'s broader Sidemen collective presence and Behzinga's individual fitness and personal narrative trajectory both demonstrate the two distinct content modes that the Sidemen model enables: the group collective format that produces the highest-reach viral content, and the individual channel format that builds the deepest audience investment — with the most commercially durable creators in the Sidemen ecosystem being those who developed individual narrative identity strong enough to sustain solo channel audiences independent of the collective's group content output.

Sources

1. 1 The Guardian -- The Sidemen: How Seven British YouTubers Built the UK's Largest Gaming Collective and What Each Member Does Alone (2019)
2. 2 GQ UK -- Behzinga's Transformation: How Ethan Payne Turned His Fitness Journey Into the Most Personal Content the Sidemen Collective Ever Produced (2020)

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Ethan Payne — Official Social Media & Links

All accounts below are the verified official profiles for Ethan Payne. Follower counts are approximate and updated periodically.