Ethan Payne (born 20 June 1995), better known as Behzinga, is an English

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, streamer, and

Internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. He produces videos on

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

, football,

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, and fitness, and is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group

Sidemen A sideman is a musician who performs live with a band of which they are not a permanent member. Sideman or Sidemen may also refer to: * Sidemen, Bali, a district in the Karangasem Regency of Bali * Sideman (bishop), a 10th-century Bishop of Cred ...

. He, as well as other

members co-founded XIX Vodka, and a restaurant chain known as Sides. In 2019, Payne was listed as the 31st most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

''. , his main

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel has over 4 million subscribers and 500 million video views.

Early life and education

Payne was born on 20 June 1995 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and was raised almost entirely by his mother Ruth, who battled with cancer during his childhood. His biological father left before he was born and his stepfather, whom he had met when he was six months old and believed was his actual father, left when he was thirteen, due to drug addiction and debt. Payne attended Marshalls Park School, and then studied video games development at

South Essex College South Essex College of Further and Higher Education, also known as South Essex College, is a further education college located over three main sites in Basildon, Southend-on-Sea and Grays in Essex, England. The college provides courses for stude ...

Career

Payne registered the "Behzinga"

channel on 24 February 2012 while he was still in school. He explained that the name comes from one of his favourite television series ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on C ...

'' in which

Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' and its spinoff series ''Young Sheldon'', portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the latter ...

often uses the

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

"Bazinga!"; Payne altered the spelling. His early content primarily featured video game commentaries of the '' Call of Duty'' and '' FIFA'' video game series. Over time, his style of content diversified to include football,

, and fitness videos. On 19 October 2013, Payne and four other British YouTubers formed the entertainment collective Ultimate Sidemen, later shortened to simply

. Since 2014, the group has consisted of seven British YouTubers: Vikram Barn (Vikkstar123), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Tobi Brown (TBJZL), Harry Lewis (W2S), Simon Minter (Miniminter), JJ Olatunji (KSI), and Payne. The group produces online videos, most often consisting of challenges, sketches and video-game commentary, as well as selling exclusive Sidemen merchandise. In September 2019, Payne was listed as the 31st most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

''. That November, he provided

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

for KSI vs. Logan Paul II for Sky Sports Box Office. In October 2020, he starred in the three-episode

YouTube Originals YouTube Premium, formerly known as YouTube Red, is a subscription service that provides advertising-free streaming of all videos hosted by YouTube, offline play and background playback of videos on mobile devices, access to advertising-free mus ...

documentary series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

''How to Be Behzinga'' about his struggle with depression and his path towards running the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

to raise money for the

Teenage Cancer Trust Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer care and support charity in the UK that exists to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. Founded in 1990, the charity's key service is providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. I ...

. He revealed that he had previously been suffering from

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and wanted to take his own life, but with support from his fellow

members, he was able to overcome his challenges. Also during a stretch of time between 2018 and 2019, he had lost . He has become an advocate for mental health and has talked about the importance of sharing feelings and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental illness in men.

Personal life

Payne is a supporter of

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

He and his girlfriend, Faith Louisa Kelly, have a child together, born in September 2022.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{Sidemen 1995 births British video bloggers Comedy YouTubers English male web series actors English male writers Gaming YouTubers Health and fitness YouTubers Let's Players Living people People educated at Marshalls Park School Twitch (service) streamers Video game commentators YouTube vloggers YouTubers from London English YouTubers