Everyone’s favourite YouTube phenomenon PewDiePie hit 50 million subscribers earlier this month and to congratulate him YouTube sent him something very special.
Normally when a YouTuber hits a certain number of subs the video site rewards them with a silver, gold or diamond ‘Play Button’ but PewDiePie’s accomplishment had earned him something a bit more special, a ruby play button.
The customised statue was carved into a ‘brofist’, PewDiePie’s own icon, and came in a cool wooden crate along with eight smaller Brofists, which the generous star shared with his seven longest subscribers.
He gave the final statue to a random commenter which is just a jolly decent thing to do.
The Swedish star, real name Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, summed up his feelings about this momentous occasion by thanking YouTube for giving him the life he always dreamed of.
He said:
It’s thanks to you Bros, but without YouTube none of this would’ve happened. I don’t want to take that for granted. I don’t want to seem ungrateful in that way. YouTube really has given me so much and it has been an incredible journey that I will never ever forget.
I am incredibly proud of reaching 50 million subscribers. I’m proud of so many people. It’s not just me. This is not just me. I don’t want it to seem like that way. I owe a big thanks to YouTube. Thank you.
Via YouTube
PewDiePie caused some mild controversy earlier this month when he announced that he would delete his channel when he hit 50 million subs, a promise he kept – kind of.
Rather than deleting his main account the star got rid of an old account that he no longer used in a stunt that was apparently to teach journalists desperate for a story a lesson.
Or to reach that magic 50 million a little quicker, only he knows…
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.