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When an audience loves a celebrity, influencer, or creator, they follow their lives on social media like YouTube. Like people’s love for reality TV, loyal influencer fans will engorge themselves with details they see in a creator’s content. For example, YouTube marriages will attract those interested in the lives of famous creators and reality TV viewers. Read ahead to learn more about how YouTube marriages impact the influencer status of creators.
A Look into the Intimate: Love & Content
In the 1990s, a new kind of captivating media rose: reality TV. The rise of reality television took place in shows like The Real World, inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series, An American Family, focusing on the lives of a group of strangers who audition to live in a house together as cameras follow their journey.
In the early 2000s, shows like Survivor, Big Brother, and American Idol became popular television pastimes. However, at its core, these shows were a competition for a cash whopping. It wasn’t until shows such as The Bachelor and Flavor of Love that audiences get an intimate look into the love and romance lives of people like them.
Overnight, reality shows led to the fame and fortune of reality show stars. However, beginning in the early 2010s, media entered the digital age, where YouTube replaced the long-time obsession of reality tv, and youtube marriages became its bread and butter. In the early 2000s, people became increasingly interested in the lives of beautiful people on the screen dealing with real-life scenarios. In the early 2010s, people became invested in the lives and relationships of their favorite YouTubers.
Love, Content, and YouTube Marriages
YouTube marriages and couple channels on YouTube fit the algorithm and became a titular part of YouTube because everyone loves weddings and a cute couple to swoon over or a couple to roll their eyes at. YouTube marriages became popular because of the various forms of content couples can make on YouTube: boyfriend tags, how we met videos, pranks, Q & As, my boyfriend does my makeup videos, all rose to fame.
In 2016, Lifestyle YouTuber Zoella and her now husband, Alfie Days filmed a video titled “The Boyfriend Tag | Zoella” receiving nearly 7 million views. While the couple, and other YouTube relationships, had their fair share of criticism, one thing was clear: people could not get enough of this content.
Jake & Tana: A Jana Wedding
When you google YouTube marriages, a picture of Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul on their wedding day is one of the first photos to appear. Tana Mongeau (briefly Tana Paul) was dressed in a strapless and ornately decorated wedding gown with a lace veil, and Jake Paul sported a white cowboy hat, a black button-up, and a white blazer.
The duo is both known for their scandals and controversies but began collaborating after most of their cancellations had died down, and they were in the public’s good graces. On July 28th, 2019, the pair tied the knot in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mongeau’s hometown. The wedding cost $500,000 and included a slew of big-name influencers including YouTubers Sarah Baska and Chris Klemens who both filmed.
Baska’s video, “I Was Arrested At Tana & Jakes Wedding” received over 4 million views, and Klemens’ video, “I Went to Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul’s Wedding (FULL FIGHT),” received over 1 million views.
There were accusations of the wedding being fake. However, both YouTubers had said it was not a legal marriage, but it was ceremonial. In October, Tana posted a video to her channel titled “a relationship/marriage update” in which she and Jake Paul appeared on camera to discuss the break of their relationship. The video made it seem like their relationship had come to a mutual ending.
The Aftermath
However, in December, Tana posted a video and a post to Instagram announcing she would btakea break from social media after the final, in-depth discussion about her youtube marriage to Jake Paul. The video, “the truth about everything. (the wedding, jake, alissa, erika, mtv, mental health, drugs, etc)” received over 5 million views, in which Mongeau discussed her struggle with her mental health and the truth about her feelings towards the end of their marriage.
In 2021, Jake Paul sat down to an interview with Youtuber Jon Youshaei, who asked him what was the most inauthentic thing he had ever done for views. Jake Paul responded honestly saying it was his fake marriage to Tana, noting, “It would have been better not to do it.” The pair have not been linked since.
Jin & Juice
Unlike Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul, this pair’s rise to fame is based on a real relationship. However, similar to the previous couple their youtube marriage ended as well. Jin and Juice are a South Korean-American couple. Jin is for Gohan Son, and Juice is for Cerose Cedoux.
The pair first rose to fame in July 2020 with a video titled “MY GIRLFRIEND FREESTYLE RAPS IN KOREAN,” in which Cerose effortlessly freestyles in Korean with Gohan hyping her in awe. The video received over 10 million views, making it an instant hit on YouTube.
The couple began posting vlogs, pranks, and challenge videos, and the channel currently boasts nearly 900,000 subscribers. The couple’s dynamic and real-life chemistry on screen through videos such as “calling my boyfriend OPPA to see how he reacts“, which received over 4 million views, increased their popularity. Yet, their seemingly great relationship came to a halt in November 2022.
After rumors of cheating and domestic violence allegations, the couple appeared on screen for a sit-down video announcing their separation. They revealed they would continue a co-parenting relationship and appear on the channel together. However, they were no longer in a relationship.
A month later, Cerose sat alone in a video titled, “he left… again…” to discuss the end of Gohan’s appearance on the channel as he left their family. Since then, Cerose has been running the channel and posting videos alone.
An Audience’s Fixation on Relationships
YouTube marriages are this generation’s celebrity couples. YouTube marriages provide an intimate look into the daily lives of YouTubers that audiences already know and love; other times, the relationship is the core of the content itself. The fixation on relationships is indicative that the desire to watch strangers deal with real-life scenarios and relationship drama is not exclusive to television but has carried over into the world of content creators who can create a narrative for themselves.
