Inside BGT star KSI’s rise from failing A-levels to multi-million empire as YouTuber & boxer plus what initials mean
AFTER building a £24million empire as a YouTuber, boxer, rapper and energy drink magnate, KSI is now setting his sights on TV domination.
Not bad considering the social media sensation dropped out of education at 17.
The 31-year-old has 80million followers, and his Prime drinks venture has enjoyed sales of £201million.
We revealed yesterday KSI will stand in as a judge on the next series of Britain’s Got Talent when Bruno Tonioli, 68, heads to the US to be on the panel of Dancing With The Stars, the US equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing.
KSI said: “I’m so excited to be a guest judge for BGT. When I got the call up, I couldn’t believe it.
“I remember watching old BGT episodes and going from being amazed to laughing my arse off.
“I’m buzzing to see all the fresh new talent, and I’ll be sure to leave a mark.”
KSI — real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji — was born in London and brought up in Watford. His mum Olayinka worked as a PA and his dad Olajide managed a bingo hall.
He once told The Sun how his parents came to the UK from Nigeria as teenagers and “worked their asses off” to provide for him and younger brother Deji.
‘Mum was screaming, breaking glasses’
KSI — nicknamed JJ — said: “My mum would always be working, my dad would always be working.
“I remember being a kid and seeing how s**t it was. But that was life — it was just how it was.”
He never thought that, at the age of 21, he would buy a £260,000 Lamborghini Aventador.
And as an Arsenal superfan, the football club collaborating with him and US influencer Logan Paul on their Prime Hydration brand would have been a dream come true.
His career has been so stratospheric that it is being taught as part of the Media Studies A level.
JJ was privately educated at the £20,000-a-year Berkhamsted School, Herts, where he was just one of two black pupils.
He recalled facing “obvious racism” and remembers being so shy and introverted that he “couldn’t even speak to a girl”.
At 15, he spent his time filming himself in his bedroom playing video games, including FIFA, and uploading them to YouTube under the name KSI — which stands for Knowledge, Strength, Integrity.
Explaining why he used the pseudonym, which he took from the name of a group of players in the video game Halo, JJ said: “I didn’t want to tell anyone.
Back then, people would be like, ‘What are you doing? You’re such a weirdo. Why are you making videos online?’”
But he paid so much attention to his online career, he failed his exams. And when he got his results, hid in the loo to avoid his parents.
I remember being a kid and seeing how s**t it was. But that was life — it was just how it was
KSI
He said on the Headliners podcast: “We were in Portugal — I was in the toilet for about an hour and a half. I’d had a text from my teacher sending me the grades that I got for my AS levels.
“It was C, D, F and U, and I was terrified. I was like, ‘How am I going to show my parents this?’
“We were in so much debt because they were trying to get me into private school, and they were hoping I’d become a lawyer, doctor etcetera.
“So for me to come to them and be like ‘I failed,’ it was traumatic.
“I eventually told them my grades and my dad’s head was in his arms. He was just so disappointed.
“My mum was screaming. She was breaking glasses in the kitchen.”
His parents persuaded him to enrol on an International Baccalaureate course instead. But JJ quit sixth form in his second year when he began making money from lucrative YouTube ads and sponsorships.
He said: “I started making good money, to the point where I told my teacher I didn’t want to go to school.
“I told him I was making £1,500 a month, and it turned out it was more than him.
“As soon as I heard that, I realised YouTube was my calling. It was what I had to do.” That year, he joined forces with YouTubers Zerkaa (Josh Bradley), TBJZL (Tobi Brown), Behzinga (Ethan Payne), Vikkstar123 (Vikram Barn), W2S (Harry Lewis) and JJ’s school friend Miniminter (Simon Minter).
As The Sidemen, their clips comprised sketches, challenges, video-game commentary, as well as charity football matches — and they soon began earning millions.
JJ’s parents eventually came round when he earned enough to buy them a house in 2014.
He also splashed out on a specialised £280,000 Lamborghini Aventador, which he called his “pride and joy”.
From 2016 to 2021, JJ and three of the Sidemen lived in a £4.5million London mansion which boasted six en suite bedrooms, cinema, gym, large indoor swimming pool, sauna and 24-hour security.
With more than 150million subscribers across their channels, Sidemen are the UK’s biggest YouTube collective.
Last year, Netflix covered their rise to fame for a documentary — and they now also have a fast food chain called Sides, which produces £1million a week in revenue.
‘Fame is more of a problem than money’
But it could have all come crashing down early on in KSI’s career.
In 2015, following the release of his debut book titled I Am A Bellend and his debut single Lamborghini, women’s groups called for YouTube to remove some of KSI’s 2012 and 2013 videos, in which he jokingly pulls a “rape face”.
In another YouTube clip from August 2014, KSI asks a Page 3 model about her sex life while calling her a slut in the voiceover.
He was also banned from Eurogamer trade shows in 2012 after putting his face in the cleavage of model and presenter Brandy Brewer.
Brandy said she consented to the joke but Microsoft cut ties with JJ and he apologised.
In 2017, he quit the Sidemen to pursue his first passion, music.
I started making good money, to the point where I told my teacher I didn’t want to go to school
KSI
The following year, he got his first Top Ten single in the UK charts with Down Like That.
He has since had five Top Five singles, with his biggest hits Holiday and Don’t Play going platinum.
As a boxer, he has competed under the name The Nightmare, making his ring debut in February 2018 against UK social media star Joe Weller. He has had two fights with US YouTuber Logan Paul, drawing the first and winning the second.
His biggest match was against Love Island star Tommy Fury in October last year — which, although he lost in a unanimous decision, still earned him £5million.
But that sum would have been a drop in the ocean for JJ, who has very expensive tastes.
In 2019, he bought a £65,000 Porsche 718 Boxster, with personalised licence plate K51 FLY.
He also owns a £60,000 Porsche Cayenne and has been seen driving a £250,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith around Los Angeles — where he has been known to spend £8,000 on trainers at footwear store Flight Club.
He also owns a £150,000 Rolex covered in diamonds and a bespoke £390,000 necklace.
JJ, who lives in a £10million pad in Kent, spends some of his money on his girlfriend who he reunited with last year after splitting in 2021.
But her identity is not known as JJ likes to keep his private life from his fans — and he once admitted he struggled with people “constantly” coming up to him.
He said on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast: “Fame has been more of a problem than the money.”
At 8pm tonight, KSI is releasing new singles Thick Of It and Low.
“This is essentially my comeback song,” KSI says of Thick Of It. “I talk about the history of my career and where I’ve come from.
“I’m giving my audience the blueprint on how to dream big and reach the goals that they want to reach.”
He has certainly had the Talent for that.