♪ (upbeat techno intro) ♪
- (FBE) Today, I'm gonna have you react to a popular YouTube creator.
- I don't know that much about YouTube creators,
but it's never too late to learn about new ones, right?
- I'm excited. - You know, I don't watch
YouTube anymore. I'm a long-gone YouTuber.
- Not a TikToker? - (FBE) Not a TikToker.
- Now I'm getting nervous. (laughs) That's all I know! I only know TikTok!
- (Mark) It's no secret that carnivals exist to make money.
And to do that most effectively, they employ a bunch
of little tricks... - This guys looks familiar.
- (Mark) ...to make you overestimate your chances of winning.
So, today, I'm gonna tell you which games are the biggest rip-offs
and the scientific reasons of why. - Ohhh, okay. I love this.
- (FBE) What do you think about that concept for a video?
- I think that's genius. I've never really thought
that deeply, but I feel like I'm gonna actually learn something.
And then, the next time I go to play games at a carnival
or whatever, I'm gonna be the smartest one there.
Are you kidding? - (Mark) Let me reiterate
that, as a carnival owner, the most lucrative games
are those which the customers overestimate their chances of success.
No game is a better example of that than the ladder climb.
- Okay, I never manage to win these,
'cause they always definitely seem rigged.
- I mean, don't play those. You're gonna lose money. I'm sorry.
- (Mark) Let's pretend this is you. And if you shrunk all the weight
of your body down to the average location,
we call that spot the center of mass, which we'll mark with this dot.
In the case of the ladder game, you're only connected at one point.
So, even though it looks wide because of the ladder rungs,
that area of support reduces down to a line.
So, if you don't keep your center of mass directly above that line,
you will start to rotate. - Yeah, you have to keep
your center of mass, and then you have to balance
on both sides. If you don't, you lose.
- (Mark) To win this game, you basically need to be able
to crawl across a tightrope. But once you've had enough practice,
this is the one game at the carnival that's basically all skill.
So, you can win every time and clean them out.
Unfortunately, the carnival owners know this, which is why it's also
the only game with this super lame caveat.
- So, what? You're gonna scam them out of, what?
A monkey toy? - I mean, obviously, carnival games
aren't put there to be easy. You know, you have to lose
to be able to try harder and then win the game
and really focus. But with more practice
and understanding, you can succeed.
- I know the trick behind it, but, you know, it's obviously
a little harder to balance your center of mass than said.
I've never accomplished that one. - Okay, I swear I've seen him before.
I probably watched a video. It's probably been suggested to me.
- (FBE) What do you think about the content?
- The way he explains it is nice. It's nice and simple.
He's not going too over-complicated. I think it's very informative.
It's pretty cool. - (Mark) This is a bird feeder,
and everything to my left is my attempt
at making it squirrel proof. - Oh my gosh.
- (Mark) If they want the bird seed, they will first need to pass through
what is basically an eight-part Ninja Warrior
obstacle course for squirrels. - Ooh! (gasps) Oh my gosh! No!
(chuckles) - (Mark) It is not for the timid
of heart. - I've seen this one.
This video is really cool. - (Mark) But out of the gate,
I will admit that, in hindsight, that I completely underestimated
my adversary. So, he hops back on,
and he's actually doing better than his first attempt.
- Squirrels are insane. - (Mark) This is the best,
because he's like, "Okay, I got this." - But he could easily climb back.
Okay, never mind. He's struggling. - I mean, this is what squirrels
live for, you know? Climbing and jumping
and hunting for their acorns or whatever.
- Go, squirrel! You can do it! You can do it!
A Slinky bridge? - (Mark) That is not a large gap,
which they can easily jump. But having the Slinky there
just threw them off somehow. You can see how much...
- (snickers) - (Mark) ...and he's the brave one.
- Oh, oh! Smart. - Oh, wow. That's crazy.
I mean, yeah, I don't know how the long jump is for squirrels.
I don't know how far they can go, but if maybe the obstacle course
was spread out in, like, a bigger sense, that squirrel
never would've gotten that food. - That's like Ninja Warrior
but for squirrels. I love that video. I love squirrels.
- (FBE) Those were a couple popular videos from the engineer,
inventor, and YouTube creator, Mark Rober, who is known
for his innovative and science-based videos,
which have become immensely popular, gaining tens of millions
of views each. So, before YouTube,
Mark was an engineer with NASA for nine years,
where he spent several years working on the Curiosity Rover.
Since he always had a love for science and experiments,
he's done a few very large scale tests
and even set some world records. So, we have a couple of those videos
to show you. - I love when engineers
make these cool contraptions and go through all the science-y stuff
with you, 'cause I'm not a science person,
but it's really interesting to learn, to see them make this.
I'm like, "How do you do that?" But then it makes sense
when they're an engineer. You're like, okay,
they're smarter than most people. - (Mark) We're gonna answer possibly
the longest standing question from my childhood: What would it be
like to actually belly flop... - All right. What is this?
- (Mark) ...in a pool of jello? - That looks gross.
- What is he in? - (Mark) ...what we actually
had to go through for the past six months
to pull this off. From our experiments, we learned
that jello always got... - (gasps) Jello?!
- (Mark) ...hotter than 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
So, we decided we could scale this up...
- What?! - (Mark) ...by using six
55-gallon drums with a custom propane burner underneath and...
- Oh my gosh. This looks so fun. - That's a lot of jello.
- (Mark) ...seven days before the party.
- That's a waste of jello. (chuckles) - (Mark) ...10 barrels every day.
And so, we woke up Saturday morning with a forecast for a...
- Yo, that is ridiculous! There's so much jello in there.
I hope nobody ate it afterwards, 'cause that's just gross
if you have people jumping in there. I like the ripple slow-mo effect.
- He's not going through the jello. That was cool.
They put enough gelatin in there. - No way! And he didn't sink through.
He literally flopped over it. - We're casting for a little kid
to jump into a pool of jello. Don't try this at home, kids.
That's crazy, though. I love that. I wanna do that.
- This is this type of stuff that I watch at 3 AM.
I would gladly sit through this at 3 AM.
- (Mark) This is Fletcher. And this is also Fletcher
a year before this call. But unbeknownst to everyone
at the time, also pictured here under all that amazing hair
was a fast-growing brain tumor. - Oof.
- (Mark) Such a funny kid. And I was so inspired
by his hopeful attitude, that after... - I saw this one! This one, I saw!
(claps) - I hope he's doing well.
- (Mark) ...I would fly him and his family out and surprise him
with just the dopest birthday party ever.
But what he didn't know is that plans were already underway
for him and I to take... - Where are they? Oklahoma?
- (Mark) ...largest elephant toothpaste.
After eight months of planning and so much work by so many people,
the coolest birthday present I've ever given anybody
came down to this moment. - Oh, is that the thing
that explodes outwards and it looks really gnarly?
- Such a random idea, but an amazing cause.
I love that. - Oh my gosh!
- Oh! - (people laughing and exclaiming)
- Where did they even get the space to do this?
That's just crazy. - Oh, okay! Yeah, those are cool.
I've never seen one of that scale, but that's frickin' cool.
That truck, though. That poor truck!
Why is it parked over there?! Oh my goodness.
- (gasps) The truck! (laughs)
WHOA! - I would love to do that,
but I would not wanna clean that up. That was bigger than the truck.
Did you see that? That was like three times
the circumference of that giant truck. - (Mark) I knew our structure
weighed over a ton, so I just didn't consider that the reaction could lift
the whole thing five feet... - Right!
- (Mark) ...into the frickin' air. - Yeah.
- (Mark) In NASA, that's what we refer to as a critical oversight.
- At least he acknowledges it. He's like, "That was WAY crazier
than I thought." - That is gonna be a pain and a half
to wash off that car. And that just looks gross.
That's not something I want on my car. But that's really cool.
That's just like a giant science experiment.
- (FBE) All right, so one series that Mark is well-known for
is his glitter bomb trilogy, which started in 2018
when he wanted to think of a creative prank
for porch pirates that were stealing packages in his neighborhood.
After the initial video did so well,
he made upgrades to the device and more videos each following year.
So, we have the clips from Glitter Bomb 3.0 to show you.
- I guess I've seen the videos of this guy,
just never remembered his name or paid attention to his name.
- This is why his voice sounds so familiar,
because I watched all of those videos! There was like a whole different
series of them! I watched all of them! And of course, it was at like 2 AM.
- (Mark) This guy stole my package from my porch, and he's about
to open it in his house. - (Kevin) Hello.
(audio rewind) - (Mark) But what he doesn't know
is that this is the third generation of a new and improved
custom-built bait package... - Yes!
I hate frickin' package thieves. - (Mark) ...four different phones
and it just released a pound of the world's finest glitter
along with some other nasty surprises. For starters, we updated
the outer casing, this time going for more
of a cyber trek aesthetic. - Wow! (chuckles)
- (Mark) You can sort of see the evolution from year to year
right here. And this year, you'll see
not one, not two, but four canisters of fart spray.
- (laughs and claps) - (Mark) Our very first box
was taken at night.
- (Kevin) Hello.
- (chuckles) - (Johnny) Keep the change,
ya filthy animal. - (Mark) And apparently,
they didn't seem to appreciate the name calling
or the quality engineering, because, in the morning,
this is what we found. - Dang! You're the one that stole it!
Damn! - (Mark) These guys had suspicions,
so they took it outside to open it. - (Kevin) Hello.
- (laughs) No way. - (Kevin) Hello.
- (laughs) I love that. - See, that's ridiculous,
the fact that you're stealing packages in front of your kids.
- (girl) I'm sorry! (laughs) - You deserve that.
- Is that a mom? She's with her kid.
She's like, "Let me steal a package today!"
- That is so clever. This guy, obviously,
this is his life, you know? So, he's always thinking
of new ways to impress people or give 'em a good laugh.
- He must've put a lot of money into constructing one of these,
'cause that's not cheap, all the stuff he put in there.
I love that they also kind of those things similar for people
to send for birthday cards.
It's like when they open it, it's just like...
(pop) (party horn blows)
- (FBE) All right. So, as of filming this episode,
Mark has over 16 million YouTube subscribers.
He does not have a very consistent schedule,
but tends to upload a new video every month or so.
Yet his fans are always excited when he releases a video.
What do you think it is about his content that has led him
to be so viral and connect to so many people?
- I guess it's very unique. You don't see this kind of stuff
on the internet all the time, because not everyone knows
how to do it. They might be able to think
of an idea, but he's actually able to take action
and get it done, because-- you know,
with his engineering background and knowing how a lot of stuff works
and able to actually design a lot of this stuff.
- He has that voice that you just get dragged
into whatever he he has to say. You know this man is smart.
You hear him speak and you're just like,
"Please tell me more. Tell me everything." (laughs)
- I don't know even know this guy, Mark.
But it seemed nostalgic to me. This reminded me of old YouTube.
And it's clean cut, the way it's laid out,
intro event, like fun event. It's like a science experience.
- You know, he has gotten to connect with so many
different audiences, and people are so excited
to see his stuff, because he's very well-spoken, for one.
You know, he's put in these very lit spots,
where it's easy to watch. It's easy to see.
He explains everything. And any kid that's interested
in creating anything is like, "Wow. Let me watch this."
It's easy to watch. He explains everything.
He shows everything. And you know, it ends up
being a quirky prank or a quirky, you know,
jello in a pool. - I think what it is
is everyone's so eager to see what that surprise is in the end.
- (FBE) Finally, what experiment would you wanna see him do next?
- I'm obsessed with these packages. I feel like people have to be like,
"Don't steal packages from this house. Just don't do it."
I get packages stolen sometimes. I would love that!
- He's already using ideas that I would probably
never even think of. Like, "Oh yeah, let's try this"
or "Oh yeah, let's do that." - I was thinking those robots
that basically take your food to you. I've seen them on campuses before.
I would love for him to maybe create one himself,
you know, explain how that works, because my friends and I will always
be driving by campus, and they have these little robots
crossing the streets with GPS and everything,
and then they go deliver food to students.
And I would love to see him explain that,
because I feel like he would have really good insight.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Adults React.
- Which creator should we react to next?
Let us know in the comments. - Don't forget to subscribe
for more episodes like this one. - Bye, everyone.