- (Jennelle) Two weeks later, I'm sitting at 1.4 million.
I'm sitting at 1.4 million. - What?
- For the most part, there was a lot of positive feedback.
After I made by second video though, there was a lot of conspiracies.
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- (FBE) So we're filming in your van, parked just outside the FBE Studio,
which we felt was appropriate for this episode.
- Yeah, I'm so stoked, I feel right at home.
- (FBE) Alright, so let's begin.
We're gonna watch some of your videos. - Okay.
- Ooh, a van tour?
- Oh I've actually watched this video, I love her!
- No way, I saw this girl!
- I haven't seen this, but I've seen her trending!
- On YouTube!
- (Jennelle) Hello.
I'm Jennelle, and I live in a van with my pet snake, Alfredo.
- Okay, I saw people talking about this.
- I have heard about this girl, I have not watched the video.
- (Jennelle) Today I'm gonna be giving you guys a tour
of our tiny home, which is a 1995 GMC Vandura.
- Wow! - This girl blew up so fast!
- (Jennelle) First and foremost. - That's her van,
but like how is her hair done so good in the van?
- (Jennelle) Welcome to the first frickin' video on my YouTube channel.
So I'm parked alongside Highway 1.
- That's a good place to be. Very scenic.
- (Jennelle) (screams) It's a bug!
- You're livin' van life, but you're afraid of a bug?
- Oh, that happened at least like six times that day. (laughs)
A lot of the comments were like "how are you scared of a bug,
and have a pet snake?" Like, they're two different things!
He's like a puppy, and a bug is literally
like spawn from Hell.
So on the passenger side, I have a tire pressure gauge,
and some maple syrup. - Ah, maple syrup.
As a Canadian, I appreciate it. - And some maple syrup.
Honestly, I forgot that was there, and then I filmed it,
and I was like "I don't remember buying this."
- Imagine coming back from a first date.
She's like "welcome to my crib." (laughs)
- (Jennelle) To the left, you'll find my
Dometic ZFX 28 Compressor Fridge!
- She's actually really efficient with all her stuff.
- (Jennelle) Having Alredo is such an interesting dynamic.
- Aw, I love the snake!
- (Jennelle) Having Alfredo is such an interesting dynamic.
- For somebody filming her first ever YouTube video,
she's very comfortable and natural in front of the camera,
which is not common.
- (Jennelle) He's literally incapable of loving me back,
which is fine, because that's like every boyfriend that I have ever had.
- Relatable. (laughs)
♪ (somber music) ♪ - It's facts. (laughs)
It's just facts.
This 64 ounce hydro flask is what is connected
to that faucet, and I just drilled a hole...
- This is some Robinson Crusoe ass [bleep].
- (Jennelle) Hole through the top of the cap.
- I would never be able to do this.
- This seems like a lot of work.
- (Jennelle) I know many of you guys
are curious about where I use the bathroom.
- Yeah, where do you go?
- (Jennelle) No one is allowed to go number two inside the van.
That is... - Smart.
- (Jennelle) Gross (gags). Just thinking about (gags)
I live in the city for the most part, so I have an abundance of toilets
available to me.
- Oh, so you have to use like a house,
which is like where the rest of us live.
- (Jennelle) In the basket next to my water container
I have all of my kitchen stuff. - It's really cool.
- (Jennelle) That includes the only pan that I own.
- This is a whole home in a van.
- (Jennelle) Let me show you my closet.
♪ (angelic music) ♪
- Oh wow!
I need to get this organized.
- Oh! - She's organized, honestly.
- That's actually a pretty good closet. - That's pretty organized.
- It just keeps going. - Woah.
- That thing just keeps going and going, and going.
- This is better than some L.A. apartments.
- (Jenelle) Okay, I am done talking now!
Toodles! - That's interesting.
That's awesome that she's able to just live out in a van.
She doesn't have to pay rent.
- I feel like this girl's gonna end up being
like super famous or something. - Probably.
- We have no idea.
- I wanted to start a YouTube channel a while ago,
and I kind of like knew, it's like, just for fun, you know?
Like, I was already out living my life,
and then I posted that video and it blew up,
and I was like "oh crap!" Now I have to make more videos.
Today I'm gonna be showing you guys how I shower living in a van.
- This is what I saw!
- (Jennelle) This is the 10 liter pocket shower
by Sea to Summit, not sponsored,
and I rip that baby out of its pouch
and you just lift this three gallon trash bag
atop of your body, and let gravity take its course.
- Do you shower with the clothes on?
- I feel like there's gonna be some twist ending to this
that we don't know.
I feel like this is a viral video or something like that.
- Yeah, something. - Why are we reacting to this?
- (Jennelle) I sat in traffic as I searched for
a socially acceptable place to take an outdoor shower.
To avoid a copyright strike, Alfredo will be performing
a cover of the national anthem... - She knows!
Those copyright strike struggles. - (Jennelle) On the kazoo.
♪ (kazoo music) ♪
- Thank you Alfredo.
- I just remember recording this, (laughs)
I was like in front of a Korean restaurant.
I know whoever's probably parked outside of my van
is like what is going on?
I had nowhere to pull over, but there was a frickin' wasp!
It's still in here! (cries)
- She has a pet snake, but is scared of wasps.
- That's so funny.
- (Jennelle) Oh my God, why is it so big?
That's what she said!
Oh my God, why is it so big?
That's what she said!
I'm like about to cry,
because that was like honestly really scary.
Just every time I had to rewatch it, edit it,
it just like gave me more anxiety.
- Oh okay, so you're just gonna take a shower on the side of the road.
- Oh she's gonna shower on the side of the road like that?
- In scuba gear.
- (Jennelle) I concluded that the sexy outdoor shower
would not suffice my need for cleanliness.
- Oh my God, she is hilarious, I want to be her friend.
- (Jennelle) And sailed on to the land of infinite hot water,
and naked elderly women who silently judge
my belly button piercing.
(giggles)
Just remembering all the times I've been silently judged at the gym.
- Ooh, 24 Hour Fitness!
- Oh, okay, that's smart.
- (Jennelle) I've taken almost all my showers
in the past two years at the gym. - Two years?
- Oh God, are there people next to her?
I could never do that.
- I wonder if she actually lives in the van,
or if this just a stunt. I don't know.
- Now I wanna subscribe and keep watching her videos.
Like I want to understand her life.
Why did she make this choice?
How long has she been living in the van?
Why did she choose to live in a van?
- For the most part, there was a lot of positive feedback.
After I made my second video though, there was a lot of conspiracies.
I understood, I'm like yeah, I get it.
I know why there's so much conspiracy around this,
'cause I don't even understand why I blew up.
I don't know why that second video went viral.
- (FBE) So before we talk about this channel,
we have one quick clip from her that we want to get
your reaction on. - Okay, I'm ready, let's see.
- (Jennelle) What the [bleep] is going on, my dudes?
- With the snake in her hair, just a normal girl
with a snake in her hair. You know? (laughs)
- (Jennelle) I was so stoked to have 20,000 subscribers.
Fast forward, two weeks later, I'm sitting at 1.4 million.
Two weeks later, I'm sitting at 1.4 million.
- What!? - (Jennelle) Two weeks later,
I'm sitting at 1.4 million! - Oh my God,
that's like actually just so insane. - 10 years ago,
people weren't even at 1.4 million subscribers.
Now somebody gets 1.4 million subscribers
in two weeks, off of two videos.
- She lives a unique lifestyle.
I mean, I grew a channel by living a unique lifestyle,
and sharing it, as a blind woman.
So I can understand why her, you know as a quirky,
outgoing, creative woman, who's living a unique lifestyle,
people are intrigued by it.
- It still doesn't feel real.
I don't even know why I'm here right now.
(laughs) I just like drove to L.A. and was like okay, I guess.
This is like my life now. I'm still processing it,
and now we're at 1.6, and it just keeps growing.
- (FBE) So as someone who's been building an audience
for quite some time, how rare is it
to see someone like Jennelle Eliana
gain a million subscribers in such a short period of time?
- It's like one in, I feel like a billion. (laughs)
It's like a lightning strike.
- It's very rare, because, me personally, it took me
at least like a year or two to get to a million.
- (FBE) So obviously the past month has been totally crazy for you,
but let's start back at the very beginning.
Why did you decide to make a YouTube channel
in the first place?
- I've been wanting to make a YouTube channel for over a year.
I had like a list of things that I want to try out,
and it's like YouTuber, yoga teacher, astronaut, like just random things,
so that was like the thing that felt most like I could start now,
and I guess I'll just stick with that.
- (FBE) Why do you think this channel has blown up
from your perspective, as a successful online creator.
What is she doing right, and why are people
subscribing when they find her?
- I think, first of all, she's very charismatic.
I think she is funny, I think she has sort of
a natural sense of humor, and it feels natural.
- She feels very authentic. She's funny, she's cute.
And the concept of living in a van
is just so intriguing, as someone who doesn't
live in a van. - She's a strong independent woman.
She's out there, and you know, making it happen.
- Have you lived in a van? I haven't, I've never had a snake.
Like there's so many questions to be answered
by watching her videos
that it makes total sense that this would be something.
- For the viewers, it's sort of like an escapism.
They're seeing how another person lives their life,
and for some people it is a sort of fantasy life,
being able to have these things but have the freedom
to go wherever you want.
It's a cool idea, for sure.
- (FBE) When did you first notice that you were blowing up,
and what did it feel like?
- Um, I think right after I posted my second video,
I kind of like went off grid and came back
and saw all these messages from like friends and family
like "you're blowing up!"
And I'm like "yeah I know, I have like 20,000 subscribers!
I'm so stoked!"
And they're like "No no no no, it's bigger than that."
And I'm like "what do you mean?"
And then at that point, I just was like kind of shocked
and didn't really know what to do.
- (FBE) So when people get this popular so fast,
there tends to be people talking about conspiracy theories
about how this could all be possible.
- Yeah, I feel like it was planned or something.
- Like she's an industry plant?
- What? - Yeah, yeah.
She's definitely Illuminati.
It's Universal Music Group. - What are the theories?
- Planted her. - Yeah, her next single's coming out.
It's called I [bleep] In The Gym. - Yeah. (laughs)
- (FBE) So there are many, but we'll roll through
some of what's been said.
One theory is she used bots to buy views and fake comments
to help her rise.
- I mean, wouldn't YouTube have caught on to that, no?
- Huh, okay, yeah, I mean,
I wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion
just because I get it. I get her,
like she has the personality that fits YouTube.
- It makes sense for people to think that, but...
- It's also just working the algorithm.
- Working the algorithm and she's making good content.
Like, you know, some people get so skeptical about things
that we don't sometimes just say
like well maybe it just really is just natural.
- (FBE) Others think she has a whole media company behind her
helping her, and she maybe doesn't even really live in the van.
- Oh, that's fun.
- It's not difficult to shoot what she shot,
it's just that she is very good from the get-go,
and that's the only bit of skepticism, but that could come
and she took acting classes when she was younger,
or she just has watched a massive library of YouTube videos
and she was able to pick it up from that.
- (FBE) Even some people think it's possible
YouTube is behind this in some way,
or may be auto subscribing people to get more brand-safe content
on the site. - Interesting, I can see that.
- I feel like if they did that though, YouTube would get backlash.
- But how would they know?
- (FBE) Why do you think people get this fascinated
and make these kinds of claims about her success?
- I mean, I think people are,
I mean it probably is a little bit of jealousy, I guess.
- A lot of people maybe envy her, that she got fame that quickly,
without her even having to try.
- When it's such a crazy success rate, you have to immediately go
"is this real, is this fake?"
- Kinda sucks, 'cause you kinda have to be a skeptic nowadays.
You don't know what's real, you don't know what's fake,
and there seems to be just more conspiracy theories popping up,
and more people who are trying to play the system,
which is really unfortunate.
- Back actually when I started getting a lot more subscribers,
I was accused of paying for Reddit bots,
or something like that? I don't use Reddit.
To me, it just seems like she just got real lucky.
- (FBE) While there are these
conspiracy theories going around online,
there's many more people who say she essentially won the algorithm lottery.
- Yeah, I agree, I think so.
- If you're a newer channel, and you just kind of
get that little hit of engagement, or you get a big hit of engagement,
then YouTube's like "Okay, yeah, we'll serve it out to
.005% of our viewer base,"
which is millions upon millions of people.
- Believe she won the algorithm lottery
and that none of us can judge her for that.
I just don't think anybody else can compare their views,
their channel's success, their growth to what she's experienced.
- (FBE) So when people get this popular so fast,
there tends to be people talking about conspiracy theories
about how this could all be possible.
You're actually gonna be making a video for our channel
that'll come out in a few days directly talking about
all of this in more detail, but in a snapshot for this episode,
how have all these conspiracy theories made you feel?
- At first, it was kinda like spooky.
I just kind of like hit the lottery, and like yeah.
There's no conspiracy. - (FBE) Many think changes
to the algorithm allowed this to happen to Jannelle.
With how things have changed on YouTube over the years,
have you adjusted your approach to content as well?
- Yeah, I've tried to adapt.
It's tough, because you want to
keep the people who have been subscribed to you happy
because they subscribed to you for one reason,
while also wanting to create content that's gonna satisfy YouTube
and appeal to new viewers,
and finding that balance is very difficult.
- Oh yeah. - Definitely, 100%.
- Yeah we used to do 10 minute videos, now we do like 30 to 45 minute videos.
- Every day is a learning process,
'cause it's always growing and changing.
So you kinda have to be on top of things
when YouTube doesn't really communicate certain things with you
as a creator either, just 'cause they don't want
people who abuse the system, which is understandable.
But yeah, 100%.
You have to continue to grow and change your channel.
- Yeah, you know, a lot of this just,
I just wanna post what I want to post,
within reason, and like stuff that people want me to post,
rather than being like oh crap, I have to try to trick the algorithm,
I gotta try to trick YouTube into them pushing my videos.
- Videos that are over 10 minutes long are the sort of favorite thing,
but we can't do that, so just have to kind of
trust that our audience
is actually going to choose to come back to us,
because our videos actually don't fit the algorithm.
- For me it's worked out.
I've managed to survive.
- (FBE) So we asked the other YouTubers in this episode
to give you some advice.
- Oh okay, I'm so excited! (laughs)
- (FBE) So FBE got in touch with Jennelle,
and she's actually also going to be in this episode.
- (gasps) Oh my gosh, Jennelle! Please come to our house!
- My God! That is crazy!
I'm pretty sure she's excited just like I am. (laughs)
- (FBE) Oh yeah. - That's so cool!
- (FBE) So we'll see if she takes any of you up on this advice.
- Okay! (laughs) Very cool.
- She doesn't need advice from me, if she, no no, I'm kiddin'.
No, to maintain, just keep posting. Keep doing what you're doing.
If it's not broke, don't fix it.
- I agree, I need to post. - (Noah) Keep livin' in a van.
- (Ian) Keep up the good work. I like your style.
- (Noah) The snake in the hair. - (Ian) Yeah, yeah I like the snake.
Be, just you know, take care of yourself.
- Love that, I don't have any YouTuber friends,
so they don't really get it.
So it's nice to hear from the OGs.
- (Tiffany) Don't try to please an algorithm. (laughs)
Just be true to yourself,
and yeah, it's good to pay attention to numbers,
but I wouldn't stress too much about that.
- Yeah, I agree. That's the goal.
Just not to stress about the numbers, just keep it fun.
I feel like I started off on that foot,
so that's awesome that that did well.
And like, I'm not worried about the algorithm,
beacuse it seems to like me.
- (FBE) So finally, there are so many people out there
who are trying to accomplish what you were able to accomplish.
What would be your words of advice
for someone who is starting their own channel?
- Just do it. Just send it.
Like, you don't know what's gonna happen.
The Internet's like a mysterious thing and you don't need expensive gear.
You don't even need a van and a snake.
Like, find your thing
and just put it out there into the universe,
and let the internet take care of it.
- Thanks so much for watching
this van-tastic episode of YouTubers React!
- Subscribe to all the creators featured in this episode.
- (both) Thanks for watching! Bye!
- Thanks to FBE for making this video!
Subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos
of me and Alfredo, at Jennelle Eliana.
Or unsubscribe if you were auto-subbed. (laughs)
Toodles!