Sam Pepper

Samuel Pepper (born 26 March 1989) is an English internet personality.

Samuel Pepper was born on 26 March 1989 in Ashford, Kent.

He is half Greek.

He attended Pent Valley Technology College in Cheriton, Kent.

He created his YouTube channel in 2010, accumulating over 2 million subscribers and 55 million video views.

In 2010, Pepper took part in the 11th season of the British reality television series Big Brother as a housemate, entering the house on day 52 as Laura's replacement as part of the "Ignore the Obvious" task.

He was evicted on day 73 with 14.6% of the public vote.

On 8 September 2010, Pepper created his YouTube channel and began uploading videos, mainly consisting of pranks, voicing himself in Element Animation's The Crack! in 2011.

From late-2013 to mid-2014, Pepper, alongside friend and fellow YouTube personality Marius "Maz" Listhrop, began his worldwide comedy tour, "WDGAF Tour".

In September 2014, Pepper uploaded a controversial video titled "Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank".

In the video, Pepper would go up to women and ask for directions before pinching their buttocks.

Soon after the video was published, many people online claimed to have been sexually harassed by Pepper in the video, which soon gained mainstream media attention.

Subsequently, the hashtag #ReportSamPepper trended on Twitter, along with many people criticising Pepper's actions.

Pepper released another video a few days later where women would go behind men and pinch their buttocks.

On the same day, he published another video claiming that his first prank was a "social experiment" and that the video was "staged and scripted" with actors, the online claims of "participants" having been fake.

He went on to say that bringing attention to the issue of sexual harassment was "the focal point of the experiment", with the harassment claims online untrue jokes.

Pepper removed both of these videos from YouTube shortly after their releases.

Rival video blogger Laci Green consequently published a video called "Sam Pepper Exposed", addressing the online harassment allegation campaign on Pepper.

Green also wrote an open letter calling on Pepper to "stop violating women and making them uncomfortable on the street for views".

The letter received more than 100 thousand signatures.

Also shortly after the original video was published, multiple women came forward and accused Pepper of sexual misconduct, including soliciting nude photographs from a minor, inappropriate sexual contact, and rape.

No charges were filed, and Pepper was not arrested.

In November 2015, Pepper uploaded a video entitled "Killing Best Friend Prank".

The video features internet personalities Sam Golbach and Colby Brock.

In the video, a masked Pepper kidnaps Golbach and Brock (both of whom were in actuality in on the prank alongside Pepper), who are parked at an unknown location, shoving Golbach into the trunk of the car with a bag over his head.

Brock helps Pepper tie up Golbach and take him to a rooftop, where he is forced to watch Pepper "shoot" Brock, leaving Golbach in tears.

The video caused a backlash on social media, also hitting media headlines.

British newspaper Metro compared the video to an "ISIS-style execution".

A subsequent online petition to have Pepper removed from YouTube gained over 100,000 signatures.

In an interview with Metro, Pepper stated that the criticism towards the video and himself was "shocking".

In the same interview, Golbach stated that the message of the video was "about living life to the full... not taking life for granted and loving it because it's short".

In response to the ongoing criticism, Pepper started a GoFundMe campaign, stating that he would delete his YouTube channel if $1.5 million was pledged to him.

The campaign was removed shortly afterwards, along with the accompanying video that was posted on his YouTube channel.

On 21 February 2016, Pepper made all of his YouTube videos private and deleted all of his tweets, save for one stating "I give up".

He uploaded a 20-minute video on 24 February titled "i'm sorry".

In the video, Pepper confessed that many of his pranks, including his controversial "Killing Best Friend Prank", were staged.

He also denied all online allegations of harassment towards him, attributed to a trolling campaign.

He apologised for his videos, calling himself an "idiot" and stated that he would continue uploading on YouTube and "make content that I really believe in".

He joined TikTok in 2020 and has amassed more than 1 million followers there as of October 2021.

Pepper began streaming on Kick in the summer of 2023, where he live streams mostly IRL and Stake.com gambling videos.