Who is Alex Wassabi?
Alexander Burriss was born on 28 March 1990, in Great Falls, Montana, USA, and is a YouTube personality and former Vine star, best known for his channel Alex Wassabi, in which he posts various videos including video blogs (vlogs), challenge videos, pranks, parodies, and much more. The channel originally rose to fame thanks to his partnership and collaboration with Roi Fabito.
The Riches of Alex Wassabi
As of mid-2020, Alex Wassabi’s net worth is estimated to be over $2 million, earned largely through a successful career on YouTube. His online fame has led to numerous opportunities, including sponsorships, partnerships, and more.
He earns significantly from YouTube’s advertising revenue program, that has benefitted many other popular YouTubers.
Early Life and Online Beginnings
While Alex was born in Montana, his family later moved to Durham, North Carolina where they settled. He took up education there, attending a middle school which led him to meet and befriend future collaborator, Roi Fabito. The two lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same high school becoming close friends. It was during this period that the two became interested in making comedy videos.
They wanted to do sketches and parodies that they could showcase with their family and friends.
As it was difficult to replicate the video, they opted to post it online, and at the time, YouTube was just starting to gain traction. After posting their first comedy video, they got a lot more attention than just family and friends. This encouraged and motivated them to continue making videos under the channel hoiistroi. Eventually,Alex wanted to change the name of the channel, first considering the name Wasabi, a word which stuck with him after watching “Jackass the Movie”. He used the name in the online game “Starcraft” several times, but when creating the channel, he had no idea that he had misspelled it as Wassabi for many years, and the name stuck.
Rise to Fame
Wassabi and his friend continued to make videos without a lot of attention, though they had a consistent following thanks to the popularity of their first video. They posted videos as a hobby – dance videos, lip-syncs, and other comedy efforts. After matriculating from high school, the duo decided to leave the channel behind as they needed to focus on their college education, but returned after just 10 months of inactivity, as they had the passion to continue their video work.
In 2012 their popularity surged, and they quickly registered as top comedy stars on YouTube at the time following the release of a parody for the song “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen.
In this, Alex was dressed as a girl named Rolanda, which was inspired by an old Halloween costume he wore back in middle school. The video went viral and attracted a lot of subscribers as a result, eventually over eight million, and the two became celebrities.
Going Their Separate Ways
Alex and Roi’s popularity was reaching various places around the world, and they were often invited to events in Los Angeles, Florida, and the like. They also traveled abroad and met fans while doing shows or other activities. They began releasing videos on a consistent schedule every Wednesday, and even established a fanbase called The Wassabians.
From North Carolina, the two friends then took an offer to move and live in Los Angeles, California, where most opportunities for the entertainment industry lay.
They lived in a house alongside Marlin, YellowPaco, and Kyle in what was said to be a haunted apartment. However, after a year of living together, Roi expressed a desire to live on his own and left the apartment, though the two continued to work on videos. However, this was the start of their separation, as in 2016 Roi announced that he was leaving the channel to pursue other interests and passions. This came just at the time that his YouTube gaming channel, Guava Juice was getting a lot more attention.
He also had to frequent his home country, Guatemala due to some family requirementss.
Recent Projects
Following Roi’s departure, Alex continued to manage Wassabi on his own, changing its name to Alex Wassabi to reflect that he was the only one responsible for it. He still retained a constant crew including Matt Wassabi, Drew Wassabi and Rob Wassabi. From doing weekly comedy sketches and videos, he began uploading more onto his channel, over the years transforming it into more of a vlog channel, showcasing some of his recent endeavors.
He also did comedy footage, while posting trends within the YouTube community such as challenge videos and the like. In recent months, his younger brother and other YouTubers have become more frequent guests, including fellow YouTuber Caeli – or CaELike – whom he calls his best friend. He’s settled on a more consistent schedule, of three videos a week.
Aside from YouTube, Alex became a bit of a star on Vine during the years of its popularity. However, following the service being shut down, he returned to focus more on YouTube content. He’s also been more active with his other social media accounts such as Instagram and Twitter, on which he connects with fans while also promoting some advocacies.
In recent weeks, he’s been speaking out against racial injustice and inequality, following the protests in the US after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in the custody of the Minneapolis police.
Personal Life
Alex was previously in a relationship with YouTuber Lauren Riihimaki – they were together for three years before breaking up in 2018. The following year, he began dating CaELike or Caeli but, the two broke up after a short time, although remaining best friends. He has two younger brothers, both of whom appear frequently on his channel, and he also has a sister. His siblings have also pursued careers online and in social media.