For the past month, the internet has been on the edge waiting for Shane Dawson’s “The Secret Life of Jake Paul.” The YouTube series has been dominating the YouTube platform, with each video getting at least 15 million views.
YouTuber Shane Dawson started his channel in 2008, making sketch comedy and conspiracy videos. Currently, his channel has 18.3 million subscribers and he plans on expanding his content.
The Jake Paul series wasn’t the first documentary Dawson has made. Previously, Dawson posted videos showing the secret lives of social media makeup artist, Jeffree Star and other online comedians and content creators.
His first was series with YouTuber Rachel Bunny Meyer, aka GRAV3YARDGIRL, talking about her income from YouTube and her life she lives behind YouTube. In those videos, Dawson and Meyer brought up sensitive topics, like Meyer’s sudden drop in views and the reason why it might be happening.
“Before I was getting ‘actually’ money doing [YouTube], my personality was real and now I feel like it’s changed, and it’s all because of the numbers,” said GRAV3YARDGIRL in the sences..
Dawson has also done in-depth documentaries on YouTube about makeup-artist Jeffree Star. In this series, they discuss Star’s background and experiences before the fame and money. They also go in-depth about makeup company Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and the growth of the business. Star often keep the business side of his company out of the spotlight, but eventually the series shares those details.
Dawson’s Jake Paul series includes many sensitive topics that Paul wouldn’t normally put on his comedy channel. In the videos, they talk about YouTuber Alissa Violet, a former member of Paul’s company Team 10, and the drama that surrounding her. Paul was accused of physically and mentally abusing her.
“If we filmed a video where he would push me into a bush, normally you would just nudge someone and pretend to be pushed, but he would actually shove me,” said Violet in Dawson’s video.
Dawson also interviewed YouTuber Nick Crompton as part of the series, was associated with Paul and in some ways (managed) him and his team. Crompton later reveals in an interview that all the pranks Paul does in his videos are staged, and the pranked people who were getting pranks done in them were told ahead of time.
“It’s difficult to say that it’s all fake when there’s loads of kids watching,” said Crompton “I don’t want to be responsible for ruining that whole thing.”
Dawson’s main motive for making the series was, Paul and his team has been in the press and constantly talked about in the social media world for years and he wanted to find out why Paul was so controversial in addition to revealing the real mind behind all his videos and online controversy.
Overall the series made a new reputation on Jake Paul. Fans and haters can all agree that the video busted his channel and made everyone see him in a different perspective.
