YouTubers who snuck into Royal Wedding spark outrage after holding video hostage

A British YouTube duo famous for their over-the-top pranks snuck into the 2018 Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — but they’re holding the video hostage until they get a certain amount of subscribers.

Plenty of YouTubers have gone viral for shunning social norms and pulling jaw-dropping stunts; who can forget Vitaly infamously streaking across the football pitch in the 2014 World Cup Final, or the one of the NELK Boys’ getting assaulted over a fake sneezing prank?

Long story short, pranks are a tale as old as time on YouTube, and generally don’t end well for those involved — but two influencers decided to take their content to the next level and snuck into the 2018 Royal Wedding, exposing “£30 million worth of security” in the process.

YouTubers Zac Daniel Alsop and Jamie Rawsthorne have been sneaking into festivals and pulling pranks since 2016, and have even been investigated by authorities due to their shenanigans.

In May 2021, the duo revealed they’d snuck into one of the biggest events in the world by using a fake pass and a false name, but they won’t share their video doing so until they reach one million subscribers in a months’ time.

“The only way that we will release this video is if we get to one million subscribers by June 21,” they explained in a May 26 video. “If we don’t hit a million subscribers on time, the only hard drive with the footage for the Royal Wedding video is getting destroyed, and I promise you that.”

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That’s not all; they also asked viewers to refer five new subscribers to their channel. When they have completed this task, the YouTubers will send the successful viewer a private link, where they can watch the video come June 22 if all the other conditions are met.

Needless to say, their fanbase isn’t exactly happy with this turn of events, with many commenters claiming that the duo is “milking” the situation and asking too much from their viewers.

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“Not gonna lie, I don’t like this practice,” one user wrote. “If you make good content, I will subscribe. But if you surge me into subscribing, that’s just nasty.”

“What about those of us that don’t have 5 mates that aren’t subscribed?” another said. “Really don’t rate the way you’ve gone about this.”

For now, it seems that Zac and Jay are going through with their plan in spite of the controversy — but maybe it’s because they know they’re sitting on one of the biggest uploads in YouTube history.