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Ethan Leigh Payne (born 20 June 1995), better known as Behzinga, is an English YouTuber, streamer, and influencer. He produces videos on gaming, football, comedy, and fitness and is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group Sidemen. In 2019, Payne was listed as the 31st most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by The Sunday Times.[6] As of September 2021[update], his main YouTube channel had over 4 million subscribers and 500 million video views.[3] He is the co-owner of XIX Vodka, Sidemen Clothing, restaurant chain Sides, and cereal brand Best Breakfasts.
Ethan Leigh Payne[7] was born on 20 June 1995 in London and was raised almost entirely by his mother Ruth, who had cancer during his childhood. His biological father left before he was born and his stepfather, whom he had met when he was six months old and believed was his actual father, left when he was thirteen, due to drug addiction and debt.[1][8] Payne attended Marshalls Park School,[9] and then studied video games development at South Essex College.[6]
Payne registered the "Behzinga" YouTube channel on 24 February 2012 while he was still in school.[3][10] He explained that the name comes from one of his favourite television series, The Big Bang Theory, in which Sheldon Cooper often uses the catchphrase "Bazinga!"; Payne altered the spelling.[1] His early content primarily featured video game commentaries on the Call of Duty and FIFA video game series.[10] Over time, his style of content diversified to include football, comedy, and fitness videos.[6][11][12]
Payne in 2014
On 19 October 2013, Payne and four other British YouTubers formed the entertainment collective Ultimate Sidemen, later shortened to simply Sidemen. Since 2014, the group has consisted of seven British YouTubers: Vikram Barn (Vikkstar123), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Tobi Brown (TBJZL), Harry Lewis (W2S), Simon Minter (Miniminter), JJ Olatunji (KSI), and Payne.[13] The group produces online videos, most often consisting of challenges, sketches, and video-game commentary, as well as selling exclusive Sidemen merchandise.[14][15]
Payne and the Sidemen have founded multiple businesses throughout their online careers. In 2014 the group launched a clothing brand under the Sidemen Clothing banner.[17] In November 2021, they founded a restaurant chain known as Sides in collaboration with Reef.[18] In October 2022, they launched their own vodka brand known as XIX Vodka.[19] in March 2024, they launched a breakfast cereal brand known as Best Cereal in collaboration with Mornflake.[20]
Payne is sponsored by Gymshark, a British fitness apparel company, as part of the company's brand ambassadors and also the "Gymshark athletes".[21][22]
Payne and his girlfriend, Faith Louisa Kelly, created and hosted a podcast together called Growing Paynes in July 2023.[23][24] They posted their first episode on 13 July 2023.[25] The podcast is available on YouTube and Spotify.[26] The podcast went viral in September 2023, after a clip of the podcast gained attention in which Payne and Kelly were debating about women taking their partner's surnames after marriage.[23][27]
Payne and his girlfriend, Faith Louisa Kelly, have a daughter together, born in September 2022.[28] On 3 April 2024, the couple announced via Instagram that they are engaged.[29] They later got married in December 2024.[30] They currently live together in Essex.[21][31]
Payne has become an advocate for mental health and has talked about the importance of sharing feelings and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental illness in men.[33][34]
Payne is asthmatic. On 24 April 2024, he tweeted that he had suffered from a life-threatening asthma attack during a Sidemen YouTube video recording and was hospitalised on 22 April 2024.[39][40][41]
Payne became an ambassador for the Teenage Cancer Trust in September 2022.[42][21] A year later, he became the charity's first content icon.[42]
In December 2021, Payne participated in a five-a-side football tournament hosted by YouTuber and sports commentator, True Geordie and Twitch, raising money for the Alan Shearer Foundation.[43] The event managed to raise more than £100,000.[44]
On 14 February 2025, Payne participated in "Match for Hope 2025", a football charity event hosted in Doha, Qatar, as a player for team AboFlah & KSI, facing off against team Chunkz & IShowSpeed. The match ended with team AboFlah & KSI's 6–5 victory over team Chunkz & IShowSpeed. The event managed to raise more than $10.7 million for charity.[45][46]
^Series 1 was shown on the Sidemen and Moresidemen YouTube channels with extras and unseen moments being shown on Side+. Series 2 onwards will be exclusively on Netflix with companion shows being shown on Side+
