Gavin Free (born: May 23, 1988) and Dan Gruchy (born: June 17, 1988) are an English YouTube duo who run the web series The Slow Mo Guys. It is the largest high-speed video channel on YouTube, with over 15 million subscribers. They use a Phantom Flex camera, and they upload a new video every 1–2 weeks. They added a second channel, The Slow Mo Guys 2, in March 2016.
Creating the Channel[]
Prior to embarking on their YouTube career, Gavin and Dan knew each other initially from going to the same school, although the two didn't become friends until the two of them worked at the same branch of Waitrose in their hometown of Thame, Oxfordshire.[1]
One notable aspect of the channel's creation was that Gavin wasn't eligible for a US visa as he hadn't attended university so his only hope was to qualify for an O visa, which the United States grants to temporary workers "who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements",with Gavin saying it took about a year between the channel uploading its first video and him meeting the requirements for the visa.[2]
Initially the videos were filmed in the garden of Gavin's parents' house, allowing them to rope in assistance either from Gavin's brother George[3] or the family cat Lloyd[4] for the videos, with the more explosive (literally) videos being filmed at Gavin's grandfather's house as that was not in a built-up area. When Gavin moved to Austin, Texas to work with Rooster Teeth full-time, production of episodes instead took place in the back garden of Gavin's house in Austin, barring episodes involving explosives or firearms which took place in more secluded locations, with Dan flying out every few weeks so they could bulk record a batch of videos to be released.
Trivia[]
- Gavin worked on the Slow Motion cinematography for the films Snow White and the Huntsman, Hot Fuzz and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows[5]
- Gavin has been dating YouTuber (and former Rooster Teeth host) Meg Turney since 2013.
- The name of the channel was inspired by a comment by Top Gear host Richard Hammond from a shoot where Gavin was working, where Hammond said "Oh, you must be the slow mo guys" when greeting the crew.[6]
Subscriber Milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
- 1 million subscribers: September 29, 2012
- 2 million subscribers: May 26, 2013
- 3 million subscribers: December 11, 2013
- 4 million subscribers: June 1, 2014
- 5 million subscribers: March 5, 2015
- 6 million subscribers: August 19, 2015
- 7 million subscribers: December 14, 2015
- 8 million subscribers: May 29, 2016
- 9 million subscribers: April 2, 2017
- 10 million subscribers: January 22, 2018
- 11 million subscribers: April 29, 2018
- 12 million subscribers: February 21, 2019
- 13 million subscribers: October 15, 2019
- 14 million subscribers: December 8, 2020
- 15 million subscribers: January 4, 2024
Video View Milestones[]
- 1 billion video views: September 4, 2016
- 2 billion video views: April 5, 2020
References[]
- ↑ YouTube: Where we met
- ↑ Buzzfeed: How The Slow Mo Guys Took Over YouTube
- ↑ YouTube: Giant 6ft Water Balloon - The Slow Mo Guys
- ↑ YouTube: Gravity Defying Cat - The Slow Mo Guys
- ↑ IMDb: Gavin Free
- ↑ YouTube: RT Podcast: Ep. 427 - Nature’s Gross
