The banner logo used in the group's videos. The full form has silhouettes of sharply-ressed men above the banner.
The Sidemen (formally the Ultimate Sidemen) is a group of seven British YouTubers who have boosted in popularity throughout2014, 2015 and 2016. They are all good friends, play video games together and have created a commerical brand from their name.
The name is an allusion to a term to refer to those who are "behind the scenes" and are much less noticed than the main people.
Formation
- Originally, JJ (KSI) was the only YouTuber. Simon (miniminter) & JJ became friends in Year 8 (aged 12-13). Simon would help him record videos by holding the camera and such.
- The two eventually ended up connecting with Josh (Zerkaa), who was long-term friends with Tobi (TBJZL).
- On Josh's birthday, the four were all in a voice hangout and started watching a stream from Ethan (Behzinga); they then invited him to the group. This group was nicknamed - by Simon - as "The Original Five".
- They started recording and playing GTA together, and then invited Vik (Vikkstar123). He was a fit - despite not being as invested in FIFA/football as the others - so naturally he joined the group, as it was an informal group at the time.
- The 'Ultimate Sidemen' - minus Harry (wroetoshaw) - officially formed on 19 October 2013. A few months later, in early 2014, they asked Harry to record with them and he too fit in.
The Group
From right: Miniminter,KSI,W2S,Behzinga,Zerkaa,TBJZL & Vikkstar123
The members of the group are:
- Olajide Olatunji
- Simon Minter
- Josh Bradley
- Tobi Brown
- Ethan Payne
- Vikram Barn
- Harry Lewis
In addition to these seven, a British rapper "JME" is considered an official/unofficial member of the Sidemen, since he allegedly played a key part in the groups formation (he has still been said to be a part of the Sidemen by multiple members as of 2016):
 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Behzinga Ethan Payne |
 W2S Harry Lewis |
 Zerkaa Josh Bradley |
 KSI Olajide "JJ" Olatunji |
 Miniminter Simon Minter |
 TBJZL Tobi Brown |
 Vikkstar123 Vikram Barn |
Games
The Sidemen XIX logo, used on the Sidemen Clothing line. XIX is the Roman numeral for nineteen (19), the day in October 2013 when the group formed.
All of the Sidemen are fans of association football and FIFA is the main game that is commonly associated with most them. Each member of the group has at least two YouTube channels; one for FIFA and "real life" videos and one for other games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty. Vikkstar123 is an exception; his main channel is not FIFA-focused and his second channel is Minecraft-focused (although he also runs a third Let's Play channel and a fourth Call of Duty community channel).
Events
As their popularity began to grow, the Sidemen have branched out and started hosting their own events. Appearances at commercial gaming events such as Insomnia, as well as unofficial meet-ups are not counted as there are too many of them:
- 2016 Charity Football Match (June 2016)
- Upload Event (November 2016)
External links
- UltimateSidemen.com, an unaffiliated portal fansite
- Ultimate Sidemen on TV Tropes