Vitaly Zdorovetskiy
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 8, 1992 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Occupation | YouTube personality, Hacker |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Genre | |
| Subscribers | 10 million(June 2, 2019) |
| Total views | 1.6+ billion(May 9, 2019) |
| Network | Maker(2011–2014)Collective Digital(2014–present) |
| Associated acts | |
| Updated August 28, 2019 | |
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (/vɪˈtæli zəˌdɒrəˈvjɛtski/ vih-TAL-ee zə-DORR-ə-VYET-skee VitalyzdTv a Russian-American YouTube personality. Zdorovetskiy's YouTube videos, as of June 2019, have reached over 1.65 billion views and over 10 million subscribers, while his vlog channel has more than 260 million views and 2.0 million subscribers.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 8, 1992 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Occupation | YouTube personality, Hacker |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Genre | |
| Subscribers | 10 million(June 2, 2019) |
| Total views | 1.6+ billion(May 9, 2019) |
| Network | Maker(2011–2014)Collective Digital(2014–present) |
| Associated acts | |
| Updated August 28, 2019 | |
Early life and education
Zdorovetskiy attempted to become a professional skateboarder at an early age but gave up due to injuries.[1]
In the video titled "Why I Did Porn!", Zdorovetskiy tells his audience he got his first job at age 15 as a garbage collector making $5.00 an hour.
His second job was a sign-spinner dressed as Uncle Sam making $20 for 3 hours of work.
After that, Vitaly picked up a job as a bus boy at a restaurant in Miami, Florida. Shortly after turning 18, Zdorovetskiy took part in an adult film scene with pornographic actress Diamond Kitty for the adult entertainment company Bang Bros in 2011.[1]
Career
In 2012, Zdorovetskiy received his first significant success, with the video "Miami Zombie Attack Prank!" Inspired by the cannibal attack of a homeless man in Miami in May 2012, Zdorovetskiy dressed up as a zombie and traveled to some of the poorest neighborhoods in Miami to scare random bystanders. By January 2015, the "Miami Zombie Attack Prank!" had been viewed more than 30 million times.[1] A sequel video prank was produced in Columbus, Ohio. The video got five million views within a week on YouTube.[2]
On June 16, 2012, Zdorovetskiy and cameraman Jonathan Vegas filmed the "Russian Hitman Prank".
As part of the prank, Zdorovetskiy approached a Boca Raton Resort man and informed him they had 60 seconds to get away from a briefcase he placed on the ground. After Zdorovetskiy revealed the whole thing to be a prank and that there was a hidden camera nearby, the man started attacking him and his partner and called the police. Zdorovetskiy was arrested by Boca Raton police department, facing a maximum of 15 years in prison[3] on charges of threatening to detonate a bomb. At the time of the prank, Zdorovetskiy's YouTube channel had only about 100,000 subscribers, but after the incident his channel grew to over four million subscribers within just over a year.[4]
On July 20, 2013, Zdorovetskiy released the video "Extreme Homeless Man Makeover", in which he befriends a homeless man named Martin and provides him with new clothes and a hotel room.
The video posting resulted in a job offer that Martin accepted.[5] He was also reunited with his wife.
The project also included an attempt to raise money to have Martin's teeth fixed, for which Zdorovetskiy was able to raise about $10,000 online.
The fundraising campaign was canceled before it was completed, because of Zdorovetskiy's criminal history.
However, Zdorovetskiy received several offers from surgeons to do the dental work for free.[6] The surgery and the video story was featured on television news casts including the Good Day LA Fox morning show.[7]
His "Gold Digger Prank", featuring a woman who rejects his advances until she believes he drives a Lamborghini Gallardo sports car,[8] generated more than 18 million views in its first week of posting,[9] making VitalyzdTV the third most watched YouTube channel in the world during that week with over 45 million views.[10]
On October 15, 2014, Zdorovetskiy pulled a prank which involved himself dressing up as Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, pretending to saw off the legs of Hanhart syndrome patient Nick Santonastasso with a chainsaw in front of unsuspecting witnesses.[12] The prank went viral, receiving over 30 million views in 3 weeks.
On May 25, 2016, Zdorovetskiy was arrested for trespassing after climbing the Hollywood Sign, as part of a video stunt.[13] On June 10, Zdorovetskiy was again arrested for streaking during Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors with authorities quickly apprehending and arresting the YouTuber.[14]
During the bottom of the 7th inning in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, he was arrested for running onto the field at Minute Maid Park shortly after Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros hit a home run.[15]
On December 31, 2017, Zdorovetskiy and his girlfriend were escorted off Boca Raton Resort because online posts were discovered about a potential New Year's Eve prank, but Zdorovetskiy said he had no intention of making any prank videos at the resort.
During the 2019 Champions League Final, his girlfriend Kinsey Wolanski ran on to the pitch wearing a swimsuit emblazoned with the "Vitaly Uncensored" logo.[16] Zdorovetskiy is currently facing a ban from attending major sporting events for his antics and Wolanski is likely to get a similar ban. However, during the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final between England and New Zealand, Zdorovetskiy's mother, Elena Vulitsky attempted to emulate her son’s girlfriend’s success at the Champions League final.[17] Vulitsky was pictured wearing clothing with the "Vitaly Uncensored" logo on it, but was stopped by stewards from streaking.
Personal life
Zdorovetskiy currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He is in a movie with his friends Roman Atwood and Dennis Roady, both fellow YouTube pranksters. In November 2015, Lionsgate officially acquired worldwide distribution rights for Natural Born Pranksters.[18] Upon debut, Natural Born Pranksters received poor reviews from viewers with an average user rating of 3.6 out of 10 on IMDb,[19] and a 3.3 out of 10 on Metacritic.[20]