Odds: Which Sidemen Will Leave the Group First And When Will They Disband?

YouTube group Sidemen have taken the world by storm ever since they were formed in October 2013.

Made up of pals Olajide "JJ" Olatunji (KSI), Simon Minter (Miniminter), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Tobit "Tobi" Brown (TBJZL), Ethan Payne (Behzinga), Vikram "Vik" Barn (Vikkstar123), and Harry Lewis (W2S), they are billed as the biggest YouTube group in Europe and have amassed 21.6 million subscribers on their Sidemen YouTube channel and more than 8.7 million on their MoreSidemen channel.

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Sidemen began playing video games together and uploading the content to YouTube, and they still upload weekly videos to their main channel. The videos feature the group—who are also said to count British rapper JME as an unofficial member—engaged in various challenges, sketches, and video game commentaries.

Simon previously explained the meaning behind their name in a clip, saying: "A sideman is basically someone's b***h who just follows them around [...] I was basically JJ's b***h that followed him around." As a collective group, Sidemen are thought to have a net worth of more than £45 million, and while none of the group have officially left just yet, there have been rumblings over the years.

KSI To Be Knocked Out First?

Like with all successful groups, the individual members are often tempted away to do other projects alongside their group work. For Sidemen, KSI has gone on to forge a boxing career, and Ethan has embarked on the biggest side project of all—starting a family. He and his fiancée Faith Kelly welcomed their first child, daughter Olive, into the world in September 2022.

KSI and Ethan fell out in August 2017, and KSI then appeared to "leave" the group and joked it was because of Ethan. This led to the Sidemen War, which was also known as Sidemen Beef, which was a series of events that resulted from KSI saying he was departing the Sidemen.

Both Ethan and Harry made diss tracks about KSI, and there were further retaliations, but in the end KSI stayed put. Despite this, he is the most likely of the group to depart for real at 6/4, especially as he has his boxing career on the side, and he is also the co-owner of Prime Hydration alongside fellow YouTuber Logan Paul.

While the exact valuation of the company is not disclosed, some reports have estimated it is worth between $3 billion and $8 billion.

Ethan's Engagement  

For Ethan, he marked another personal milestone recently when got engaged to Faith in April. The pair also have a podcast together, Growing Paynes, and in July last year they spoke about which of the Sidemen might leave the group first. Faith admitted if one of the group leave then the Sidemen could be finished, which Ethan agreed with.

He also said, "I don't think anyone is going to leave. Ever." Faith added, "Risk to reward, I'm not being funny, but I think you all know there's reward to staying." 

It came in response to a Sidemen podcast in which KSI spoke about which of the group might depart first during a chat with Simon, Tobi, and Vik. Vik insisted Harry would be the first to leave, while Simon believes he, Josh, and Tobi were committed to Sidemen "for life."

Vik said, "It changes for me. It's between three people. Four people! I think me, you [Tobi], and Josh—we're locked in for life. I think you [Vik] might leave because you have a pack you love going to."

"[Pointing at KSI] You're KSI. So, you might just be like, 'Why the f*** do I hang out with..." He added, "Ethan has specifically said, 'If I had $10 mill, I would not be here." But he also picked out Harry as a possible departee. He said, "And Harry, I just see, could get very bored of it."

In February, the group released a documentary, The Sidemen Story, on Netflix. In the film, the lads spoke about the group's future, and they pointed out Harry sometimes jokes about "stopping tomorrow." While Harry admitted he has been "close" to wanting to leave, he said he "still enjoys" being part of the group.

Harry is 2/1 second favourite to leave Sidemen first, while Ethan is 3/1 third favourite to depart the group.

A few months later, in April, the Sidemen created a video on their MoreSidemen channel called "Tobi's leaving the Sidemen," sparking a concerned reaction from fans.

However, it appeared to be a prank, as Tobi is still part of the Sidemen, but he is 4/1 to be the first to leave.

Sidemen In It For Long Haul

As Faith said, if one of the Sidemen were to depart, then there is a strong chance the group would completely disband.

While some of their videos don't always include all seven of the Sidemen, it wouldn't be a shock if they made a collective decision to end the group if a member departed. What's more, Ethan has predicted if one of them left that person might receive plenty of solo attention initially, but that would soon die down, and he is keen to make as much money as possible to secure his future grandchildren financially.

Speaking a year ago on Growing Paynes, Ethan said: "There's so much more money to be made out of being in this business that we're in, so if that secures her [his daughter's] children's future to not worry about things, I'm going to do it. And that's the way your brain thinks now. I'm thinking two generations down the line."

While the group appears happy enough for now, there have been past rumblings, and, as previously mentioned, it might only take one of them to fall to bring the whole deck down with them. That said, it doesn't seem likely the Sidemen will disband this year, especially after launching their new show, InSIDE, in June.

The ambitious project featured 10 celebrities who competed in challenges to secure a £1 million prize fund, but everything they did or bought cost them money from the fund. It was streamed on the group's Sidemen YouTube account, and former Love Island star Chloe Burrows triumphed alongside The Circle's Manrika Khaira.

It's a 5/1 outsider for Sidemen to disband this year, but that looks really unlikely, especially with a second season of InSIDE on the cards, and the group are 7/2 to fold in 2025. Sidemen clearly know they are stronger together, and the 11/8 on them going their separate ways in 2027 or later seems the biggest runner here.

Ethan in the Ring

KSI made his boxing debut in February 2018 when he faced fellow YouTuber Joe Weller in the ring, and knocked him out.

In August that year, KSI took on Logan Paul in a white-collar amateur boxing match, and the pair had a rematch in November 2019, which was a professional bout and KSI was victorious via split decision.

Just a month before the rematch, Tobi was asked on Sky Sports Boxing which of the Sidemen would be next to step into the ring. He said, "Don't look at me. Look at Ethan, maybe. Maybe Simon or Josh? Not me."

Ethan provided Sky Sports Box Office commentary for KSI and Weller's rematch, and he got a step closer to the ring this year when he was due to fight Weller at KSI's Misfits Boxing event. However, the bout didn't materialise.

KSI took on Logan Paul again in November 2019. (Image: John Barry / Alamy)

Ethan later hinted Misfits hadn't met his "worth," but KSI later claimed on the What's Good? podcast: "We [Misfits Boxing] offered what he [Ethan] wanted." Despite this, Ethan appears to be the most likely of the Sidemen to follow KSI into the ring at 4/6, while Simon is 15/8 and Josh is 2/1 third favourite. However, Tobi is propping up the market at 6/1 after admitting he can't ever see a scenario where he will want to take any punches.

But with KSI and Ethan appearing to disagree about why the bout didn't take place, could there be some Sidemen cracks appearing after all?