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Not to be confused with Poo Bear.

David Hunt (born April 11, 1985), known online as GrandPooBear, is a prominent video game streamer, speedrunner and creator of Kaizo Super Mario levels.

Personal life

David Hunt, known online as GrandPooBear,[1] grew up in Michigan and attended the University of Colorado Boulder. An avid snowboarder, he suffered a bad accident in April 2013,[2][3] which left him severely injured. While spending months in recovery, he turned to another passion to focus on, saying: "I was bored on the couch, and I decided I wanted to become really good at one video game, Super Mario Bros. 3."[4]

Hunt lives with his wife, who helps operate their streaming business.[5] They had their first child in January 2019.[6]

Career

Hunt started his streaming career playing video game, and soon moved on to Super Mario Bros. 3 speedrunning.[3] After the 2015 release of Super Mario Maker, Hunt began learning Kaizo techniques from playing over 5,000 hours of the game, including levels created by PangaeaPanga, and created a series of video tutorials on Kaizo game mechanics with walkthroughs of his own levels.[7] He became a prominent video game streamer of Super Mario Maker 2,[8] and helped create Warp World, a suite of software applications that help Mario Maker streamers increase audience interaction.[6] Hunt has also been invited to perform speedruns of both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Maker at various Games Done Quick events.[9][10] As of 2020, he is a full-time game streamer.[11]

Prominent Kaizo creator BarbarousKing named his Grand Poo World series after GrandPooBear.[12]

Hunt was invited to become an official Red Bull Esports Athlete on December 14, 2018.[13][14]

Controversies

Deletion of Super Mario Maker levels

During his career, Hunt has played Super Mario Maker, a game that allows players to design and publish their own video game levels. In January 2016, one of Hunt's levels named "Pile of Poo-POOgatory" was deleted from Nintendo's platform.[15] A representative from Nintendo said the level was deleted because of the word "poo" in the level title. After appealing, the same representative called Hunt during a stream and claimed the level would be restored. A few days later, Nintendo recanted the decision, and the level remained deleted. One month later, Hunt found that Nintendo had deleted all of his levels without notice. In this case, Nintendo confirmed that Hunt's content had not been flagged for inappropriate activity such as cheating, but did not say why the content was deleted.

A similar incident occurred in 2019 with Hunt's content on Super Mario Maker 2, this time with Nintendo threatening to ban Hunt from the platform.[16][17] Hunt was not the only individual to have levels deleted in this manner, for which Nintendo has received criticism from news outlets such as Kotaku and Polygon.[18][19] Other creators such as PattyTTV spoke out in support of Hunt, but Nintendo has yet to comment on why Hunt's content was removed.[20]

Glitchcon "stream-sniping" incident

In late 2020, Hunt participated in GlitchCon, a part of the Twitch Rivals program. While playing in a Fall Guys tournament, Twitch found that xQc, one of Hunt's teammates, engaged in "stream sniping" during the tournament, a tactic where a player watches an opposing team's stream to gain a competitive advantage using their opponent's point of view.[21] All members of xQc's team, including Hunt by association, had to return all prize money they had received, and received both a 6-month ban from participation in Twitch Rivals, and a 7-day suspension from streaming on Twitch.[22] Hunt's 7-day suspension, along with one other team member, was later reduced to only three days. Hunt publicly apologized for the incident, and said, "I should have said something, instead I got swept up in playing with a group I don’t normally do."[23]

References

  1. ^ Orland, Kyle (July 16, 2019). "Nintendo deletes popular Mario Maker 2 level for unexplained reasons". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  2. ^ @GrandPooBear (April 6, 2018). "5 years ago I started the hardest journey of my life after being hit by an out of control skier. Eventually this led me to Twitch. It's amazing how the worst moments in your life can lead to some of the best. I am finally back at my pre accident weight and feeling healthy!" (Tweet). Retrieved November 25, 2020 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ a b Haeems, Neil (October 8, 2020). "Streamer GrandPooBear talks speedrunning community, FallMania 4". Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  4. ^ "David 'GrandPOObear' Hunt". Red Bull. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  5. ^ Alexander, Julie (August 21, 2018). "Twitch streamers are divided on Ninja's choice not to stream with women". Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Switzer, Eric (October 7, 2019). "GrandPOOBear Interview: Twitch's Top Mario Streamer Is Just Getting Started". Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  7. ^ Klepek, Patrick (July 11, 2019). "'Mario Maker' Expert Creates Easy Way to Learn Game's Secret Kaizo Tricks". Vice. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  8. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (July 16, 2019). "Nintendo deletes level from top Mario Maker 2 player for mysterious reasons". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Gach, Ethan (January 14, 2017). "Speedrunners Race Their Own Hellish Creations With Super Dram World". Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  10. ^ Good, Owen (July 1, 2018). "Summer Games Done Quick 2018 sets another fund-raising record". Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Alexander, Julia (August 21, 2018). "Twitch streamers are divided on Ninja's choice not to stream with women". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  12. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (March 12, 2019). "The hardest Mario game of the year is unlike anything you've seen before". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  13. ^ @GrandPooBear (December 14, 2018). "Yo, I'm so excited to announce that I have joined the @redbullesports family! It's so huge for me and the entire speedrunning community. Just so stoked!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 13, 2020 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Rogosin, Aaron (2018). "David 'GrandPOObear' Hunt". redbull.com. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  15. ^ Klepek, Patrick (March 21, 2016). "Nintendo Deletes Every Stage By Prominent Mario Maker Speedrunner". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  16. ^ Klepek, Patrick (July 16, 2019). "Nintendo Deleted a Very Popular 'Mario Maker 2' Stage Without Explanation". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  17. ^ Gach, Ethan (July 16, 2019). "Déjà Poo: Nintendo Deletes Another Mario Maker Level By Popular Speedrunner". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  18. ^ Klepek, Patrick (January 15, 2016). "Nintendo Is Deleting People's Mario Maker Stages Without Telling Them Why". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  19. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (July 16, 2019). "Nintendo deletes level from top Mario Maker 2 player for mysterious reasons". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Allen, Eric Van (July 16, 2019). "Popular Super Mario Maker Creator Says Inexplicable Removal Of His Level Feels Like A Gut Punch". USgamer. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  21. ^ Skopp, Sam (November 18, 2020). "The Real Reason xQc Was Banned - SVG". SVG.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  22. ^ Lopez, Jalen (November 22, 2020). "Twitch shortens Mendo's ban following xQc stream-sniping incident". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  23. ^ Steiner, Dustin (November 19, 2020). "xQc and GrandPooBear Twitch Suspended Over Stream Sniping Incident". Esports Talk. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.

Further reading

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