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Vitaly Zdorovetskiy

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Vitaly Zdorovetskiy
Personal information
Born
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy

(1992-03-08) March 8, 1992 (age 32)[1]
Murmansk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia
NationalityRussian
OccupationYouTube personality
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2011–present
Genres
Subscribers8.8 million[2]
Total views1.1 billion[2]
NetworkMaker (2011–2014)
Collective Digital (2014–present)
Associated acts
1,000,000 subscribers2013[3]
Last updated: November 2015

Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (Russian: Вита́лий Здорове́цкий, IPA: [vʲɪˈtalʲɪj zdərɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪj] Audio file "Ru-Виталий Здоровецкий.ogg" not found; born March 8, 1992), better known by his YouTube username VitalyzdTv, is a Russian-born YouTube personality whose main channel videos, as of November 2015, had garnered more than 1 billion views and more than 8.7 million subscribers, while his vlog channel has more than 107 million views and 1.6 million subscribers.

Early life

Zdorovetskiy was born in Murmansk, Russia on March 8, 1992, and moved to Odessa, Ukraine shortly after, where he was raised. Later, his family emigrated to Florida, where Zdorovetskiy attended Park Vista Community High School for two years.

Zdorovetskiy attempted to become a professional skateboarder at an early age but gave that up due to injuries.[4] Just 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.[4]

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.[4] A sequel video prank was produced in Columbus, Ohio. The video got five million views within a week on YouTube.[5]

On July 16, 2012, Zdorovetskiy and cameraman Jonathan Vanegas filmed the "Russian Hitman Prank". As part of the prank, Zdorovetskiy approached a Boca Raton 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,[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9] The surgery and the video story was featured on television news casts including the Good Day LA Fox morning show.[10]

His "Gold Digger Prank", featuring a woman who rebuffs his advances until she believes he drives a Lamborghini Gallardo sports car,[11] generated more than 18 million views in its first week of posting,[12] making VitalyzdTV the third most watched YouTube channel in the world during that week with over 45 million views.[13]

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.[14] The prank went viral, receiving over 30 million views in 3 weeks.

Personal life

Zdorovetskiy currently lives in Los Angeles, California with his mother. He is in 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.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Vitaly Zdorovetskiy Police Arrest Report". policearrests.com. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "About VitalyzdTv". YouTube.
  3. ^ "VitalyzdTv channel stats". socialblade.com. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Bryant Eng (February 5, 2013). "FAU's Prank-Star: Vitaly Zdorovetskiy". University Press Online. Retrieved January 2, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "The moment practical joker terrifies Columbus, Ohio residents by chasing them in the streets wearing a hockey mask and wielding a chainsaw". Daily Mail. September 22, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  6. ^ Clarkson, Brett; Komenda, Ed; Sentinel, Sun (July 17, 2012). "'Miami Zombie Attack' pranksters Jonathan Vanegas, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy arrested after prank fails". wptv.com. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  7. ^ Chase Hoffberger (July 17, 2012). "YouTube Rascal Vitaly Zdorovetskiy arrested for bomb hoax". Daily Dot. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  8. ^ Jeff Nadel (December 8, 2013). "Youtube pranksters gone good". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved January 2, 2014. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Terrence McCoy (August 13, 2013). "Indiegogo Closes Vitaly Zdorovetskiy's Campaign To Fix Homeless Guy's Teeth". Palm Beach New Times. Retrieved January 2, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Jeffrey Thomas DeSocio (November 6, 2013). "Vitaly: The Extreme Homeless Makeover". Fox 11. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  11. ^ "Viral 'Gold Digger Prank' Shows Woman Reject Guy For Date…Until She Sees He Drives a Lamborghini or other expensive cars". The Blaze. October 15, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Mike Shields (October 22, 2013). "Gold Digger Prank Nabs 18 Million YouTube Views in a Week Motorboarding for breast cancer, Aquaman round out VideoWatch ranker". Adweek. Retrieved January 6, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Joshua Cohen (October 26, 2013). "Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide – Week Of 10/25/13". TubeFilter. Retrieved January 6, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ Scott Stump. "'Dead' man living: Disabled teen-turned-Internet star 'lives by inspiring others'". TODAY.com.
  15. ^ Waxman, Olivia B. "Lionsgate Picks Up Movie About YouTube Pranksters". TIME.com. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
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