El Rubius facts for kids

Quick facts for kids El Rubius
El Rubius in the 2018 Sitges Film Festival
Personal information
Born	Rubén Doblas Gundersen (1990-02-13) 13 February 1990 (age 35) Mijas, Andalusia, Spain
Nationality	Spanish Norwegian
Occupation	YouTuber streamer actor businessman
Partner(s)	Irina Isasia (2016–present)
Signature
YouTube information
Years active	2006–present
Genre	Gaming comedy vlog Let's play
Subscribers	40.7 million
Total views	7.56 billion
Associated acts	Auronplay Ibai
Twitch information Channel Rubius Followers 15.7 million

Rubén Doblas Gundersen (born 13 February 1990), known as El Rubius, is a famous Spanish YouTuber. His channel mainly features him playing video games and sharing his daily life in vlogs. He has the most subscribers in Spain. He is also one of the most popular streamers on Twitch. His Twitch channel is the fifth most-followed in the world.

In 2014, he released an interactive book called El Libro Troll. He also published three comics from his Virtual Hero series between 2015 and 2017. An anime series was later made based on these comics. In 2016, a tweet from his official Twitter account became one of the most retweeted tweets globally.

Time magazine recognized him in 2016. They included him in their list of "next generation leaders." They also called him an "online conqueror." In 2018, he set a world record for live viewers during a YouTube broadcast. This happened during a tournament for the video game Fortnite.

Early Life

Rubén Doblas Gundersen was born on 13 February 1990. His birthplace was Mijas, Andalusia, Spain. His mother, Bente, is Norwegian, and his father is Spanish. He has a younger sister and two half-brothers.

When he was three, his parents divorced. He and his mother moved to Bergen, Norway. Later, he moved back to Madrid, Spain. He went to primary and secondary school there. His first video game console was an SNES. He says this console helped him love video games and 'geek culture'. He believes it was key to his success.

When he was 16, his parents separated again. He moved back to Norway to finish school. After that, he returned to Spain with his stepfather. He worked as an intern and in a supermarket. Later, he studied 3D modelling and animation in Madrid.

Career Highlights

Starting on YouTube (2006–2011)

Rubén created his first YouTube channel in 2006. He named it "elrubius." He chose this name because of his own name and his blonde hair as a child. His first video, "The audience," was uploaded on 8 December 2006. It was a video from the game Grand Theft Auto IV.

In 2011, he started uploading videos regularly. These videos were montages from the game Skyrim. Rubius would add funny comments to unusual game situations. In January 2012, he decided to change his channel. His old channel had copyright issues.

Growing Popularity (2012–2013)

On 19 December 2011, El Rubius started a new channel called "elrubiusOMG." In January, he re-uploaded his old The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim videos. He also made montages from other games like Battlefield and Happy Wheels. This type of video was very popular. Rubius helped make these videos famous in Spanish-speaking countries.

His popularity grew very fast. On 28 January 2012, he made a video called "MI CARA." In this video, he showed his face for the first time. He also started a series called "(X video game) in 1 minute." In these videos, he humorously summarized video games. This series became very popular in Spain.

On 14 March 2012, he uploaded a funny song called "Minero." It was a parody of the song "Torero" but about the game Minecraft. Since Minecraft was becoming popular, the video went viral. It is now the most-watched video on his channel, with almost 100 million views.

His channel continued to grow. On 27 April 2012, he reached 100,000 subscribers. He celebrated by doing a live stream and answering fan questions. By 22 July 2012, he had 200,000 subscribers. On 29 July, he uploaded a vlog where he met fellow YouTuber Mangel in person. They decided to move to Madrid together.

In September 2012, his channel reached 300,000 subscribers. In October, he uploaded a video of himself on Chatroulette. He showed funny conversations with strangers. Three days later, he collaborated with Willyrex, another big Spanish YouTuber. A week later, he reached 400,000 subscribers. By December, he had 500,000 subscribers.

Rubius became the most subscribed Spanish channel in November 2012. He passed Willyrex. In January 2013, he started a new series called "Meet The Rubius." In these videos, he shared stories from his own life. On 18 February 2013, his channel reached one million subscribers. He was one of the first 10 Spanish-speaking channels to do so. Two months later, he reached two million subscribers.

In June 2013, Ubisoft Spain invited him to E3. This is a big video game event. In July, he attended the Gamepolis event in Malaga. He went with Mangel and other famous YouTubers.

Big Milestones and New Projects (2014–2015)

In 2014, El Rubius released an interactive book. It was called El Libro Troll. The book was a bestseller in Spain for eight weeks. It was also very popular at the Madrid Book Fair. He also made a small appearance in the Spanish comedy film Torrente 5.

On 25 September, he announced that Microsoft asked him to help dub the video game Sunset Overdrive into Spanish. In February 2015, he became the first Spanish YouTuber to reach 10 million subscribers. In April 2015, he took part in the Club Media Fest in Argentina.

On 2 June, he had an interview on the Spanish TV show Al rincón de pensar. He talked about the stress of fame and being away from his family. In September 2015, his first comic, El Rubius: Virtual Hero, was published. In October 2015, he received the Diamond Play Button from YouTube. This was at YouTube's 10th Anniversary Party in Madrid. He also participated in the Club Media Fest in Argentina and Chile again. In December, he made a video with Spanish singer Edurne. They danced in the video game Just Dance.

Challenges and New Directions (2016–2018)

In February 2016, El Rubius spoke out against a Spanish newspaper. He said they changed an interview he gave to "sell more." He then announced he would not give more interviews to the press. In April, Rubius attended the Club Media Fest in Colombia. He performed live electronic music. He also won "Youtuber of the Year" at the Play Awards.

In April 2016, he uploaded a music video called "Pokemon HEYEYEYEAH." It was a parody of the song "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes. In May, he went to a YouTube event in New York. He met other famous YouTubers, including PewDiePie. He also held an event in Barcelona for people over 18. The second part of his comic, Virtual Hero II: La torre imposible, was released in June 2016.

After reaching over 20 million subscribers in August 2016, Rubius made a big giveaway. He tweeted "Limonada." This tweet became one of the most shared tweets ever. In September, he uploaded a video criticizing YouTube's new rules. He joked about having to change his style. However, he then broke all the new rules in the video. This caused the video to be demonetized and age-restricted.

A few weeks later, he uploaded another video. He spoke out against a new magazine that shared private photos of him and his partner. He said it was wrong to invade people's privacy. In 2016, the company HeYou Games released the YouTurbo video game. Rubius was a playable character in it, along with other YouTubers.

In December 2016, he helped promote the film Passengers. He made a video with the stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Later, Jennifer Lawrence mentioned him and the video on Jimmy Kimmel's TV show. During 2016 and 2017, he was part of Fanta advertising campaigns in Spain. He also participated in Club Media Fest events in Mexico and Peru.

The third and final part of his comic series, Virtual Hero III: La máscara del troll, was published in April 2017. In October 2017, El Rubius announced an animated TV series. It was based on his comic series and called Virtual Hero. The series was produced by Motion Pictures and Jaruyi studio. It was made with Movistar+ and Zeppelin TV. The story follows Rubius as he tries to free 100 top gamers from a villain called Trollmask in a virtual world.

Moving to Twitch (2018–Present)

In March 2018, Rubius released a video called La verdad sobre Rubius (The Truth About Rubius). In it, he talked about his YouTube personality versus his real self. In March 2018, El Rubius broke a world record during a live Fortnite broadcast. He had over a million viewers. This broke the record previously held by streamer Ninja.

On 25 May, he announced he would take a break from YouTube. He explained that he felt stressed and anxious when making videos and live shows. Rubius reached 30 million subscribers in July. On 3 October 2018, El Rubius uploaded a documentary about his life to YouTube. It was also released on Movistar+ on 11 October 2018. It was called De Rubén a Rubius: un viaje de un Virtual Hero.

On 12 October 2018, Virtual Hero, the first anime series made in Spain, premiered on Movistar+. It was based on Rubius' comic. After his break, Rubius announced he would focus more on Twitch. He would use YouTube as a secondary platform. He also started using his old channel, "elrubius," to re-upload his Twitch content. He renamed it "Rubius Z."

In May 2019, he announced that Epic Games asked him to hold a Fortnite competition. Players had to complete a map quickly. The winner received 3 million euros. In mid-2019, he made a small appearance in the movie Father There Is Only One. In January 2020, he promoted the film Bad Boys for Life. He uploaded a video with the stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

In February, he did a live stream on YouTube. He counted down to the Season 2 premiere of the Virtual Hero anime. In July, he hinted on Twitter about a big announcement. On July 15, he uploaded a YouTube video called "The Final Decision." He announced he was staying with Twitch. Watch Dogs: Legion, a video game released on 29 October 2020, features El Rubius as a playable character.

In October and November 2020, he was a coach on the Top Gamers Academy show. This was a video game talent show by Atresmedia. On 7 November 2020, Rubius uploaded a video to YouTube. He talked about his large community and the negative effects this can have on social media. This video celebrated him reaching 39 million subscribers.

Rubius also promoted the new PlayStation 5 console with Sony. He appeared with other popular Spanish figures. In December 2020, Rubius announced he would open a $20,000 Pokémon card box on his Twitch channel. On 23 December, he did the live opening. The stream reached 350,000 viewers.

On 2 January, Rubius announced on Twitter that he and Alexby11 created a Rust series called Egoland. It brought together 70 streamers. Their first stream had 1.2 million viewers. It was one of the biggest Twitch events of 2021. This led to many more series with other content creators.

In October 2021, he announced he would be part of the movie Uncharted. He posted a photo with actor Tom Holland. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of his first YouTube video, Amazon Prime Video announced a documentary. It is called Rubius X. It is about the YouTuber and premiered in early 2022 in over 240 countries.

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: El Rubius para niños

• List of most-followed Twitch channels