ODESSA, Fla.— In the past two and a half years, brothers Ricky and Nick Ireland have waged jousting battles with their friends while on water jet packs, tried to sneak a friend in to see "Avengers: Endgame" while Ricky sat on his shoulders wearing an oversized trench coat, and filled a room of their house with foam cubes from a trampoline park so they could jump into it from the second floor.
They've posted it all to their YouTube channel, Ireland Boys Productions, and vlog, Ireland Boys.
- Pasco teens shares journey to internet fame
- Channel has over one million subscribers
- They have turned a hobby into a career
- WATCH their videos
“To spread positivity and spread laughter – that’s always been the motto from the beginning,” 19-year-old Rick said of the brothers’ goal.
And people are watching. Ireland Boys Productions has 3.1 million subscribers, while their blog has 1.9 million. Their videos rack up hundreds of thousands, even millions of views. But it didn’t start out that way.
"For a while, no one was watching,” Ricky said. “We’d hand out cards in school. We’d tell our friends to subscribe, and I think we got up to maybe a couple hundred subscribers after a year."
The turning point came with a crazy idea to stay overnight in a Target and film the whole thing.
“The first day, it got a thousand views, and we were going crazy. Next day, it got, like, 5,000 views, and then the third day, we woke up and it hit a million. Ever since then, we just ride the wave of just keep going and going and going,” Ricky said.
When asked how they’d describe the page to new viewers, Nick said, “Pranks and challenges, but we try to take it up to the next level.”
Sometimes, the making of their videos don’t go over well. Viewers have seen them confronted by members of the public, asked to leave some places, banned from others, and have encounters with law enforcement.
“I don’t really regret anything because we’ve lived,” said Ricky.
“It’s gotten us here,” Nick agreed.
“But we’re definitely a little more cautious now,” said Ricky.
What the boys didn’t necessarily count on was the impact YouTube fame would have on their lives. They say income from YouTube, brand deals, sponsorships, and merchandise has allowed them to turn their hobby into a job.
Alongside videos of stunts and pranks, viewers will also find ones of the boys presenting their mom with a car for Christmas and showing off the home they bought.
“It’s a new opportunity and a new path to take because before this, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we’re doing. It’s opened new doors. Instead of taking the traditional route, we can take this route and just have fun with it,” said Nick.
Ricky earned his associate’s degree during his senior year in high school. At just 16 years old, Nick recently graduated summa cum laude from East Lake High School.
Both are putting off college while they pursue the opportunities in front of them, including a planned multi-city tour this summer.