During the last five years, play sessiona popular YouTube channel, has covered the world of social media stars, providing in-depth recaps and scathing commentary on their scandals and issues of the day.
But even as the Spill Sesh channel amassed more than 700,000 subscribers, the person behind it kept his identity a secret. He has not appeared in the more than 1,000 videos on the account and has disguised his voice with an audio filter called monster.
Its viewers have long speculated about who or what was behind the channel. Was it a content farm? Or someone related to a famous YouTuber? Or maybe a famous YouTuber who is a gossiper? On Friday, the mystery was solved when the person behind Spill Sesh revealed her secret in a new video.
This is Kristi Cook, a former TMZ staffer who grew up in Florida. In an interview with The New York Times, the first she has given under her own name, she said that she had initially kept her identity hidden because she felt it gave her more creative freedom. Now that she’s self-employed and doing well enough to own a house in Los Angeles, she sees no reason to remain in the shadows.
Cook, 26, developed an interest in pop culture as a child, during what she described as her “Disney Channel era.” After that, she logged on and more or less stayed there. “YouTube was where I consumed all of my content from high school and beyond,” she said.
He contributed to USA Today in his first year at Florida Atlantic University. She then moved to California and worked as a tour guide on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, outside Los Angeles. She soon landed an internship at TMZ that eventually turned into a full-time job and she dropped out of college.
“Our art department was called ‘the galleries’ and we did photo galleries,” Ms. Cook said. “At the top of the TMZ website, there are like five main stories, and two of them are photo-oriented.” Her job involved “scrolling through Instagram every day,” she said, an experience that prepared her for a future career.
“One day in 2018, I stumbled upon a drama video,” Cook said, referring to an online genre known as dramatic commentary, in which a host summarizes the ups and downs of people with large YouTube followers. “I was fascinated by the fact that people were interested in news about YouTubers, because at the time I didn’t think the mainstream media was covering that. “They don’t appear in People magazine when you’re at the supermarket.”
She started her own drama channel, Spill Sesh, and has proven adept at distilling Instagram posts, YouTube catalogs, and podcast episodes into informative videos for an audience eager to know the latest on Colleen Ballinger, Jeffree Star, or the Try Guys.
Even if those names mean nothing to you, rest assured that many people are searching for this information. Ms. Cook’s videos have been collectively viewed more than 350 million times.
Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies at Queens College, said so-called tea channels like Spill Sesh draw in viewers by taking them “to the main dramatic parts of YouTube that are often seen but overlooked.”
When Spill Sesh began to be successful, Ms Cook was concerned about protecting her anonymity. “At first, I think the scariest thing was people commenting and wanting to know who I was,” she said. But her decision to stay off camera and use the audio filter wasn’t enough to prevent a viewer from discovering her identity.
After her first viral video, she received messages from a stranger who had discovered her name through an old Instagram account and comments from friends on Facebook and her LinkedIn page. Ms. Cook said she was worried about losing his job and the health insurance that came with it.
The person who guessed her identity turned out to not be a complete troll and with her help began deleting everything he could find about her online and requesting that her personal information be removed from database websites.
As Spill Sesh’s popularity continued to grow, money poured in from advertisements and sponsorships. In an average month, Cook said he makes about $20,000 from YouTube ads alone. In its best months, that figure can reach $50,000, he said.
He told his parents what he was doing when he started earning enough to rent an apartment without their financial help.
“I was like, ‘Guys. I’ve been doing this on the side. They’re YouTube videos,’” Ms. Cook said. They were confused, but supportive, she added. “I think it’s a difficult concept, like, ‘How are you going to get a check for this?’” she said.
The earnings also allowed him to leave TMZ and buy a house. “I would never be able to own a home if I didn’t do this,” she said.
Since quitting her day job in 2021, Cook has been a little less secretive about what she does for a living. In addition to her family and some of her friends, her fellow drama commentators know exactly who she is. On dating apps, she has referred to herself as a journalist and tried to change the subject when asked for details.
Although he covers an environment that is often overlooked by many major media outlets, he considers himself a journalist. “I really try to make sure what I say is correct,” Cook said. “Obviously there have been times where I’ve been wrong.”
She made her reveal video with Manny Gutierrez, who is a YouTube makeup artist known as Manny MUA, and who was the subject of Spill Sesh’s first video. “The perfect time to come full circle,” Cook said.
In the video, while Gutiérrez gives her a makeover, Cook reveals her face to the camera. “It’s actually Kristi,” he says, finally addressing his viewers in an undistorted voice.
