EXCLUSIVE: The Sidemen continue to find innovative release strategies for their original shows.
The British YouTube collective’s Sidemen Productions is working up cooking competition series Sidemen Presents: SideMenu, a four-part culinary competition series that will get an unusual staggered launch on both Prime Video and YouTube.
Episode one will premiere on the MoreSidemen YouTube channel on Thursday, June 18, with Prime Video exclusively premiering episode two on Friday, June 19, with ep one made available at the same time. Episode three will launch on the Amazon streamer a week later (June 26) followed by the finale on Friday, July 3. Eps two, three and four will launch on MoreSidemen two weeks later.
SideMenu will see the Sidemen joined by a guest contestant as they take on a series of culinary challenges – a starter, main and dessert – with teams rotating every episode and individual points on the line. Sidemen appearing are Behzinga, Miniminter, TBJZL, Vikkstar and Zerkaa, along with frequent collaborator Jakey Davies. KSI wasn’t available to film.
Each round will center on a randomly selected cuisine, with professional chefs and food reviewers such as YouTube foodie Harrison Webb and online food community Sorted Food judging. Some episodes feature mystery box twists containing advantages and hindrances that throw the competition into chaos.
For the Sidemen, who collectively have upwards of 160 million subscribers, the plan is in keeping with the unusual content launch routes they’ve taken in the past. For example, Inside, the competition series they launched on YouTube, unexpectedly switched to Netflix in 2024.
The group has been the forefront of the blurred line between online creators and TV production, with KSI moving into the mainstream as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent and their 2024 doc The Sidemen Show topping the Netflix chart in the UK. Active as format creators, they have looked to launch more programs on streaming services alongside their own channels on YouTube, with Inside Season 3 launching on Netflix in March as the first original from their newly-formed Sidemen Productions.
Victor Bengtsson, CEO of Sidemen Entertainment, said: “Sidemen Productions has been working incredibly hard to build out a team that can operate in the ever-evolving world of content. This four-part series is another step towards bringing creator-first productions to a larger audience, and to be able to do that with Prime Video is something we’re very excited about.
“Our fans at home will be able to watch a new type of episodic content on our YouTube channel. Meanwhile, a new audience on Prime Video will find personalities from the creator space packaged on their TV screens. We’re very excited to see SideMenu come to life.”
Arcade, the management firm formed to represent the Sidemen, earlier this year hired Connor Suckling, a former News UK and LADbible originals executive, as Head of Original Video to lead on IP development and originals. Thomas Benski’s Lumina made a seven-figure investment in Arcade last year.
