Channel: colinfurze Who: Colin Furze, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England Subscribers: 13.3M (as of 21 October 2026) Niche: DIY inventions, builds and world records
Colin Furze's channel description doesn't oversell it: "This channel is the home of crazy inventions, brilliant world records and constant disregard to health and safety." Behind the jet-powered bikes and the secret bunker is a simpler story. He was a plumber who filmed his weekend projects, and it took a few years before anyone paid him for them.
Colin was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1979 and still lives there. As a kid he built tree houses and dug underground dens near Stamford Quarry. "We used to dig holes near there, cover it over at the top and put mud over it," he told Lincolnshire Live. He left school at 16 to become a plumber.
Before YouTube existed he was already filming himself riding BMX. "Then when YouTube came along I started uploading clips of me messing about and inventing things," he told the i. "People were interested in how I made these things. It was always for fun, not to coin the riches."
His first invention upload was a wall of death ramp in 2007, shortly after his father died. An early hit was his attempt at the world's largest bonfire. "I collected pallets for over a year," he told The New Yorker. Then came the records. In 2008 he built a 14.26-metre motorbike, the world's longest. In 2010 he put a 125cc motocross engine in a mobility scooter and took it past 70 mph.
The scooter is the one that broke through. "That was in nearly every newspaper bar the Guardian I think," he said. It got him onto Russell Howard's Good News, where a cable snapped and the scooter wouldn't work on stage, so he kept the host talking while he fixed it. A Sky employee liked the banter, and that led to a presenting job on the Sky1 series Gadget Geeks.
Around 2011, at 31, Colin stopped plumbing. "It began to sustain itself," he told the i. "I left the plumbing job and I never went back." The big builds kept coming. In 2012 he built the world's fastest pram (53.46 mph). In 2015 he built an underground bunker under his garden for a Sky1 promotion, and in 2016 a hoverbike. In 2017 he built a 100 mph dodgem for Top Gear, and he spent three years digging a tunnel from his house to his workshop.
He still works mostly alone. The New Yorker reported that he conceives, films and edits his videos almost entirely himself in a backyard workshop and an old barn. His wife sometimes holds the camera and his friend Rick sometimes helps with builds. In 2025 the University of Warwick gave him an honorary Doctor of Science for inspiring public interest in engineering. "All I'm trained in is plumbing," he has said. "Most of what I do every day is just winging it."
Colin told the i that he earns from his cut of YouTube advertising and from sponsored builds for big brands, such as the Assassin's Creed hidden blade. There's more on top of that. His channel has a Join button for paid memberships and a Store tab for his merch. He wrote a book, This Book Isn't Safe. A second channel, 2 Much ColinFurze, carries his behind-the-scenes build footage. By 21 October 2026 the main channel had 432 videos and 13.3 million subscribers.
You don't need a bunker. Colin's path has three parts you can copy: build in public for fun, keep the operation small, and take more than one kind of income once people care. His most loyal viewers wanted more than the finished video. They wanted the build diary, which is why the second channel works. A membership page is where that extra layer can live.
On Yaff you can sell behind-the-scenes posts, photo dumps, videos and ebooks behind monthly tiers, take tips, and talk to supporters in group chats and DMs. Starter is free with a 5% platform fee, and payouts go to your bank daily via Stripe. Start your free Yaff page, or see pricing.
More origin stories: From Crashed Audi to 7 Million Subscribers: The Mat Armstrong Story, Bryson DeChambeau's YouTube channel, and membership ideas for YouTubers.
He was a plumber. He left school at 16 to train as one in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and made inventions in his spare time. He quit plumbing around 2011, at 31, once his videos began to sustain themselves.
His 2010 mobility scooter, fitted with a 125cc motocross engine and driven past 70 mph, was a breakthrough. It led to TV appearances and a presenting role on Sky1's Gadget Geeks. Later builds include the world's fastest pram, a hoverbike, an underground bunker and a 100 mph dodgem.
His main channel, youtube.com/@colinfurze, had 13.3 million subscribers and 432 videos as of 21 October 2026. A second channel, 2 Much ColinFurze, carries behind-the-scenes build footage.
He has said he earns from YouTube advertising and sponsored builds for brands such as Assassin's Creed. His channel also offers paid memberships (Join) and merch (Store), and he wrote the book This Book Isn't Safe.
Yes. On Yaff you can sell behind-the-scenes posts, photo dumps, videos and ebooks behind monthly tiers, take tips, and chat with supporters. Starter is free with a 5% platform fee. Optional Creator ($19/mo) and Pro ($99/mo) plans drop the platform fee to 0%. Payouts are daily via Stripe.
Written by Nicole Fougere
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