www.instagram.com/p/C8e23SMpaUE/?igsh=MWF2YmJlaDEweXB4aw==
Just made it official via Instagram. I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April Fools or something. Sad to see them go because they were kinda the heart of Donut for me, but I’m excited to see what they do with their channel!
If Jobe and Jer weren't exaggerating, it sounds like they were a huge creative force for Donut too.
I know Jer used to help write Up to Speed videos.
He said he had written/recorded 100+ episodes of B2B too. I think Donut is about to change behind the scenes big time.
B2b and money pit were the best series on donut so I am kind of glad they are getting away from the creative direction the new donut is headed
That’s ganna be a big blow for donut tbh.
Donut has already lost 50k subscribers.
Holy shit that’s crazy.
Edit: what’re we like 36 hours after their post.
They did mention in this video that they were hired for their technical skills and knowledge of cars. Donut is really going to rely on Adam a lot more now.
Isn't Justin a certified mechanic?
i still miss bart from science garage. i think i did a little binge of science garage right before he left and then got sad when he announced it via social media. these kinda things happen though, career paths bring you elsewhere. it looks great on their resumes and i don’t doubt they’ll all stay in touch
Feel bad for Nolan
James, Justin, Jimmy, and Nolan could keep it going. But yeah change is tough.
I'm a fan of Joe too, but he is mostly podcasts. And shout out to shop daddy adam too.
Justin, Jimmy, and Nolan*
James isn’t even there in the videos I don’t even think we could call him apart of the group anymore
Isn't he just working on another acting project? Which will eventually end and he'll come right back to Donut. If he leaves for good they'll absolutely make sure everyone knows it just like they did right now with Zach and Jerry
His goal involves leaving Donut for good. Not because he wants to leave Donut, but because he wants to JUST act. If he ever does YouTube at any larger capacity again it’ll be his own channel or collabs with common creators.
Doesn't James own majority stake in donut Media? I can't remember which video but he was saying how he's the boss over Nolan and the rest of the crew.
It may have been an option when they got bought by whatever network ultimately owns Donut. Likely where James has been getting jobs from too but I really don’t know and am speculating.
Just because you're the boss doesn't mean you own part of the company. In an old meet the team video it seemed like shop daddy and some asian guy were the two owners. It also seems like Zack and Jeremiah may have left cause they thought they were going to get stock options when Donut sold out and they didn't.
hes also the head writer I believe.
That doesn't explain him removing donut from his instagram account.
Most people who get to be in acting roles typically are allowed to post something about the acting project to stimulate the market/box office for whatever they’re working on.
Just popping into his insta he doesn’t have anything of the sort apart from one where he tagged Chris Pontius but I can’t imagine him doing anything with Jackass considering he had a heart attack (can’t remember if it was heart attack or a stroke I’m not a doctor he had a medical issue)
That's not true. Most aren't allowed to post anything until after production. Some even have pretty strict embargoes on what's allowed to be released or even talked about. Also he's worked for the Jackass production company Dickhouse before so I wouldn't put that past him either
Tom Hardy was literally posting through production of the new venom
If he’s doing jackass stuff after having a heart attack that’s his fault
That's why I said some lol. Also Dickhouse is a production company not everything they do has to involve stunts with health risks. He drives racecars and crazy off-roaders in his day job already and you don't seem concerned about his heart from that
I’m not concerned of the barista holding 200F liquid because they’re used to it. The last crazy off road thing he did was the MOAB that’s time and patience he’s not jumping over canyon gaps or running into walls with his cars.
Dickhouse has done Nitro Circus, The Dudesons tv show, Jackass and Loiter Squad. Nitro Circus is the only thing I could see as crazy for him to do but those guys are professionals he is not a professional.
The craziest thing in a normal car I can remember him doing in recent years was spinning out the Subaru in Hi/Lo, and that wasn’t even on purpose.
I’m sorry to be an asshole but you all need to really just let go he’s not coming back to the big group. You need to let it go and understand he’s getting cycled through like a Pokémon team. It’s not his fault blame the company they sold to. This conversation is stupid I regret making these dumb comments on this post.
Don't tell me what I need to do
James was in videos posted 2 and 3 weeks ago.
Which were likely filmed like three weeks prior
Yeah but it could even go as far as being a throw away video, it was so distant from any other content it was almost weird to see it, no one else was there it was just him.
He’s probably shooting a movie or some other project. He’s an actor. They often have to disappear for a couple months for a big project. That’s my bet.
There could be a possibility he is either on a vacation of some type or he has taken a more behind the scenes role.
I thought he was just more involved in production, behind the scenes stuff now.
James has diarrhea.
Dude James is probably leaving too. He unfollowed donut on instagram and only appears in like two videos a month.
James is gone too
For real, Nolan is maybe my favorite host on the channel and with these 2 leaving and James supposedly gone, feels like everyone is leaving around him :/
Is James really gone?
Seems like it, he doesn't even follow Donut on Insta anymore and hasn't been seen in videos in a while
That’s unfortunate. I was introduced to Donut in 2020, and the first Donut video I watched involved James’ crank walk rap song. I was immediately hooked.
Yeah I originally would get recommended Donut videos and after looking super briefly I thought James was so annoying and got tired of those videos always being recommended to me lol. I think the first thing I really watched on the channel was the original HiLow, which made me really like the hosts and I realized that James was a cool dude and he's just playing the part. Not really a single person I dislike on that channel and I really don't want to see it fall apart for the people that are left if some big names start leaving
Anyone who says he has left is just speculating. They have no idea if he has or hasn't.
At the end of the day, we simply didn't know. But based on how Zach and Jer were able to announce their departure, there is no reason to believe James wouldn't do the same thing.
honestly i did not like james
Good for them. I'll follow them anywhere!
Imo the two best members of donut by a long shot
And James, don’t forget about James ! The up to speed series is just chefs kiss
James is annoying sometimes though.
You can tell it’s not really him, and the producers are forcing him to make a character
I’ve met him at a few LA events and you’re right. He’s way more toned down irl and I think he’s actually funnier too!
I think he suites that paper nice, so it stayed that way. I really like old James videos. Maybe he was shouting a little but in the older videos he transmitted so much passion.
Yeah I like James but listening to him lead the big 3 podcast gets abit.......
Kentucky Cobra 😎
I love any vid with the two of them together. They are hilarious but also give a ton of insight into the mechanics world.
I wonder if this might cause a Donut exodus.
This is pretty much what happened to Buzzfeed 5-10 years ago. The problem that larger networks on YouTube have, is that once their staff starts to gain notoriety, it's actually pretty to for them to start their own channels. If they're going to sit in front of camera and talk about "x" they might as well own their own channel, so they get 100% of the ad revenue, rather than having their company take a massive cut. They'll lose out on some higher quality content, but even then, Zach can pay a couple grand for a Miata, and have millions of people watch him over several months. I'm sure he'll be able to do the same thing again
Yes and no. More often than not, hosts do better after, but there’s a lot of work behind that hosts aren’t always aware of or don’t know how to manage properly, and so they might not do as well after.
It’s more of a question of doing proper negotiation and getting better deals with the owner of the production, just like with TV. But, if it falls through, yeah, you move on.
I’m sure they’ll do well.
Fair, I guess I am oversimplifying. I guess my point is that while Networks have their advantages, having lower overhead and taking a higher percent of the revenue is a really big plus. As such, if you think you're "well know" enough to drive a new channel, and you think you can handle the administrative aspect, there's an argument to be made for going solo. Also worth noting that most of the people in these networks are there because they do have media prowess of some sort, and most likely some formal training
i feel like this IS the exodus, look what they’re left with! everyone’s gonna be like ‘maybe sandro can rescue this!’
Yup. Same situation happend at CarThrottle a few months ago when all their staff left to create their own channels.
Top Dead Center is so good. Edwin was my favorite part of Car Throttle and the freedom they have now makes for some really good videos
Also WTF1 with Matt and Tommy leaving. Edit: Also Fitment Industries having all of the hosts leave
Well they are kinda thriving with their new channel.
Yeah I mean I'm sure same with J and Z too
TBF Sandro is great on RMS. Dude is funny as shit and knows his stuff. He and Angie are great together over there.
i truly enjoy them, we need an up to speed about both
The classic YouTube arc: Dope smaller YouTube channel —> starts expanding —> Golden age —> expands and hires even more = adds lots of expenses —> becomes corporate and clickbaity and loses the soul of the original channel
I’m hoping James, Nolan, or anyone else can join BigTime in the future. An mass exodus of all the original crew members happened to Hoonigan, and now that channel is a shell of its former self.
everything good must come to an end. look at top gear. i’ll watch these guys wherever they end up
These two are genuinely the reason I still watch donut. Will continue to support them and follow them to wherever, Godspeed
I like Justin. Nolan is ok but idk if he bring that much to the table honestly
He brings a lack of knowledge which IS GOOD. Not all of us are super capable with a wrench and having a dude who doesn’t know much beyond the basics in the cast who learns a lot with the audience is kinda kickass. The guy definitely has developed a skill set since joining and it’s nice to see.
He’s the regular person representation.
I guess I could see that. I never really looked at Nolan as the regular guy for some reason. Maybe it’s the lack of learning on the channel in general anymore. It would be fun to see Nolan and Zach do something like the Miata money pit where it’s a little more hands on in depth in a garage/driveway
Absofuckinglutely I’d love to see that
He’s the guy we need in golf tournaments to show how good they are haha. The average Joe bracket.
This is it exactly.
In comedy Nolan would be the "straight man". You need the guy for the comedian to bounce his jokes off of. It doesn't work if eveyone is Jim Carrey.
Nolan brings the knowledge of the car industry and Motorsport history. I've always respected him as the smart one of the group even if he isn't the most handy when it comes to actually working on the cars.
He was the highest scoring one when they did Car Jeopardy and Jeremiah was the lowest, Jeremiah has a lot of hands on knowledge but isn't the best at "car book smarts"
Agreed. I never likes James. He always tried to be over the top and I found just obnoxious
It was a matter of time. JP wants to be on TV, the rest wanna do car stuff. It’s hard to do any of that when you’ve got corporate suits telling you what to do and how to do it.
Well, for those looking for content with an "old school" Donut vibe, I would imagine this channel will likely fill that void.
Happy for them that they're able to do this, but sad to see what is likely the beginning of the end for Donut itself. I can't see things heading in a particularly positive direction from here.
Hoonigan and now donut. Please make it stop.
Welcome to corporate America 🫡
Throtl as well, the company that bought out Hoonigan also purchased them. Pretty much the only car youtuber’s I watch anymore are Vin Atra and Throttle House, because they’re actually passionate about cars, not pushing brands.
Mighty car mods is still generally pretty good if you haven't watched them. Especially the bigger higher budget specials
I've somehow never watched hoonigan stuff besides the gymkhana videos. I recently discovered vin tra's channel and i've been loving his vlog style car content. I guess my point is, one door closes and numerous new doors open. Donut lost a few core members but theyre still making videos, hopefully videos less bound to corporate demands
I was never much into Hoonigan either. They did some really sick stuff for sure but their personalities combined were always a bit much for me. That being said, the entirety of all 3 of their Build & Battle series on Hoonigan Project Garage is probably the most fun I've ever had with any car content on youtube. It feels like dicking around in a garage all night and working on a car with your buddies. And what the end up creating within their (admittedly pretty generous) budgets is absolutely sick. Highly recommend checking those out, especially the drag race and off-road builds.
I never cared for hoonigan. The gymkhana I loved but the drag racing. Ehh. It got old and they were just big brand deals.
It will never stop, as long the line must go up.
Add car throttle to that list
After the last week of posts about whether pumphrey was leaving to have this news come out now is super ironic
They all gone
Where is Pumphrey?
According to instagram wearing collared shirts outdoors
Woah. Two of my favorites. Although I love them all. Definitely subbing but donut content will be missing a certain vibe going forward.
I'm watching their video on their new channel now that explains their reasoning for leaving. TLDW: Management issues.
My takeaways:
1) They have no hard feelings towards Donut, and they describe leaving as being bittersweet.
2) They both signed on to work with Donut with certain expectations that ended up not being met (Jerry was hired to be a host and ended up being a writer. Zach expected to be surrounded by experts, but he ended up being the most knowledgeable guy (with the exception of Adam, I assume)).
2) When they started at Donut, it was a small channel that was willing to take risks and try new things. The channel blew up during Covid (a time where the two of them worked a LOT of hours), and managemennt started becoming way more concerned with growing even bigger which meant less risk/trying new things.
4) The breaking point for them was the channel being sold. The buyers were even more risk adverse/focused on growth, and the sale meant that they had no real avenue towards any ownership stake in the channel.
Interesting fact: Jerry was apparently an engineer (day job) and comedian (night job) before joining Donut. He had enough knowledge with tinkering with his bikes to get along with writing, but he never signed up to be a mechanic.
Donut has changed a decent amount over the last couple years which kinda sucks. I used to watch rooster teeth back in the day and I kinda see the same writing on the wall here personally. Once you start going for clickbait titles and thumbnails it’s a huge turnoff for me and (I assume) the core fanbase
Once the content creators start being told what to do/just make content for views exclusively. It’s an uphill battle.
I think their new channel will do well. I’m looking forward to it. I hope its more on builds and car culture/reviews type of stuff.
The thumbnail thing is kind of forced by the YouTube algorithm. There’s been creators who hate doing it but found out if they didn’t have that pattern their stuff wouldn’t get promoted as much.
Yeah I've never worried too much about thumbnails if I like the content
Same. You have to look past the pic and the clickbait title. The pics usually tell you.
Private Equity doing their thing of shittifying anything it touches. When will the suits learn that focusing on quality content and what the people love is a setup for long term success. But good job on squeezing the golden goose hard enough that you killed it 😐
They know it’s going to kill it. The goal is to have a return on investment as soon as possible. By then the profits from investing in donut are used to repeat the process somewhere else.
While I agree, I don't know if it's safe to assume that donut was ever sustainably profitable. It saw tons of growth during the best of times but I imagine things like issues with the high/low Subaru are absolutely devastating to a company when advertisers are continuing to tighten their wallet.
My gut is it could run at a small profit while continuing to put out the content we want. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear the channel ran in the red last year.
my thoughts exactly
It's happening.
... now if they could somehow pull science garage Bart in, that would be fantastic.
My summary of the video, sounds like Donut was never exactly what they signed up for but they had a lot of fun. In the early days everyone was in a big one-room office and they even shared the office with another company, Jeremiah was doing Ducati burnouts at the office door while the other group was working.
They worked really hard during Covid and Donut got really popular during that time too. Donut got bought at some point and sounds like the bosses kept wanting the "sure hit" videos over and over, and their ideas were getting rejected.
Sounds like for the new channel they want to do more car meets, traveling, garage builds, motorcycle stuff, and drift stuff.
They did talk about new people coming in and the vibe changing, they said they used to come in every day and everyone was great and they had a lot of fun with people they vibed with, but the vibe changed over the years. They didn't really mention any other the other hosts by name. Oh, Jeremiah did mention that when he went from writer to host viewers accused him of imitating James, but they didn't know Jeremiah was writing the lines James was saying lol.
Sounds like they aren't 100% gone yet, they are still doing the Ranger and Hi/Lo they mentioned "contractual obligations" not sure if that's a joke or literal.
"Wow this channel is really doing well! Let's buy it, then not let them do what they did that made the channel successful!" - Private Equity Firm while stroking their hairless cat.
Now we just need James to leave and make a channel called Up to Speed and give us what we want.
It’s absolutely crazy people have been begging for more Up to Speed for years and they just refuse.
Right. I’d take a 5 min refresh on the old ones. Just liked learning some info about the car.
Damn, if my 2 favourite mechanical hot bois are leaving Donut, it's the beginning of the end for Donut.
On the brighter side of things, they may have the success of Hert, Zach and Vin from Hoonigan, and smash out some excellent home grown videos and collab with these legends.
I’m blaming this all on the guy from business affairs who beat everyone at the drag race with his goddamn Tesla
Me too! He's the evil corporate face I picture stifling creativity.
They said they started a new channel - do we have the channel name?
It’s called BigTime here’s the link: https://youtube.com/@bigtimebigtimebigtime?si=RU8GQymksWXMTVuO
Eyyy thank you. Subbing now
Bigtime
Slappa de bass
Slappa de bass man
Read their shirts...
or the caption...
Very productive comment. 5 gold stars
My 2 favorite hosts… but honestly I’m excited. The hosts are what make me love donut so I’m sure their new channel will be great, if not better. Wonder who takes over hi car now? Justin had hi RC car lol
I’ll be watching their stuff. I’d love a channel with them + James.
Honestly? I think it's for the better. Donut was getting worse and worse recently, and, by the looks of it, this channel will bring back those "OG" Donut videos which weren't made specifically to appease to the algorithm.
Right, but I wonder if they can be fully self-sustaining if they don't appease the algorithm since the algorithm definitely helps with more views. And more views means more money. The way I see it their new channel cannot and will not survive on its own especially without any merch or sponsorship deals so I see both of them still filling in on other projects while getting their main channel up and running.
It's a delicate game of balance you have to play. Look at AutoAlex, and all the other channels that were created by the crew that left CarThrottle. You can appease the algorithm with a bit of clickbait, but not have to make irritating videos to watch. You can easily survive with sponsors and merch, alongside ad revenue. The hardest thing on YouTube is getting big, something the boys won't have a problem with because they're already known and well loved by a lot of people.
I actually found them few weeks back. Loved some of their old videos. Like 4 years old. Saw some new comments about missing this. And found out they also went this way
Please god🙏let Nolan join them
They mentioned in the Baja build video today that they are sticking around until the end of the truck build and for another round of high-low.
Didn't someone post a couple weeks ago about how they thought they hated each other?
Either say, this is pretty awesome. I would imagine they're going to focus on teardown and build videos, and not get caught up with playing with Temu toys.
James is already gone. These two are great at what they do. Can’t wait to see them in action.
James will be joining them.
Donut is about to be a empty donut
a donut hole
Let’s see James and Nolan join them soon
Can’t say I didn’t see it coming after what happened to Hoonigan, the writing was on the walls for a while now. Still, it’s so sad seeing all of our favorite motoring content creators divorcing their brands, simply because some firm buys it out and turns it into this machine that only churns out uninteresting, uncreative, click baity, brain rot for cheap views. Corporate greed really just ruins everything.
Good for them! Hopefully their vids will be without the stupid YT thumbnails. Will watch the leaving vid later.
It won’t. That’s the YouTube game my dude
It's hoonigan all over again.
Makes sense. Donut isn’t what it used to be. Bye everyone!
New channel
for everyone who's excited as I am, we got a subreddit for 'em! r/BigTime
I can't believe they are leaving. These two quickly became my favorites. Dont get me wrong, I love James, Justin, Nolan, and the rest of the team but these two are such a big part of what has made this channel so great.
Sad day indeed. Farewell Lil Red
Nice, I mainly watch for them, and their expertise. Love Nolan, but not enough for me to watch Donut.
Hopefully, this puts Dead Horse Donut out of its misery. Jimmy and Justin might as well jump ship and join them.
Oh man it’s starting...
Does this mean more motorcycle content on their new page??
Comes down to big companies making moves that changes things for the employees and they are not down for the changes or future plans for the direction that they are choosing to go. Hoping they are able to capture some magic and keep a fanbase going on their own. Those who like them, definitely ensure that you support them in their journey and keep them making good content.
We won.
So my favorites are leaving. Damn.
I am hoping that they will recreate the Donut I loved and while I am sad to see them leave Donut, the spirit of Donut may be revived in this new adventure.
I'm happy for them and at the fact that they are NOT quitting youtube. But I will miss them on Donut.
Honestly I'll follow their new channel entirely because they were who I would occasionally watch Donut for.
So hype for the return of money pit and other great creative content!
Shocked it hasn’t happened sooner to be honest. All the best to them. Gives us more content to watch.
I'm sad and about this, but excited for Jeremiah and Zach. Those guys have a really good connection on screen.
No love lost for anybody, people grow and move on.
I hope James follows!
Jobe was my only attachment to Donut.
What about the baja truck? Who will continue and drive it?
Beginning of the end? Might as well pull the trigger on that shirt I was eyeing.
Having a hard time convincing myself I'm not over it
Please don’t be stupid enough to join thicc boy production
Mighty Car Mods of the West!
The heart and soul of Donut are gone. I'll prob still watch here and there for Nolan because I love the guy, but it won't be the same.
Yeah, this just goes to show that big money doesn’t equal success. Fuck equity firms
I'm gutted but I feel there less and less reasons to watch donut.
Was by far my favourite car channel but with this and the fact alot of it feels so corporate with the ads it's very much feel like "Hello fellow kids" and just the amount of adds in general are ridiculous.
Hope the core team continue to do well though whatever there future endeavours may be...
Nolan to the new channel 👀
Wouldn't be surprised if more of the donut crew move over to the new channel
Goodnight Donut
Why wasn’t Pumphrey in any of their celebration pics? Did they fall out?
I really hope James goes with them
Sad for Donut. Zach and Jerry are the mechanical powerhouses of all the main guys, but excited to see what these dudes come up with