King of Random

Submission 14,273

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About

King of Random or Grant Thompson was a Canadian life-hack and science experiment YouTuber that, in 2018, was charged with possession of explosive devices. After all his charges were dropped, Thompson continued to full-fill his dream of being the "modern day MacGyver" by producing family friendly experiment videos until his death in July 2019, when he was involved in a paragliding accident.

Online History

On January 3rd, 2010, Grant Thompson joined YouTube as the King of Random and has gathered over 11.6 million subscribers in nine years. On February 26th, Thompson uploaded his first YouTube video titled "Ninja Gym – 2010" (shown below). The video which features Thompson and his friends having fun at a gym garnered over 762,100 views and 7,000 likes in nine years.

On May 25th, 2015, King of Random uploaded "How To Make LEGO Gummy Candy!" which became the most popular video on the channel with over 34.3 million views and 428,000 likes in four years (shown below, left). King of Random continued to uploaded how-to videos not limited to any certain genre. On November 1st, 2016 Thompson uploaded a video on how to open a coconut with out any tools which also became a popular video with over 26.4 million views in three years (shown below, right).

Reputation

Felony Charges

On July 27th, 2017, Canadian police responded to a report from a neighbor that they were hearing explosions coming from Grant Thompson's residence. Thompson was charged with a two counts of possession of an explosive device. The next year, the charges were dropped when Thompson entered a plea deal agreeing that he would make safety videos and maintain good behavior for 18 months. ^[2]^[3]^[5]

Personal Life

Grant Thompson was born in Canada and became married and went on to have four children. He became semi-retired at the age of 29 and began creating videos that full-filled his dream of becoming a "modern day MacGyver."^[1] On July 19th, 2017, King of Random uploaded a video titled, "Things I Haven't Told You (The Story of "The King of Random")" in which Thompson and his wife go into great detail on how the channel was conceived. The video gained over two million views and 68,000 likes in two years.

Death

On July 29th, 2019, Grant Thompson went missing after a planned paragliding trip. His was declared dead the next day do to a paragliding accident.^[4] On July 30th, The King of Random channel posted a short video featuring a picture of Thompson with the text in Memoriam. The video gained over 3.2 million views in a day (shown below). The description provided for the video said,

"It is with great sadness to inform everyone that Grant Thompson passed away last night. Grant had great love and appreciation for his fans. We invite you to share your thoughts for Grant and the channel in the comments. Please do a random act of love or kindness today in honor of The King of Random. Grant’s legacy will live on in the channel and the global community he created."