The Stokes Twins, Alan and Alex, collectively run the 9th largest channel on YouTube as of February 2025. The channel has 114 million subscribers, and their TikTok account has nearly 31 million followers. They’re bonafide sensations, with their videos regularly receiving over 100 million views each.
But just who are they, and why do they have such a huge following? Here’s your crash course into the YouTube superstars known as The Stokes Twins.
Who Are The Stokes Twins?
Born on November 23, 1996, the Stokes Twins are currently 28 years old. They were born in Shenyang, China, and their full names are Alex Chen Stokes and Alan Chen Stokes. The two moved with their family to the US when they were eight years old. Initially, they resided in Tennessee before moving to Irvine, California.
Initially, the Stokes Twins made videos on YouTube separately, but they now have a single shared Twins account. Their main account is the Stokes Twins, but they also have an inactive second channel called Stokes Twins Too. They joined YouTube in 2008 but didn’t upload their first video until 2017, nine years later.
Since then, the Twins have primarily made Mr. Beast-style content. That is, their videos mainly consist of things like challenges, giveaways, and pranks.
Did The Stokes Twins Murder MrBeast?
Their videos have titles like “I Spent 24 Hours with the World’s Shortest Woman!” “Trying 100 Banned Amazon Products!” and “I Murdered MrBeast!”
It should be noted that, as of this writing, MrBeast is alive and well. Additionally, murder is illegal, and YouTube would demonetize and most likely remove any video that featured an actual execution. With that in mind, you might call the Twins’ videos clickbait, though that would be editorializing.
The Exponential Growth of The Stokes Twins and Their Audience
The Stokes Twins have been associated with the YouTube groups Sunset Park and Amp World. They joined Sunset Park in 2017 before taking a break from YouTube. In 2020, TikToker and YouTuber Brent Rivera asked them to join his Amp World collective. The group also includes YouTubers like Dom Brack, Lexi Hensler, and Ben Azelart.
One interesting fact about the Stokes Twins is that their channel has seen explosive growth over a relatively short period of time. In June 2021, they had 100,000 subscribers. A few years later, in March 2024, they had about 27 million subscribers.
Two months after that, this number had nearly doubled. And as of December 2024, it had doubled again, reaching 100 million. As of that month, they had over 16 billion views on YouTube.
The Stokes Twins’ target audience is likely children and pre-teens. Their videos fit the style of channels like Troom Troom and MrBeast. Occasionally, they even lift concepts from those creators, which we’ll address later.
This familiar style has helped them grow their audience. Prank and challenge videos with eye-catching, stereotypical thumbnails tend to attract children who have been left alone with iPads. Naturally, some of those children will continue to watch them as they grow into teens and young adults.
The Stokes Twins Beyond YouTube
While the Stokes Twins are most well-known for their YouTube videos, they also have several other projects. They have appeared in web series like Brobot and the Hulu series Light as a Feather.
Prior to their YouTube fame, they achieved some viral notability for Instagram posts of them wearing the same outfits, which they continue to do. Alex Stokes has 4.6 million followers on Instagram, and Alan has 6.1 million. The Twins also have a large following on TikTok, with almost 31 million followers on that platform.
The Twins Occasional Controversies
As their popularity has grown, the duo has also been subject to several controversies.
When Does a Prank Become False Imprisonment?
In August 2020, they were charged with “false imprisonment effected by violence, menace, fraud, or deceit” in Orange County, California. Additionally, they were charged with false reporting of an emergency, which is a misdemeanor.
The charges arose due to a “prank video” the Twins shot on October 15, 2019. Dressed in all black and ski masks, the pair called an Uber and entered it carrying bags of cash. The Uber driver was unaware that the twins were filming a YouTube video and refused to drive them.
Meanwhile, a bystander saw this all occur and thought the Stokes Twins were bank robbers attempting to make a getaway by carjacking the driver.
The Stokes Twins were not arrested as a result of this encounter, merely being let off with a warning. However, they repeated the stunt just a few hours later and were charged. On April 1, 2021, the Stokes Twins entered a guilty plea. They avoided jail time and were sentenced to 160 hours of community service as well as a year of probation.
Borrowing From the Beast
In addition to their legal troubles, the Stokes Twins have also run into controversy with other content creators. They’ve been accused of stealing content and thumbnails for their videos from YouTubers like MrBeast.
For instance, sometime after MrBeast made a video called “I Went Back to 1st Grade for a Day,” the Twins released a video titled “Going Back to Kindergarten for a Day” with a near-identical thumbnail.
However, these events have not impacted their popularity. The Stokes Twins don’t appear to have been demonetized or otherwise sanctioned by YouTube.
Whether they’ll continue to grow remains to be seen. But barring another event like their previous run-in with the law, odds are the Stokes Twins will remain extremely popular on YouTube for the foreseeable future.
