| “ | Let's make something great. | ” |
―Romell Henry | ||
Romell Claudius Henry (born: February 8, 1995), (formerly Uncle Romell), is a Portuguese-English YouTuber that makes vlogs, podcasts, and entrepreneurial videos, such as travel vlogs, food reviews, and insights into his life.
Romell is best known as the co-founder and co-host of the channel TGFbro, where he and his best friend Jay Swingler upload videos depicting challenges, stunts, pranks and paranormal investigations, usually including risky challenges. Romell was the quieter, more reactive partner in the duo, famous for enduring Jay's often-dangerous and surreal pranks and challenges. They are also known for their surreal brand of humour, which relies on unusual statements and outlandish situations to create comedy, and this has largely played a role in their outstanding success as a channel. The channel has also made additional revenue from sales of clothing, some of which has become surprisingly collectable and commands high prices from resellers.
On May 31, 2016, Romell created his own YouTube channel. He began using his solo channel more regularly after the TGFbro channel went on hiatus in 2022, occasionally collaborating with Jay on each-others channels. His solo content is a departure from the high-risk, immature pranks of TGFbro, shifting to more personal vlogs, podcasts, and entrepreneurial projects. Romell explained in 2024 that the TGFbro era was unsustainable for his physical and mental health and that the on-screen persona was an exaggerated version of himself. In 2024, Romell launched his own podcast, Vocal Pickups, which focuses on telling personal stories and having deeper conversations with guests. In 2025, Romell and Jay returned to making content together on the MoreTGF channel, and hinted at the main channel returning later in the year.
Early life[]
Romell Claudius Henry was born in Portugal. After spending a few years in Portugal, he moved to England. When he was young, Romell often played pranks on his friends.
Career[]
TGFbro[]
Romell and his best friend Jay Swingler co-founded the TGFbro channel and posted their first YouTube video, "The Laughter Challenge," in May of 2012. Before the creation of the TGFbro channel, Romell and Jay uploaded on a channel called TGF Madness. The channel was deleted later and the main TGFbro channel was created alongside a second channel, MoreTGF. Romell was the quieter, more reactive partner in the duo, famous for enduring Jay's often-dangerous and surreal pranks and challenges.
Originally consisting of just Jay and Romell, the channel later featured appearances from their friends such as Luke Spittle, Phelan McCormack, Axel, Louis and Jay Dimmock, who would all eventually became official members. Romell and Jay are also known for their surreal brand of humour, which relied on unusual statements and outlandish situations to create comedy, and this has largely played a role in their outstanding success as a channel. The channel has also made additional revenue from sales of clothing, some of which has become surprisingly collectable and commands high prices from resellers.
On the TGFbro channel, Romell and Jay (also joined by Luke, Phelan, Axel, Louis and Jay Dimmock later on) usually recorded and upload videos depicting challenges, stunts and pranks. Most of these usually result in pain and vomiting due to the aspects that they eat and take part in. They usually record their videos locally in Dudley, Halesowen, Oldbury and Birmingham whilst also visiting other places such as Leeds, London (Thailand as they referred to it as), Los Angeles, New York and Japan.
Their channel has over 5.3 million subscribers and 1 billion views. One of their most popular series was the annual "Christmas Calendar", which consisted of 12 to 24 videos for every day of December, usually including risky challenges. This series ran from 2017 to 2020. No Christmas Calendar was made in 2021. During April 2020, TGF ran a small series titled "TGF on Lockdown" featuring Jay, Romell, Luke, Phelan, Dimmock, Louis, Jake, James and Jay's pet dog Gatsby. The series was a brief collection of videos styled as a TV show akin to The Office, where supposed segments of their lives play with sections of them talking to the camera as if they were being interviewed occasionally.
TGFbro are known for their extreme videos, some of which have gained attention from news media. Notably, a video called 'I cemented my head in a microwave and emergency services came.. (nearly died)' which involved Jay cementing his head into a microwave and getting stuck while being unable to breathe. Another video, called 'Extreme Driving Test With TGF (CAR FLIPPED)' would result in Jay and Romell being summoned to court for reckless driving. The latter video has since been taken down by TGF themselves, however reuploads exist online. The video also led to the TGFbro channel becoming inactive from 2022 onwards, after the release of the channel's last video "How The Police Ended TGFbro". The main channel has been on an indefinite hiatus since this video, but Jay and Romell have continued making content on their solo channels (some videos featuring the two of them).
In January 2024, Jay made a post on his subreddit, "r/jayswingler", stating:
"Sorry to disappoint you, but i don’t think TGF will return. It became too hard to sustain. From a legal standpoint, it was just getting out of hand and life was becoming unbearable with all the trouble we dealt with over the years, not to mention the mental health issues, the broken bones, the cuts, the bruises and the pain. Sometimes you have to weigh up what’s worth doing in life and sadly TGF became something that eventually wasn’t worth the trauma. For a lot of people watching, it’s just a video that you press play on, watch it and forget about it after it’s finished, but for us it was weeks of work went into those videos, a lot of pain, a lot of trouble and multiple visits from the police. Sorry to disappoint, but i’ve always gone through life and done what i thinks best, my life isn’t dictated by 3rd party opinions and desires. That’s not how anyone should live. i love you all, and will forever be grateful of what we all built together with that channel - but now, it’s time for me to show you that i’m one of the best content creators on the platform and i can’t wait to show you all what I’m going to pull of on my own solo journey."[1]
Romell later also confirmed this in July 2024 on his new podcast "Vocal Pickups". However, in 2025 Jay and Romell returned to making content together on their second channel MoreTGF, and have hinted at the main channel returning at some point in 2025.
Solo Channel[]
On May 31, 2016, Romell created his own YouTube channel. He began using his solo channel more regularly after the TGFbro channel went on hiatus in 2022, occasionally collaborating with Jay on each-others channels. His solo content is a departure from the high-risk, immature pranks of TGFbro, shifting to more personal vlogs, podcasts, and entrepreneurial projects. His channel features travel vlogs, food reviews, and insights into his life, showing a more grounded and personal side. He has used his solo platform to reflect on his past, discussing the toll the TGFbro content took on him and his reasons for changing direction. Romell explained in 2024 that the TGFbro era was unsustainable for his physical and mental health and that the on-screen persona was an exaggerated version of himself.
Vocal Pickups[]
In July 2024, Romell launched his own podcast, Vocal Pickups, which focuses on telling personal stories and having deeper conversations with guests.
Controversies[]
Driving incidents[]
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In March 2020, Romell and Jay uploaded a video to the TGFbro channel called "Extreme Driving Test", in which the duo, accompanied by Richard Percival, a driving instructor, drive recklessly onto grass embarkments, crash into parked vehicles, and flip their car in the areas of Telford and Wrekin and Staffordshire.[2]
In a statement, West Mercia Police announced that Swingler, Henry and Percival faced prosecution under "Operation Snap".[3] The duo were charged with dangerous driving on 6 March 2020, while Percival was charged with two counts of aiding and abetting dangerous driving.[4] On 15 September 2022, Henry and Swingler pleaded guilty to careless driving and were sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court. Both were fined £1000 each, ordered to pay £95 court costs, and given five penalty points on their driving licenses. Percival was sentenced at a later date for aiding and abetting the driving of a car without due care and attention.[5]
Romell and Jay's responses to the incident was primarily shared after their sentencing in 2022. The response was markedly different from the microwave incident, reflecting a greater sense of maturity, embarrassment, and an understanding of the consequences. On the day of the sentencing in September 2022, Swingler posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the experience. He described having to watch the video in court as "the most awkward experience of my entire life" and said he "wanted to die" from the embarrassment. Swingler's tweet, in which he half-jokingly asked his followers if they wanted a video on the experience, came across as a more human and less defensive reaction compared to his comments after the microwave incident.
In the wake of the sentencing, Romell and Jay released a video detailing the court proceedings, fines, and license penalties they received. In October 2022, the duo appeared on the JaackMaate's Happy Hour podcast to discuss the incident and its legal repercussions. The tone was more serious and reflective, acknowledging the legal and financial strain it had caused. They also mentioned how the police investigation had "ended" TGFbro, suggesting that the era of their extreme stunts was over due to law enforcement intervention.
The driving incident and the resulting court case represented a significant turning point for Henry, Swingler and the TGFbro channel. The legal and emotional fallout provided a clear, undeniable external force signaling that their era of extreme and dangerous stunts was over. This incident helped precipitate the channel's end and Swingler's shift toward more grounded solo content.
Counterfeit Merchandise[]
In 2020, several counterfeit versions of the 2019 Childish Hoodies were released on other websites, claiming to be the official products. When Jay realised this was happening, he made a video on his personal channel informing fans of the situation, and stating that The TGF Store is their only official merch website. Romell would also make a video about the counterfeits in 2021.
Quotes[]
- "You cut my bedroom in half! This is nothing." — a tweet directed at Jay Swingler after one of their pranks.
- "Oi yes my G you got a fiver ?" — a simple, conversational tweet from 2022.
- "F1 must be scripted wtf" — a humorous remark on Twitter about the Formula 1 racing season.
- "We're having a bet on who can have an asthma attack first." — a sarcastic tweet from 2021.
- "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM GUYS. WE DONT TALK ANYMORE, WE HAVENT SPOKE IN LIKE 15 MINUTES #NOTATRUEFRIEND #NOCOMEBACK #LOLTGF." — a response to a tweet from Jay Swingler, showing their classic banter.
- "Sometimes in life, guys, things come up and you lose a lot of love that you once had for certain things, and YouTube was one of them, man, but it's slowly coming back."
- "I just feel like this is the start of something really, really special."
- "Maybe we should go for a coffee sometime. Maybe we should pick a date and a time, we all meet up, and we all go for a coffee, and the coffee is on me. Let me know."
- "Every Thursday, we have the conversations you didn't know you needed to hear but we're going to tell you anyway."
Trivia[]
- In 2022, it was reported that Romell and Luke Spittle were no longer friends due to Luke not siding with Romell after Luke's family accused Romell of doing something he did not do. This makes it highly unlikely for Luke to return in any future TGFbro videos.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/jayswingler/comments/1acot2w/tgf_is_no_more/
- ↑ Telford YouTuber charged over 'extreme driving' video
- ↑ Three men facing prosecution for driving offences - UPDATE
- ↑ Black Country YouTubers charged over 'extreme driving' video
- ↑ YouTube duo TGFbro fined £1k for flipping car near Wrekin