It all started with one Instagram post…
I try not to be a parasocial person, contrary to what this article may entail. I can easily distance myself from celebrity gossip, drama, and dating rumours. But YouTubers…there’s something about them that’s less manufactured and polished than celebrities, yet not as unedited and unfiltered as real-life people. They’ve found themselves in a unique situation, where most have fallen in the middle of the “celebrity” and “normal person” spectrum. Of course, there are YouTubers who are more famous than others (and by famous, I just mean more mainstream): Alex Cooper, Brittany Broski, and Mr. Beast, to name a few. But there is a YouTube channel unlike the rest; one that has two Canadian boys with 1.7 million subscribers and hearts of gold: Slushy Noobz.
Slushy Noobz was created in 2023 by Martin Andrijasevic and Hamzah Al-Emad. Doesn’t sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve heard of some of these iconic duo’s videos, such as “We Went to Comicon on Shrooms,” “Camping Vlog,” or, more recently, “The Video with No Plan” (filmed on my twenty-third birthday, not to brag). People love Slushy Noobz for Hamzah and Martin’s natural chemistry that bounces off each other. Seeing their dynamic on the screen makes viewers feel more like a third friend, rather than a random spectator (cue the parasociality…).
Then, on October 22nd, 2026, there was a shift in the air. I refreshed my Instagram and was recommended an Instagram post by a familiar name: @hamzahthefantastic. I gasped as I looked at what appeared to be Hamzah wearing a suit next to his then-girlfriend, Claire Drake, who was in a wedding dress and holding a bouquet. It’s captioned, “Life is hard and confusing, you’ve made a big decision so easy, I love you bae.” For context, Hamzah and Claire had only been dating for one and a half years, which made fans understandably puzzled. To make matters worse, Hamzah is twenty-four, with Claire being twenty-one, making their youth another element to add to the confusion.
Naturally, I immediately scrolled through the comments.
@camthefantastic said, “i cannot tell if this is fake or not.” @kenzzlolz said, “what freaking episode did i miss.” @catalinaghill said, “gullible is written on the ceiling btw guys.” These were just three out of the 14.6k comments, as this post instantly blew up overnight. It’s now amassed 1.5 million likes and 356k shares, the most Hamzah has ever gotten on an Instagram post. It’s clear that Hamzah had seen the comments too, because he screenshotted his TikTok comment section and posted on his story with the caption: “Hahahaha yes you guys we are married.” Naturally, not one single person actually believed this grown man would confirm his marriage status through a single Instagram story (sorry, is my bias showing? Good).
There was so much speculation amongst Slushy Noobz fans that I won’t dive into everything. At the end of the day, Hamzah and Claire are real people, and it wouldn’t be tasteful to make up rumours or theories. And more importantly, what if me and Hamzah are tight one day? You really think it’ll make me look good when he stumbles across this article?
However, two primary theories stuck out to me: that they were Halloween costumes (mid-October post), or that Claire needed her Permanent Residency card since Hamzah just obtained his Canadian Citizenship (Claire is American; she’s in Canada on a work visa). As a Marriage Denialist, I was on team Halloween Costume. Hamzah and Claire are quite funny, but I’d hoped they weren’t actually dumb enough to marry for a PR card—especially that young.
The speculation got so bad that Hamzah himself had to set the record straight in the most recent episode of their podcast, Out Of Character. Everyone seemed to be tuned in, as it’s already received over 300k views in only three days. While dressed as Sharkboy (and Martin as Lavagirl), Hamzah asked Martin, “Can you prove it to them?” joking about seemingly everyone’s disbelief after the wedding post. He then went on to address the massive attention the post itself had gotten, saying, “I knew it would be some sort of…’what the heck?’ But I didn’t expect this level of surprise, I’ll be honest.” Your naivety is showing, Hamzah; of course people are going to be surprised.
Martin replied, “It was probably the hardest of hard launches, ever.” Which I thought was quite accurate, and represents how many of us may be feeling right now.
Regardless of anyone’s personal biases, Hamzah and Claire deserve all the happiness in the world. Obviously my parasocial self still can’t believe Hamzah is actually a married man; I’ve watched him and Martin for years now, so a surprise wedding just took me off guard. I think sometimes we forget that our unserious, goofy YouTubers can actually drop the “act” and settle down, or make other monumental life decisions. Hamzah definitely seemed quite well, telling Martin, “I’m mainly happy that I found my person.” He then lifted his finned arms (Shark Boy, remember?) and said, “I can finally scream it from the rooftops, ‘My love, Claire, I love you, and we can finally be together for the rest of our lives.’”
Click here for the full Out Of Character podcast episode, and congrats (and good luck?) to Hamzah and Claire!