Rea has long had a devoted following on his
channel, which YouTube data shows is among
the top food programs on the platform, with
more than 8 million subscribers and over 1.5
billion channel views.
He has been building out the channel’s offerings
for years, adding a beginner-friendly show called
“Basics With Babish” in 2017 and expanding
into lifestyle content two years later with “Being
With Babish.” It features Rea traveling across the
country connecting with fans.
That evolution, and frequent crossover episodes
with other YouTube personalities and celebrities,
gave way to Babish Culinary Universe — a name
Rea says was suggested by fans as a nod to the
Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A crossover El-Waylly wants to make happen?
A collaboration with Sean Evans’ popular “Hot
Ones” series, where guests eat increasingly spicy
chicken wings while being interviewed — but
she wants to make all the hot sauces herself.
One of the lessons Rea says he has learned over
his YouTube career is to always film every time
you cook. He noted that the audience really
responds to his process — namely, his mistakes.
“I want people to see it’s OK to make mistakes
because they’re learning opportunities,” he said.
“Everything that I am and everything that I have
been able to do is the product of me being able
to learn from and grow from my mistakes.”
That is what he hopes will be part of his legacy
— and something he wants to focus on in a
memoir he’s thinking about writing.
When asked what he’d call it, he stopped, thought
for a minute and said, “I Done F——- Up.”