Vitaly Zdorovetskiy is a US-based Russian YouTuber best known for his channel VitalyzdTv, where he mostly posts prank videos. He starred alongside YouTubers Roman Atwood and Dennis Roady in the 2016 movie Natural Born Pranksters. He launched his boxing career against English YouTuber Kristen Hanby in January 2022, but the bout ended in a majority draw.
Early Life
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy attended Park Vista Community High School in Florida to finish his last two years of school. As a child, he wanted to become a professional skateboarder, but later quit due to injuries. At the age of 15, his first job was as a garbage collector. He then worked as a sign-spinner dressed as Uncle Sam before becoming a bus boy at a Miami restaurant. Shortly after turning 18, he appeared in an adult film with Diamond Kitty for Bang Bros in 2011.
Career
In August 2011, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy created the YouTube channel VitalyzdTv and started making a series of prank videos called Disturbing the peace, in which he caused chaos by annoying random strangers in random places. After a few videos, he started making another prank series called Russian Hitman in which he scared people dressing up as a hitman. He went on to make various other types of prank videos and also made a series called How to pick up girls. While all his videos were successful in getting viewer attention, his first viral video was Miami Zombie Attack Prank!, uploaded in June 2012. The video, inspired by the cannibal attack of a homeless man in Miami the previous month, saw him dressed up as a zombie and scaring random bystanders.
Around the time the zombie attack video was released, he was arrested while trying to film a video for the Russian Hitman series at the Boca Raton Resort for threatening to detonate a bomb. While the case was eventually dismissed by the prosecutor, the publicity he got from the court case helped him grow from 100k to four million subscribers in about a year. He made the video Extreme Homeless Man Makeover on July 20, 2013 and provided a homeless man with clothing and a hotel room, which helped him get a job and eventually reunite with his wife. The story was featured on many television news shows including Good Day LA.
Controversy
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, who has a history of invading pitch during FIFA World Cup matches, has reportedly been banned from “every stadium in the world”. He has been arrested several times for trespassing after climbing the Hollywood Sign, for streaking during NBA finals, for climbing the Pyramids of Giza, and for aggravated battery after he tackled a female jogger in Miami.
Family Life
Born in Murmansk, Russia, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy lived in Odesa, Ukraine as a child before his family moved to Boca Raton, Florida. He is an only child who was raised by a single mother. His grandmother bought him a camera and encouraged him to make videos.
