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What to Know About The Anonymous' Marcel Cunningham, aka "BasicallyIDoWrk"
The Seattle-based pro gamer is best known by his online handle, "BasicallyIDoWrk."
The world of reality television might have met its match thanks to an infamous YouTuber with the gift of deception, as featured on USA Network’s The Anonymous.
Tacoma-born Marcel Cunningham, known for using his powers of mischief under the handle "BasicallyIDoWrk," wears many masks as a full-time gamer, regularly posting oft-colorful editorials for his millions of fans across social media. It was no wonder, then, why casting for The Anonymous — now available to watch on USA Network — reached out to the 34-year-old video gaming influencer and requested he try his hand at a new style of gaming, as he explained in an August 2024 interview with The Seattle Times.
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“This is definitely not my first rodeo,” he said. “I play games for a living. I’m on the computer six to eight hours a day. So, the game is going to be just another game which I excel at. That’s my forte.”
Who is Marcel Cunningham?
Since 2011, Marcel — now based in Seattle — has published nearly 2,000 "comedy gaming videos" on YouTube, amassing more than 1.2 billion views and close to 5 million followers. Known for his loud-spoken (and outspoken) reactions to a hodgepodge of action-adventure video games (including Fortnite, Minecraft, and Palworld), Marcel has earned the moniker “Master of Disguise” for his ability to play as other people in the gaming world.
Marcel debated whether to share his deceitful line of work with the other 11 contestants on The Anonymous in hopes that others would “underestimate him.”
Instead, he decided to try and psyche them out, he told The Seattle Times.
“As I looked around and saw the other contestants, I just thought about how long I’ve been on the internet,” Marcel said. “If any one of these guys for any reason know or has seen anything in the 10 years I’ve been doing YouTube, I’m immediately labeled as a liar. I felt like it was in my best interest to tell people the truth about my career.”
RELATED: The Anonymous' Kacie Admits Not Being Her "Authentic Self" Ended Her Game Early
If his YouTube following wasn’t enough, Marcel also has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram and another 1.7 million on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
How did Marcel get into gaming as BasicallyIDoWrk?
Before becoming a formidable opponent in The Anonymous, where players must “scheme, connive, and deceive” to win up to $100,000, Marcel's family owned a carnival and bounce house company, per Seattle Times. After graduating high school in 2008, the future gaming influencer responded to a Craigslist ad to make balloon animals on the weekends and handing out his father's business cards.
He started creating YouTube content “hoping some nerds would see it and like it,” he said.
RELATED: How Does The Anonymous Keep Its Players Truly "Anonymous"?
Of course, Marcel's channel built a life of its own, and by 2015, he could create content on a full-time basis. Perhaps, an outlet for what Marcel said was his “raging” ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
Whatever the reason, it makes Marcel a worthy adversary both in the gaming world and The Anonymous.
“It’s always been on my bucket list to be on reality T.V.,” he said. “It’s right under ‘Shoot off a rocket launcher.’”
Marcel recently popped the question
Weeks before the first three episodes of The Anonymous dropped on USA Network, Marcel got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, digital creator Kris Mae, as seen on Marcel's July 27, 2024, post on Instagram.
“Starts with an F and rhymes with Beyoncé,” he quipped in the caption.
The happy couple’s engagement was accompanied by a spectacular photoshoot, now featured in multiple posts across Marcel's profile, showing the now-betrothed pair fancily dressed by a helicopter before the mountains and pine of scenic Washington.
On Monday, Aug. 19, 2024 — which happened to coincide with The Anonymous’ Series Premiere — Marcel and Kris celebrated their one-year dating anniversary.
“Still feels like Day 1,” Cunningham posted.
More about The Anonymous
Marcel and 11 other contestants — including Fyre Festival’s Andy King, Big Brother’s Xavier Prather, and Survivor’s Nina Twine (to name just a few) — have their eyes on the prize as they straddle two worlds in The Anonymous: The real world and an anonymous one, the latter of which hosts private underground hideouts where players can trick and deceive one another under a shield of complete… you guessed it, anonymity.
The key is whether players can determine the actual person behind their unique handles. The last-standing competitor to keep their anonymity wins the game.
Watch all-new episodes of The Anonymous on USA Network.
