Jelle's Marble Runs is a YouTube channel based in the Netherlands centered on marbles, marble runs and marble races. It is run by the brothers Jelle and Dion Bakker. The channel spoofs the Olympic Games, Formula One, and other sporting events with marbles and treats the cast of marbles as though they were athletes. Fans participate in this elaborate kayfabe by acting as though the inanimate marbles use actual tactics, training, and psychology to compete.
The Marble League (formerly MarbleLympics and previously Marble Olympics) has a choreographed Opening and Closing Ceremony, often created using stop motion. Many of the sports are designed to resemble Olympic sports. Each year, the channel uploads a new series of the Marble League featuring different events and teams, which are introduced in the Qualifying round. As of 9 December 2022, the current channel has over 1.4 million subscribers with more than 165 million views.
Overview
Jelle's Marble Runs has built a following personifying marbles throughout a variety of competitions. Each video is produced in the form of a sporting event with commentary provided by Greg Woods. The channel features annual series such as the Marble League, the Marble Rally, Marbula One, and the Hubelino Tournament. Additionally, Jelle produces seasonal Halloween and Christmas content, as well as one-off events such as the A-Maze-ing Marble Race. Interspersed between the competition videos, Jelle releases a wide variety of marble runs without commentary exhibiting his marble course constructions (some of which are on display in museums).
History
Jelle Bakker was born in 1983 in Wervershoof, Netherlands. He has stated that he has a form of autism, and said that because he has no occupation, making marble machines was one of his biggest hobbies. He currently lives in Wervershoof, which is also where his videos are produced.
In 2006, Bakker created the first version of the Jelle's Marble Runs YouTube channel. He received the Guinness World Record for the world's longest marble run on May 21, 2009, a record that he held until 2011. Greg Woods, an early fan of the channel, produced a commentary on his own for one of the marble race videos. Bakker liked the video so much that he ended up partnering with Woods, who became the English-language commentator for the entire series. Jelle founded the first marble race event, The Sand Marble Rally, with Greg Woods as commentator.
The channel soon started gaining attention and a fanbase in 2015, Jelle's brother Dion came up with the idea to make more marble races instead of marble runs and founded The MarbleLympics in 2016 as a mock version of the Olympic Games. Originally, Bakker planned to end the MarbleLympics series after the 2017 MarbleLympics. "The MarbleLympics will end in early August with an ending ceremony", he said in an interview by The Irish News, "but I will still continue in making great marbles-related videos." However, he continued the series due to popularity.
In late 2018, Bakker accidentally deleted his original channel of 620,000 subscribers while attempting to delete his Google+ account and was subsequently forced to relaunch. By March 2020 the channel's subscriber number had surpassed this former level.
In 2020 Jelle's brother Dion founded Jelle's Marble Runs as a business, with both Jelle's Marble Runs and Dion Media as owners and creators of the YouTube channel. Dion Media started a webshop, and founded a Patreon page. Dion also founded a new concept of Marble Races, The Marbula One, which is a mock version of the Formula One. The FIA accepted the name Marbula One. The IOC didn't accept the name ‘Marblelympics’, so it was changed into The Marble League. On 17 May 2020, British-American comedian and late-night show host John Oliver announced on his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that the show would be the head sponsor for the 2020 Marble League.