Draft:Gab Smolders

• Comment: See WP:PRIMARY Qcne (talk) 12:29, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

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Evelien Smolders (born September 11 1988), better known online as Gab Smolders and monomously as Gab, or formerly as GirlGamerGab and GG Gab, is a Dutch YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Smolders' content primarily composes of horror Let's Plays, notably, a variety of Japanese horror games, as well as 'cosy games', such as her prominent running series of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, and Nancy Drew games. As of November 2023, her YouTube channel has amassed 1.07 million subscribers and over 248 million views.

Early life

Evelien Smolders was born on 11 September 1988 in the Netherlands, the youngest of four siblings. She has two older sisters (born c. 1986 and c. 1984), and an older brother (born c. 1982). Her father worked in construction, and her mother was an educator.

Her interest in gaming came about when she four-years-old, as for Christmas, her family bought their first gaming console, an NES, along with the then new Mario Bros 2. When she was eleven or twelve-years-old, she asked her mum for a N64 for Christmas, which she received alongside Super Mario 64. At fourteen, Smolders played Japanese survival horror game Fatal Frame for the first time, something she would inevitably return to in adulthood that would become a popular series on her YouTube channel, she describes this journey as being a "full circle".

Smolders had many extracurriculars growing up: she was a handball goalkeeper for eight-years in high school, played badminton and cycled, took piano lessons throughout her schooling days, as well as studied German and French during high school. At some point in her childhood, she had a job selling newspapers. When she was seventeen-years-old, she got hit by a car while cycling, breaking her collar bone which never got set correctly.

Fatal Frame sparked her interest in anime which then evolved into an interest in Japanese culture itself, thus, spurring her into studying up to a Masters of Japanese Language and Culture (minoring in Korean) for six years at Leiden University. For her masters, she undertook field research into family succession in small Japanese businesses. Smolders lived in Japan cumulatively for seven years until 2018, two while studying and five on her own volition. At some point she also received a course certificate in basic Mandarin.

Before becoming a YouTuber, she worked as a project manager for a translation agency from Amsterdam from 2012 to 2017, undertaking quality assurance checks by utilising her skills in Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean. She quit in 2017 as the revenue she was receiving from YouTube and Twitch was enough to support her livelihood. Smolders occasionally took modelling gigs in Japan having appeared in ads, a bridal shoot, shoots for makeup artists, and on a catwalk once; however, she had trouble in this line of work as she was often considered too tall, at 5 foot 10 inches, by Japanese standards.

At some point while living in Japan, she adopted two stray kittens.

Internet career

Smolders created her YouTube channel on 24 September 2014. Her nickname 'Gab' comes from her old Xbox 360 username 'GebrekAanBeter', which is Dutch for, "for lack of a better", as all the other usernames she wanted to use were already taken.

Philanthropy

On 24 and 25 November 2023, Smolders, among several other UK-based streamers, livestreamed playing a variety of cat-centric videogames to raise funds for the UK charity Cats Protection's Lifeline service. Over the years, Smolders has cumulatively raised over £40,000 for this charity.

Personal life

Smolders was previously married to YouTuber TaiyouInc; although it isn't publicly known when they were wed, they eventually divorced in 2018. She kept one of their cats, named Big Boss (also known as BB), while her ex-husband kept the other. In 2021, she undertook a DNA test for BB; his breed results were very mixed, although, a large percentage included Ragdoll, Siberian, Peterbald, and Siamese.

On 15 March 2019, via photos on their respective social medias, Smolders and fellow YouTuber Jackseptieye, real name Seán William McLoughlin, announced their relationship.

She has a mild case of Nevus of Ota which affects the left side of her face. She has a birthmark spot above the left side of her mouth, and additionally, another birthmark in the shape of a line running perpendicular to the left side of mouth, which stretches down from the previously mentioned birthmark to her jaw. Although she has brown eyes, her left iris is noticeably darker, and she has spots of hyperpigmentation on the sclera.

Smolders is trilingual as she is fluent in Dutch, English, and Japanese, in addition, she has some knowledge on Korean, German, French, and Mandarin.