Who is Niko Omilana? Youtuber, prankster and Celebrity Traitors 2025 star - did he run for the 2024 general election?

One of the players in this year’s edition of Celebrity Traitors is a man known for being somewhat misleading and also using his powers of persuasion to get what he wants - even if it’s not what he’s really entitled to - Youtube prankster Niko Omilana.

The star, who has an online following of millions, has successfully talked his way in to VIP events and even big political events - he even managed to become a candidate for last year’s general election.

We already know that he’s used to talking the talk to get people on his side. In a pre-show interview with the BBC, he said: “I'm experienced in playing games similar to this and this is as big as it gets, really. I think I'll try and spice it up a little, bring a little bit of sauce to the game. I'll bring up the vibes, maybe a bit of chaos, just as much as I can.”

He also confessed he’d much prefer to be a Tratior than a Faithful. “I want to be a Traitor badly,” he said. If I was a Traitor, I would just go for chaos. I love chaos and that's why I love the show. I want to be planting seeds in people's heads, stirring the pot.”

So, just who is Youtuber Niko Omilana, what pranks is he known for and did he really run for the 2024 general election? Here’s all you need to know.

Who is Youtuber Niko Omilana?

Omilana, whose full name is Nikolas, is a 27-year-old YouTube comedian from London who has gained popularity for his parody videos, original comedic sketches, and various vlog entries. He has also been popular on his Instagram account, which has gained over 3 million followers.

He was born to an English mother and a Yoruba Nigerian father, and moved to Staffordshire after the divorce of his parents. He previously worked for BuzzFeed before finding fame on YouTube.

He has more than seven million subscribers to his YouTube channel. One of his most popular videos is a parody of the Drake and Future song "Jumpman" which has amassed more than a million views.

He uploaded his first video on YouTube in 2009, and his father made an appearance in that video. He started his current channel is June 2011 at the age of 13 where he first created videos of football game FIFA, as well as skits.

What pranks is Niko Omilana known for?

The most popular series on Omilana’s channel is the "Fake Employee Prank" which he has carried out in many major stores like McDonald's, Subway, Apple Store, Asda, Tesco, Ikea and Starbucks. As a result, he was supposedly banned from every Ikea and Asda Store in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

He has also managed to successfully sneak in to some of Logan Paul’s boxing matches. In August 2018 during the KSI vs. Logan Paul fight he was able to sneak into the ring and made multiple prank interviews with celebrities such as Jake Paul, Logan Paul and Shannon Briggs.

In November the next year, he successfully got back in the ring during the KSI vs. Logan Paul boxing rematch - although he was quickly kicked out by the security guards.

In January 2020, he disguise himself as a man called "Reng Sayeed", who was meant to resemble a Saudi prince, to attend the Jake Paul vs. AnEsonGib boxing event as he had been blacklisted from the event due to his previous Ringside pranks.

He managed to get into the VIP section, but despite that security personnel arrested him for not having ID and banned him from the event. The police were called and he had to give his true identity to be released.

What has Niko Omilana said about politics?

Omilana has previously spoken out on political issues. He is known for trolling the English Defence League (EDL). In May 2018 he released one of his earlier viral videos where he trolled the EDL.

In the video, he was accompanied by his friend Keith who pretended to be his father. Together, they acted as "EDL TV" and attended the EDL protest. He managed to interview several members of the EDL including the organiser of the protest, who had even banned legitimate news networks from filming the protest but allowed Omilana’s fictitious news network to attend.

During his interview with the EDL, he purposefully interrupted his interview, called them schmucks and trolled them. After they realised he was trolling them, they informed the police, who then put the stop on Omilana’s mock interviews.

Then, in March 2021, Omilana announced he was going to be a candidate for the 2021 London mayoral elections. He started campaigning in April, and later that same month he told then prime minister Boris Johnson to "shush".

At the end of the mayoral elections, Niko placed fifth place with 2% of the votes, and during a brief interview with the BBC News after the announcement he stated that he had stood in the election "for the vibes". He did, however, receive nearly 50,000 votes and pushed actor Laurence Fox to sixth place.

Did Niko Omilana run in the 2024 general election?

When it came to the July 2024 general election, the star encouraged his followers to stand as candidates, under his own name, in at least 11 constituencies. At the time it was unclear who the candidates were, or whether they were all the same person.

Each of the candidates shared Omilana’s name, but were registered under a different address and their nomination papers had been signed by different people.

Addressing the multiple Niko Omilana candidates at the time, the YouTuber said in one video: "We will remove Rishi [Sunak, referring to the Prime Minister at the time], and on top of this, we have done the impossible. We attempted to run Niko Omilana in multiple places across the country, and somehow we managed to make it happen.

“My aim is for Niko Omilana to get more votes than anyone else and declare myself prime minister."