John Neills

John Nellis is one of the UK’s biggest sports content creators, with a combined audience of more than 20 million followers across social media.

Born in Belfast and raised in Newcastle, County Down, John had a very different career before finding online fame. After a string of jobs ranging from kitchen porter to science technician, he became an air traffic controller at Cork Airport in 2014. It was there that his love of Fantasy Premier League grew, eventually inspiring him to launch a YouTube channel in 2019.

In 2022, John made the huge decision to leave his successful career and become a full-time content creator. At the time, he had just 7,431 YouTube subscribers - a number he had tattooed as a reminder of where his new career began. After broadening his content from fantasy football to the wider football world, his following exploded, and today his videos regularly attract millions of views.

John has created content with some of football’s biggest names, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, and was named Sports Creator of the Year at the 2024 TikTok Awards UK & Ireland. In 2026, he spent six weeks in America creating content around the World Cup.

But the Strictly ballroom will be very unfamiliar territory. John has never attended a dance class and says he isn’t used to being centre stage - his previous performance experience amounts to a non-speaking role as Joseph in his school nativity! He’s already got his eye on the Paso Doble, although he might be slightly less excited when Charleston week comes calling.