Stephen Lomas From 'Squid Game: The Challenge' Was TikTok Famous Before the Show

The Gist:

• Stephen Lomas is one of the contestants on Squid Game: The Challenge.
• He already had a prominent career on TikTok and YouTube.
• Stephen runs a popular YouTube channel with his wife, Alix, where they talk about their lives as parents of two children.

Now that Squid Game: The Challenge is out in the world and captivating viewers, even as it faces a number of controversies, viewers are trying to learn more about some of the show's most interesting contestants. Among those contestants, Stephen Lomas has stood out in part because he was already familiar to some in the audience prior to his appearance on the show.

Stephen was a popular TikTok user before he showed up on The Challenge, but not so popular that everyone knew who he was. Now that he has appeared in the competition series, many are eager to learn more about him.

Stephen is one of 456 contestants in Squid Game: The Challenge. He's 30 years old and hails from Kansas City, Mo. He used to run a moving company called Let's Get Moving, but is now best known for the videos he puts out on social media with his friends. Stephen puts those videos out under the handle KC Boys.

Stephen is also married to Alix Blahnik, and the couple has two children together. Alix and Stephen run a YouTube channel that has more than 800,000 subscribers. In their videos, they mainly talk about their lives and the challenges of parenthood. They have uploaded more than 350 videos to date.

In his interviews on The Challenge, Stephen, who is player 243 on the show, also explained that he had a difficult time growing up.

“There was no stability in my household, no direction,” he said in a testimonial. “I come from a big family. Uh, nine kids. I’m one of nine, and my parents started having kids at an early age. I’m talking way too early to be having kids. And we’ve been homeless. We’ve been living in cars. We’ve been house and couch-hopping as a bunch of kids, man.”

In addition to his substantial following on YouTube, Stephen also has more than 300,000 followers on TikTok.

Stephen's primary channel appears to be YouTube, but on TikTok, he posts about various aspects of his life, including his relationship with his wife and various parts of his daily activities.

Stephen's profile has likely grown thanks in large part to his appearance on The Challenge, and while he may not have won the competition, it seems like that may have been a little bit beside the point. Whether Stephen wins or not, appearing on the show may have been a huge positive for his career, as it generated way more interest in him as a person, and in his many channels.