Since meeting for the first time as students at Penrith South Public School, Sean Skeels and Marley Whatarau’s friendship has taken them on a rollercoaster ride which has made them known all over the world.
The duo’s claim to fame was their very first YouTube video which, since being posted in February 2021, has accumulated just short of 300,000 views.
“We first made a music video for a song we made, ‘Oh Yeah!’,” Whatarau said.
“On YouTube, all the comments were so nice, and I’m so happy me and Sean have become famous.”
After this, Whatarau and Skeels created their TikTok account @getdownwithsandm. The account has 3.6 million followers, and 69.2 million likes – and counting.
“On TikTok, we hit 3.5 million, and I thought ‘Wow, that’s a big one’, and the likes, that’s big!” Whatarau said.
“I love TikTok, and YouTube and Spotify, and I love that me and Sean can do it together.”
Skeels agreed with the sentiment, adding that they love nothing more than meeting and taking photos with their followers.
@getdownwithsandm 22/08/2023 8PM AEST 🍗🍔 @Clayton’s World ♬ original sound – GetDownWithSeanAndMarley
“This is our dream!” he said.
Since blowing up online, Skeels and Whatarau have diversified their content, with their pages now mainly focused on cooking videos.
The videos, which see them create delicious meals in Skeels’ kitchen, are based around their love of food, and aren’t without a little bit of chaos.
“Once, we cooked spaghetti bolognaise, but the cats ate the meatballs!” Whatarau said.
Together, they’ve made all kinds of food on TikTok, like chicken schnitzel and sausage rolls, though both agree that pies are their favourite thing to make.
In doing the videos, the boys have also gotten the attention of a few celebrity followers.
“I love cooking all the foods, but Gordan Ramsay follows us,” Whatarau said.
“We also met a chef in Sydney at the culinary school.”
The boys have also been on a few excursions in Penrith, which have seen them go to iFLY, Bombshell Blowdry Bar, and meet some of the Penrith Panthers players. However, one of their favourite outings saw them head down to Wollongong, where they were VIP guests at Yours and Owls.
“We loved going to Wollongong for Yours and Owls,” Skeels said.
“We took heaps of photos, and talked to lots of girls.”
As for their goals after TikTok, Whatarau said he wants to be a rapper, with Skeels saying he just wants to meet his icon Kylie Minogue – something he got very close to after they were both nominated in the 2023 TikTok Awards.
Skeels and Whatarau both said they had the best night at the TikTok Awards, held at Hordern Pavillion last Wednesday, at which they were nominated in the TikTok for Good category – aiming to celebrate creators who share TikTok’s passion for driving positive change in their communities.
“We were happy and overjoyed,” Skeels said.
“We had so much fun at the party, and had pizza for dinner.”
Going up against The Black As Crew and Jenna Hudson, the boys said they weren’t sure if they’d be able to take out the win. However, to hear their names announced was a welcome surprise.
“We were sitting there together and I had my head down, thinking, and then they said, ‘Sean and Marley’. I won that!” Whatarau said.
“Sean said a speech and I said a speech, and it made me feel happy. I was shaking on stage, but I loved it.”
Now award-winning creators, Skeels and Whatarau assure they have plenty more videos to make – as long as they can do it together.
“We’re definitely going to keep making TikToks, I want to do more dancing,” Whatarau said.
“I also like sushi, so I want to make sushi on TikTok.”
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.