Everyone has their own pandemic story but one Cardiff dad says his lockdown hobby got "bizarrely" out of hand. Abanos only starting tinkering with TikTok during lockdown and now has a loyal following of over 36,000 fans with his hilarious videos exploring some of South Wales' best hidden gems.
He's one of the most successful Welsh creators on the app and asked to be referred to as his TikTok handle as he "enjoys the mystique". Such is his popularity online, the 33-year-old has even been named as an official TikTok ambassador for Wales, a role in which he showcases his hometown and country to a potential audience of over a billion. Get the latest news from across Wales sent straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletters.
His videos have seen him explore spots all over South Wales, from the Cardiff park lined with gravestones to the book shops of Hay on Wye. He's hung out with celebrities such as John Barrowman and the legendary Thornhill Sainsbury's cat, while he's even gone for a very early morning swim with TV star Mathew Pritchard.
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What makes Abanos' success all the more remarkable, however, is that prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, he didn't really know what TikTok was. As a marketing manager, he was intrigued to find out more about having watched his stepdaughter scrolling through the app.
"I would look over her shoulder now and again to try and understand a little bit about what it was about," he recalled. "I work in marketing, so I was interested in the algorithm and how it worked, so I thought I would download it for myself so I could find out more."
As the country went into lockdown, Abanos suddenly had a bit more time on his hands, and began looking for ways to entertain himself and his family, having just welcomed another child. After a few daily walks around Cardiff at the start of the pandemic, however, he had an idea of how he could put his new TikTok account to good use.
"I had a newborn at the time and all we could really do was just walk around Cardiff most days. After a while, I started finding little cool things that we could go to and visit. Then I thought, why don't I try and do something on TikTok while we're out at these places? I thought it would be a good way to actually see how it all worked rather than just having an outsider's perspective.
"I did a few videos, and I'd started doing Instagram stories and stuff which my friends would comment on and say were funny or cool. I was really just making them out of boredom to be honest but I started making a few on TikTok too, I think one of the first I did was about a grave for a young girl who had fallen out of a balloon with thousands of spectators watching. People really started to engage with that video, more than any of the others before it."
From there, Abanos' online profile began to take off thanks to his adventures taking him everywhere from miniature railways and dinosaur-infested parks, viewers suddenly couldn't get enough of his well-researched clips and dry comic style.
After a while, what had started as a little experiment had become something far bigger, and he admits he began to think more and more about content ideas as he went about his daily life. In a matter of months, he had gained thousands of followers on TikTok and understood who was watching and what they were enjoying.
"It’s quite annoying really," he said. "I’ll be going somewhere with my family now and in my head, I'm thinking, 'there could be a video in that', so I’ll be consciously thinking of one liners or research that I can do into somewhere. It’s always in the back of my mind to be honest, but really that’s because there are loads of interesting places around that a lot of people don’t know about, so I think that if I was them, I’d definitely have appreciated knowing about it.
"The algorithm was really cool to learn about, and it's incredible how it works. I would target South Wales and Cardiff and it would pick up on that really quickly. So I’d upload a video of the Tardis in Newport and within a couple of hours, I'd start having comments saying, ‘Oh, that's my house’ or ‘I live around the corner from there’, so I was reaching people who would be interested and likely follow me. It all started to grow quite quickly."
As his follower count went up, and he was bestowed the honour of becoming one of TikTok's ambassadors for Wales, he began to record videos with some familiar faces. As well as getting some Torchwood secrets from Captain Jack Harkness himself, John Barrowman, there has also been a bracing early morning dip with Dirty Sanchez's Mat Pritchard, an experience which Abanos counts among his TikTok highlights.
"I was drinking the night before at a party," he said, "At 8.30pm, Mat Pritchard messaged me back on Instagram saying, ‘Oh, should we go and do this tomorrow morning?’ I thought, yeah, that sounds great. Then he said it was at four in the morning and I thought 'Oh for God’s sake”.
"So I had to put the drink down and get myself to Penarth for 4am for a swim with Mat and the Dawnstalkers but it was totally worth it, it was an absolutely amazing experience and I'd definitely recommend everyone to try early morning swimming at least once. It's so friendly as well, you just turn up and there’s no questions asked, everyone gets on and enjoys the experience. That’s definitely one that sticks out for me."
Abanos admits that nobody is more surprised at his online success than him, with many of his videos recorded in unsuspecting places going viral and garnering tens of thousands of views. He added: "It’s the hidden stuff that really flies, the videos where people can watch it and then go and investigate for themselves, like the hidden art you can find in the middle of Cardiff. People really seem to like that but then you’ve also got the odd one where I’m just down at the tip in Lamby Way, walking around looking for bargains. I’ve done videos there and collectively they’ve got something like 170,000 views. That is mad, really, it’s just a guy walking around a shop!
He added: "I never would have thought I'd have the amount of followers I have now. What I'm doing is nothing special at all. I'm not an expert on Cardiff, I’m not a historian. Quite a few of the places that I go to I’ve pinched the ideas from something I’ve read before which I think would be quite interesting to visit.
"It's just kept growing and it's bizarre to be honest. Anyone can do it, they just need to pick up a camera and start talking about where they are, that’s all there is to it. You don’t have to go out of your way to find these little quirks and hidden things, there are some great ones right in the city centre. It’s just a case of walking around, bending over to have a look at things, poking your head in here and there. There’s nothing to it."
While he has had to get used to some of the stranger aspects of viral fame, he is grateful for what the experience has taught him about himself and the city he has called home for his whole life.
"I have been out and about walking around Cardiff before and a few people have come up to me and said they recognise me or that they enjoyed my videos where I’ve found something cool," he said. "And sometimes I’ll upload a video and people will comment saying they’ve seen me out somewhere. That’s quite a strange feeling really, like people are always watching!
He added: "I’m Cardiff born and bred, but I’ve learned more about living here in the last 18 months, two years or so than in my previous 33 years here but I've also been surprised by the amount confidence it gives you, speaking in front of a camera. I couldn’t really do that before, but now I’m doing it all the time and it’s certainly boosted my confidence in every aspect of my life. I would recommend it to anyone, just try and record yourselves and see what happens."
A born explorer, Abanos is always on the lookout for his next video idea and knows he will find no shortage of content across South Wales. However, one legendary spot in Cardiff remains top of his to-do list.
"I really want to explore that secret mahogany dining room in Burger King," he said. "That would be incredible, imagine eating a burger in there! There are still plenty of places I want to go, but that’s the next one I want to tick off my list. See inside the room here.
"I think it will be quite difficult to get into, but I'm willing to try anything. So if anyone can help me with that, let me know!"
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