'The most wholesome streamer': How Rotorua wood carver Broxh became an overnight Twitch success

A Rotorua man has become an internet sensation overnight thanks to his wholesome content on Twitch. Photo / Broxh Twotch

A Rotorua man has become an internet sensation overnight thanks to his wholesome content on Twitch.

Dubbed the Bob Ross of Carving, Broxh (as he's named on Twitch) says the soul focus of his streams is to share his knowledge, skills and stories about whakairo (the Māori art of wood carving).

Starting the channel to simply to provide some casual entertainment, he never imagined getting a massive following.

However, after his stream featured in Twitch Australia and New Zealand's Creative Showcase in April, his followers skyrocketed to 500,000 in one month.

Up until then, his streams netted an average of five viewers, but after being given a bigger audience by the showcase, one of his videos went viral.

While streaming himself carving a piecing a wood on Twitch, a viewer paid money to subscribe to his channel. But, wholesomely, Broxh said he wanted to give the money back to the person.

"Wait. Did someone gives us some subs? Ah, bro. You didn't have to. Can I give that money back?"

Since then, the humble artist's audience has grown, and now an average of 5000 viewers watch his calming streams.

His followers, whom he calls his whānau, even tried to give him subs, but he encourages people to engage with his streams and watch for free.

In early May, he decided to turn off Twitch's donation button, explaining that especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, he doesn't want to accept money.

"It feels bad, within myself, turning that button on with what's going on - like I'd feel real bad with it if I turned it on in these hard times," he said.

However, he said he will eventually do a charity stream in the future, saying the first people he would help in his life is his family and to buy more wood.

While Twitch streamers are criticised for abusing parasocial relationships with their fans to make money, Broxh's attitude and content have been branded as "humble", "chill" and "wholesome".

In one stream he said that he stays up to date with New Zealand's Covid-19 updates and advised his viewers "staying home saves lives".

"That why I started this, so people can watch and stay at home," he said.

He even follows the wise words of Bob Ross, who in his "The Joy of Painting" series is quoted saying "We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents" when referring to mistake while painting.

When Broxh was asked by a follower he replied: "We don't make mistakes, brother. We make adjustments. Just incorporate it into your carving."

There are those that call him the wood carver's Bob Ross, others call him Broxh Ross.

We like to just call him @Broxh_

He was the first in creator our #ANZCreativeShowcase and did an incredible job.https://t.co/FnM4WqvvsI pic.twitter.com/nkGQ4Va5ph

— Twitch ANZ (@Twitch_ANZ) May 13, 2020

Born and bred in Tuhoe, Broxh said he moved to Rotorua to learn about his Te Arawa whakapapa and it was here he was introduced to the world of carving by his uncle at 12 years old.

"From then on I have been carving ever since. I have a big passion when it comes to my culture and this fulla is more then happy to share with you all," he said on his profile.