Georgia man brings home grocery store lobster as pet, generates millions of views, literary agents come calling

Photo byTauchteufel on Pixabay

Sometimes opportunity comes from the strangest places. Brady Brandwood is a filmmaker who's had a YouTube channel for 15 years, almost since YouTube began. He's uploaded here and there, focusing on his personal passions, like koi ponds, motorcycles, and life in the South. His views were modest.

Then one day about a year ago, he was in a grocery store and saw live lobster for sale. They were intended for eating, of course. But Brady got curious - what would it be like to own a lobster and keep it in a tank at home?

Brandwood brought a lobster home that day and made a YouTube video preparing a tank for him. Having kept fish for many years, he had the knowledge and equipment to provide the lobster with the home he needed. Brady named his crustacean Leon.

Soon after putting Leon in his new home, Brandwood clipped the elastic bands from his pincer claws. Leon's claws were so weak from being banded shut that it took him weeks to be able to use them as they were intended.

Brandwood delighted in learning about his lobster pet and chronicled it all on his YouTube channel. He experimented with what foods Leon likes to eat (shrimp and mussels appear to be favorites). He tried putting some fish in the tank with Leon to keep him company, but it was evident that they were stressing him out since they were much faster and kept pinching his lunch, so Brady moved them to another tank.

All of this appears to be something Brandwood is doing for interest's sake, but the unconventional idea, and Brandwood's genuine affection for his friend, caught the Internet's attention.

The original video of Brady bringing Leon home has over 22 million views. While engagement has dropped off a little over time, Leon still commands hundreds of thousands of views for every video.

Meanwhile, Leon has grown and gotten much healthier than he was when he first arrived. His powerful pincer claws are now a sight to behold.

Brandwood has been able to parlay his unexpected success into sponsorship deals and merchandise. Between that and money made from millions of video views, Brady has been able to subsidize a much more lavish tank for Leon, and presumably much more.

When the two (along with the pet cats) moved to North Georgia to be with Brandwood's partner, Leon's tank tripled in size. Of course, Brady chronicled his painstaking preparations for Leon's move in a video. The crustacean is now enjoying his Georgia kingdom.

Brandwood talks about the incredible opportunities Leon has provided for him in his latest video:

This whole journey with Leon started as an experiment and a curiosity. What would it be like to buy a live lobster from the seafood section of a grocery store and try and keep it as a pet? Now, literary agents are calling, TV producers, podcasters, love mail, hate mail, request for Leon merchandise, two upgrades to larger aquariums, it's all part of Leon's journey from sitting bound up in a grocery store to hanging out with shrimp and a bunch of cats today. It's all part of the story.

It seems that spontaneous decision in the grocery store has really paid off, for both Brandwood and Leon.

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