Photo: Instagram
It's every way, bro.
By Catherine LeFebvre — Written on May 07, 2018
Is Jerika real? Are Jake Paul and Erika Costell dating? For all the Jake Paulers and Erika Costellers out there, that's been a sensitive subject for almost a year now. Jake Paul and Erika Costell are YouTube royalty who both work their butts off, both make over-the-top music videos, occasionally hook up on camera, and basically live together — what's stopping them from dating, right?
Well, if you believe Jake's vlog from April 26, nothing. Jerika is an official couple because Jake asked Erika to be his girlfriend on camera at a basketball game in Philly. Kevin Hart was even in on it — I mean, that's about as legit as it gets.
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But this isn't the first time the couple's pulled off a big romantic stunt as clickbait, and sometimes you've just gotta do it for the vlog (especially when it's everyday, bro). So are Jake Paul and Erika Costell dating? Here are the seven biggest hints from their maybe-relationship.
1. They got "married" in Vegas.
Three days after starting her own YouTube channel, Erika and Jake got married. Jake proposed to her with a ring pop in a food court in Vegas, just minutes after fellow Team 10ers Tessa Brooks and Chance Sutton got engaged. There's a moment when the guys are getting ready when the officiant comes in and asks them if they want a "legal wedding, or just for fun."
The boys don't know how to respond, but since days later all four "newlyweds" were back in their own homes, it's safe to say they did it for funsies. Or for the one million subscribers Erika gained in the next 48 hours.
2. Erika's channel becomes about Jerika.
Whether Jake and Erika were so happy to be newlyweds or so happy with the views they were getting because of it, the bulk of Erika's vlogs became Jerika-focused. In just the first month after the wedding, we got "We Cuddled for the First Time," "Married Couple Workout (Sexual)," "I'm Pregnant" (a prank), "Our First Anniversary," "I Bought My Husband a Lamborghini" (also a prank), "Best Surprise Ever (Honeymoon)," and "It's Over."
Sure, the two ate up more plot lines than a Shondaland drama, but they were also starting to act like they really cared about each other. Maybe Jerika was a little bit a stunt and a little bit real.
3. They drop a banger about themselves.
Jake’s first rap, "It's Everyday Bro," he did mostly as a joke. "I woke up, and I was like, 'What if I make a song today, and make a music video for it, all in one day?'" he told the New York Times. But the joke turned into a business model when "It's Everyday Bro" climbed to Number 2 on iTunes.
So it was only natural that Jake and Erika make a rap about their relationship while they were on a trip to Hawaii. "Something just feels right/When we're together/I think I want to stay here with you for, forever" Erika sings while they kiss under waterfalls and lounge on the beach.
4. Jake comes clean.
"We're not even actually dating," Jake told the New York Times in September of 2017. "It's like the WWE. People know that's fake, and it's one of the biggest things of entertainment." So the wedding, all the pranks, the love anthem … none of it was serious.
5. But that was only sorta the truth.
This is the "it's complicated" phase of Jerika (though I guess technically the whole relationship falls into that category). Sometimes they refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, sometimes you don't see them together in vlogs for days, and sexual tension is always all over the place.
In a Q&A video, someone asks "What is Jerika," and Erika responds "an undefined relationship." Both of them have been hurt in the past, so it’s hard to fully trust someone romantically. Then to illustrate just how complicated their feelings are, Jake and Erika do a bottle flip challenge.
6. They make Jerika official.
Jake decides he's ready for the relationship to be "super official," and so plans a whole trip to ask Erika to be his girlfriend. She had been bugging him to go to a basketball game with her, so Jake bought floor tickets to a game in Philly and surprised her with a trip there.
They sat next to Kevin Hart, and Jake had Kevin's son pass Erika a note asking her to be Jake's girlfriend. So Jerika is real, and both Jake and Erika said it was the best day of their life.
7. They're back to the same pre-Jerika-is-real antics.
So Jake and Erika are dating, but not much has changed on the vlogs. Since then, Jake scared Erika by having a friend jump out of a closet in a gorilla costume, guessed which of her bikinis were cheap and which were expensive, and got into a fight with rival social media group Clout Gang.
Erika posted a hair tutorial about her everyday look. So sure, it's official for now. But if Jake Paul and Erika Costell really are the WWE fighters of the vlog world, I'm sure there are a few more twists coming up.
Catherine LeFebvre is a writer and editor living in LA with her goldendoodle, Grover Cleveland. Her husband and son live with them too. She’s done time with Martha Stewart (here, not here), Food Network, and Nickelodeon. You can follow her on Instagram @discolefebvre.