Bald and Bankrupt

Born in Brighton, Rich had a long history of travelling before his YouTube channel became popular. In March 1993, he went on a backpacking trip to India, flying into Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport for what was supposed to be a one-month backpacking journey, but became so interested in Indian culture that he stayed there for four years and opened up a small hotel.[5] He has expressed his interest in the post-Soviet states.[6] He has stated that his admiration started with an interest with Belarusian gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya during his adolescence, but it was during a two-month long stay in Moscow in 1993 that his interest in the place started, as he was there to witness the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.[7][8]

On 12 April 2018, Rich released the book The Burning Edge: Travelling Through Irradiated Belarus, under the pen name Arthur Chichester, which describes his experiences travelling through the parts of Belarus affected by the Chernobyl disaster.[1][9][10]

Rich joined YouTube under the username "bald and bankrupt" on 12 June 2018. His first video, uploaded that same day, was titled "I ♥ India's Policewomen".[11] He predominantly films on a small Sony FDR X3000 and his smartphone.[3] He is noted for aiming to "show the lives of real locals, away from the tourist spots and Starbucks coffee".[3] Rich and his YouTube channel were featured in The Daily Express' June 2019 article "World War 3: The secret underground nuclear bunkers hiding below forest revealed".[2]

On 5 July 2020, Rich revealed via Instagram that he had been in intensive care in Serbia for nine days with double pneumonia triggered by COVID-19, and stated that he now faced months of lung rehabilitation in order to breathe properly again. He admitted that he was "blasé" about the pandemic and warned people of all ages to take the pandemic seriously.[12][13]

Rich's content has attracted coverage in various national media, particularly publications in the towns and regions he visits. New Delhi publication The New Learn reported on Rich's travels in India in January 2019.[14] They praised his visits to refugee camps for Hindus in North Delhi stranded following the crisis in Pakistan,[14] and described his videos as "introducing the world to an India that is real and authentic, where people still open up their lunch boxes to strangers, where tea is the beginning of lifelong associations, where trust means more than money and where there is vibrancy everywhere".[14]

In March 2019, Hindustan Times reported on how he exposed scams against tourists in Delhi Airport, from inflated prices to rickshaw drivers and false claims.[15] In June 2019, Rich was discussed in the Slovak press for his visit to Luník IX, which he described as "Europe's largest poor Roma neighbourhood".[16] The article described how, despite warnings about the estate being among the most dangerous in Europe, he was welcomed by local people who spoke fluent English and invited him to their surprisingly modern and clean homes, which he described as "better than [his] apartment in Britain".[16] Swedish YouTube personality PewDiePie stated in a July 2019 podcast that Bald and Bankrupt is his favourite YouTube channel.[17]

Afisha Daily journalist Lyubava Zaitseva wrote about Rich's interesting choice of Russian destinations in September 2019, stating that even its Russian readers had "not seen such Russia"[18] and praising him for "trying to distance himself from tourist places" and showing cities "from the inside, communicating with local residents".[18] In November 2019, Russia Beyond named Rich's channel in its list of six YouTube vlogs "where foreigners show you real Russia". It noted his "openness to local people and unpredictability".[19]

Rich's video about a trip to Patamanta in Bolivia was reported by Gizmodo Español as "more scary than entering Chernobyl".[20] In the video, he informed a local woman that he was a tourist, prompting her to warn him that "people burn people" in the area.[20] Two men later approached Rich, inspected his passport, and gave him 30 minutes to leave the area.[20][21]

Following a November 2019 video filmed on a train to Chechnya, in which Rich joked about an opportunity to share a train compartment with a Chechen "chick", he was forced to apologize on camera by Chechen authorities, which is a common practice in Chechnya.[22][23][24]

• Chichester, A., (9 April 2018). The Burning Edge: Travels Through Irradiated Belarus. ISBN 978-1-9807-8751-8
  • 2nd Edition, (27 March 2020)

• Article on Bald and Bankrupt in Lunik IX by MARTINA BEŇOVÁ of Noizz Aktuality dated 24/07/19 (in Slovak)
• Article on Rich's exploration of a former Soviet nuclear bunker complex in Moldova - The Daily Express (UK) dated 28/06/19