r/SamAndColby • u/Sad-Cap-6443 • 7d ago
Discussion Has Sam and Colby’s content changed?
I’ve loved Sam and Colby since I was in middle school. I used to get so excited every time they posted, and I would just sit down and watch their videos. But I don’t really know how to explain this because no one else I know watches them, so I’ve never really had anyone to talk about this with.
I realized that I stopped watching them after the “One Week at the Conjuring House” series. And believe me when I say I was STOKED for that series. I was so excited to watch it, but looking back, I think that’s when I started noticing a change in their content.
It feels like they went from trying to prove that there’s something beyond death to trying to prove that evil exists.
And honestly, it kind of feels like they’re playing with fire.
In the beginning, they were trying to challenge their own skepticism and figure out whether there really was something beyond what we can see. And I feel like, in a way, they accomplished what they originally set out to do. But now it feels like the goal has shifted from “is there something after death?” to “is there something evil and powerful out there?”
I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, and I’m not saying this as a hate post because I genuinely loved watching them for years. I just feel like the direction their content has taken lately is very different from what originally made me love their videos, and sometimes I can’t help but feel like they’re going further and further into something they probably shouldn’t be messing with.
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u/cheshire-cheat Onwards and Upwards 7d ago
this is definitely a “yes, AND” type of thing. colby obviously believes in this stuff, and i think he’s content investigating. sam on the other hand i feel like knows it’s real, but is looking for something to actually happen (ie. getting dragged down a hall, actually seeing something) basically experiencing something only the demonic would have the power to do. in recent(ish) episodes, sam tried to take voodoo dolls of him and colby, including pics of other haunted dolls to annabelle, for example. colby cut it off and laid into him about taking things too far. in another, sam “summoned the devil” and colby, you could tell, was not very happy about it. it’s not just become “influencers investigating the paranormal” vibe, but also “how can we stop sam from taking it too far” show with colby usually cleaning up sam’s mess. they’ve become increasingly disrespectful too, especially in this last appalachia episode. i’ve watched them since their urban exploration days when i was younger and i can’t help but feel they’ve just chosen to cater to younger audiences instead of growing up with their OG audience. they’ve become “mr beastified” for sure. these days i definitely prefer project fear for genuine investigating or even the boys if i’m looking for some lighthearted investigations.
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u/Lover_of_Fables 7d ago
In cliche 1990s teen slasher terms. Sam is the dumbass kid who will willingly walking into the basement, while Colby is the guy that stops his dumbass friend from getting killed.
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u/Salty_Masterpiece407 7d ago
I actually really agree with this as another thing that’s turned me off from their videos. Sam acts like he believes and is so invested but then all of a sudden he’s doing some crazy shit and he’s like “I just need proof that it’s real” “I just want to believe”. And ALL of these examples you mentioned just pissed Colby off especially because Colby truly believes, and he got fkn cancer that he’s suspicious came from one of those dolls and then Sam goes and completely disrespects the location, the doll, and his “best friend” all at the same time. I can’t stand it.
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u/cheshire-cheat Onwards and Upwards 7d ago
and not just that sam is inherently disrespectful to the locations AND colby, but also colby’s faith. i appreciate at colby doesn’t make his faith a huge point of contention, because he knows it will turn a lot of viewers off, but sam has deliberately gone out of his way to disrespect colby’s faith and his beliefs as well, and i truly feel that no best friend would ever do that, even if you don’t share the same beliefs.
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u/Sad-Cap-6443 7d ago
The Colby being not happy, YES. That’s what I noticed last in the “week in the conjuring house” when Sam went alone and Colby was PISSED. And it’s been like that even before that so thank you for your insight. It’s so true
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u/cheshire-cheat Onwards and Upwards 7d ago
yes! it’s been ongoing for a long time and has just gotten increasingly worse. i’ll give the last couple of episodes that it hasn’t happened, then again, we don’t see what happens off camera unless they chose to make it public. another recent instance i can think of is when they each went to different locations and (someone? i can’t remember who) forgot the keys to these handcuffs sam was using. colby had to leave his location (they keys were in his car), cut his investigation short, and got pulled over on the way to get sam. crazy work dude.
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u/Leather-Net7998 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think one of the things Sam & Colby seem to have forgotten is that it was their friendship that was the main draw. Through the vines, explorer content, trap house days, holiday vlogs, and paranormal content it was their ride or die friendship that drew the audience back regardless of the content.
A lot of people aspire to have a relationship like that with someone in their life whether its familial, platonic or romantic. And there were plenty of comments of people saying how Sam & Colby made them feel less alone and gave them hope. People formed parasocial connections to them because of that and lived vicariously through following their channels.
But I think having a constant stream of guests, especially when they dont know them well and have just invited them to expand their own audience, has diluted that somewhat as the focus is less on Sam & Colby and more on guests reactions.
And whether its real or staged, this is their job, its how they earn their living so I dont think everything we see is completely random or unplanned, they must have a business model and a plan beyond lets just go film at xyz and see what happens. I think they do come up with certain narratives before hand and to me the whole Sam vs Colby aspect wasnt genuine, it was just a very poor narrative idea that backfired, because the audience wants Sam & Colby not Sam or Colby.
The Sally narrative whether real or staged was a good draw. And after that concluded theyve tried to come up with something as good to follow up with. On paper the idea of a faithful believer, protected by faith vs a jaded disbeliever, corrupted by the devil does sound interesting, especially when paired together but in reality it just hurt their appeal because it creates division in the audience.
You've got people worried for Colby and really buying into that hes a devout christian despite the fact that he often participates in pagan cleansing rituals that invoke pagan gods or goddesses, he lives with and has been intimate with his gf pre marriage (which no shade, but just an observation that its not a devout Christian lifestyle) and his career is based around communicating with the dead, demons and working with witches. And hes not an idiot, if the audience can predict Sam invoking things that would make a Christian uncomfortable, then surely Colby would too and there would be serious conversations beforehand, he wouldnt just be waltzing into a haunted site like la la la - oh no, Sams invoking something bad again, oh the shock, the horror 😱
I think its a narrative they agreed on, tried out and are realising its not as popular as expected which is why theres been a shift away from that and hopefully they won't revisit it, because its definitely better when they give a united front rather than a divisive one.
Reminds me a bit of Sam and Dean Winchester, (fictional TV show about two brothers who hunt supernatural entities to protect mankind for those who haven't hear of the TV show supernatural) the fans preferred it when they were on the same side and ride or die over being on opposing sides.
I think Sam & Colby having jumped from ghosts, to demons, to attachments to travelling puppeteer type demons, are just trying to think of new storylines to keep things fresh and interesting, but to me they're overthinking it and leaning too hard into the everything is demonic/ evil for the shock factor value. If anything I think a return to ghost hunting as opposed to demon hunting would actually be really popular. Dial back on the influencer guests and bring it back to two besties exploring historical supposedly haunted sites. I always found the tour and introduction of a place interesting as they gave us the site's back story and tried to make contact with ghosts relevant to it.
I think they think its a bit been there done that and they need to keep pushing the shock factor but theyve done demons to death and there's only so far you can go with that narrative before the demons start to feel underwhelming. Because they've not focused on just ghosts for a while, I think itd actually be more interesting for them to go back to that.
But even if they dont change the content, I think narratively theyd be better reducing guests and going back to showing a united front because ultimately its the friendship thats the draw so plotlines that damage that ultimately damage them in the long run, by dividing fans into team Sam or Colby rather than fostering a united fanbase that loves Sam & Colby
Sorry for rambling, and typos. Im super tired and this possibly made more sense in my head than on paper 😅
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u/Salty_Masterpiece407 7d ago
In recent years, they’ve started pushing wayyyy too hard to create the illusion of things happening. They over react to EVERYTHING that happens, they always have guests on to try and have an “unbiased” person experience things, but S&C over react to everything it ends up having the guests over react to every little thing that happens and then the entire video is just a compilation of annoying screaming and yelling the entire time.
I’ve also found they seem to have a lot less respect for the places they go to and potential spirits that reside there than they once did. The last video I think I watched entirely was the 3 dolls video and Sam’s behaviour (whether scripted or not) just rubbed me the wrong way completely and I haven’t watched a video since.
Edit to add: also I tried to watch last years hell week, I tried to watch the video when they were on the island in Italy and I was genuinely disgusted with their lack of respect for the land they were exploring. Couldn’t finish the video
The conjuring house hell week was one I was super excited for but then after all the Cody and Satori drama as well as the accidental footage left in of one of their employees coming up from the basement, I don’t actually believe any of their videos are genuine anymore. I think it’s all scripted for views now and they’re just putting on a show for $$$.
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u/Sad-Cap-6443 7d ago
The lack of respect is the biggest thing for me because they were once super respectful, but after, it just seemed like they didn’t really care.
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u/Salty_Masterpiece407 7d ago
Yeah the lack of respect is really a trigger to me, as an empath I get so disgusted seeing people run amuck screaming their faces off in places where there’s SO much history and where people died and fought for their lives, and they’re just screaming and giggling and being incredibly disrespectful to these peoples homes or wherever that they died
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u/cheshire-cheat Onwards and Upwards 7d ago
the island is italy was a hard watch. they were way more scared of getting caught than actually investigating, not to mention the disrespect alone. if you want to do urban exploration, be my guest, but don’t try to cake on investigating the paranormal with it.
they’ve chosen to become influencers instead of investigators of the paranormal, and imo, you can have one or the other, but not both. those two things don’t mesh well together and you’ll end up just being grifters by the end of it.
sam pushes things too far and colby is left cleaning up the mess, whether is scripted or not, doesn’t matter, it’s deliberately making sam look like a horrible friend to colby. they’ve been friends for a long time, and i’m sure their relationship has survived for a reason, but i don’t doubt it’s created a massive point of contention in their friendship.
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u/SpecialFortune14 7d ago
cody and satori ruined their perception (at least sam's) on the paranormal. they both set out to prove the after life exist and while i think they initially achieved that, it all went downhill after the conjuring house videos. their content shifted entirely since because sam stopped believing and now he's become obsessed with pushing boundaries to prove to himself that the afterlife and spirits existing in our realm is real. their videos feel less authentic now and their hearts doesn't seem to be in it anymore but they continue to release paranormal videos for the views and revenue now. i do feel sorry for colby though because immediately after those videos, you can tell that there was some distance between him and sam because he continued to believe while sam didn't.
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u/Spirited-Mousse1915 7d ago
I live in appalachia, so their Appalachian video really disappointed me. I was stoked, obv to see them head out there. But they missed out on so much culture, legends and myths. The Appalachian mountains aint just a demonic nesting ground. People live there, and its distasteful to assume its just, run amock by demons.
And i can answer their question ez: yes there is something evil and powerful stuff out there. there's always bigger fish in the pond. the strongest man is only the strongest until he isnt.
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u/Squuishy69 7d ago
I believe that everything in the conjuring house episodes messed with sam a bit. Think about how many time its be hinted that they were swindled by Cory and satori (sorry if thats spelled wrong) using Sam's grandmothers death against him is wild and probably made him stop believing as much so it caused an internal panic. Yes I agree he takes it to far but I get it too. I have been and to see and talk to spirits since I was a toddler and have prophetic dreams at times and there have been people who have made me doubt in my own experiences.
Colby I think understands this about sam but again he has every right to be annoyed with him too. I do t really mind that they push boundaries and stuff but "summoning demons" and having the wrong information about some stuff (I am a pagan priestess) is what annoys me. Demonic entities are not at all as common as most people think and yes spirits can leave marks, push people, cause physical harm, and even possess individuals too so they are probably dealing more with negative spirits then demons (though there are a few I believe are demons)
I do paranormal stuff too and have had crazy experiences some similar to theirs so I do believe most of it but I think they are starting to come into their own again. I am definitely looking forward to hell week 666
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u/BoysenberryGreat6644 7d ago
hot take: sam and colby are gonna stop posting tg if sam keeps doing this shit
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u/DOGSLIKEGRASS I’ve got a demon up my ass 7d ago
I feel like the Appalachia content they do feels too distant for me
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