Mariko "Mari" Takahashi (高橋真理子) (b. November 2, 1984) is an American YouTuber, dancer and long-term member of Smosh Games. She was the host of Smosh Pit Weekly for all of its original run and for the first four months of its revival. Despite rarely appearing in videos uploaded on the main Smosh channel, she became the third recognised member of Smosh besides Ian and Anthony (until the addition of the rest of the main Smosh cast). Mari has appeared in various series on Smosh Games, including her own show, Super Mari Fun Time, now called MariCraft.
She competed on the 33rd season of Survivor.
Biography
Mari originally shared Ian's YouTube account IanH (now Smosh Pit) and uploaded videos every Saturday. She also had her own channel, AtomicMari, where she did not upload videos regularly.
Mari first appeared on Ian is Bored 43, Worst Audition Ever!, where was shown to be able to do the splits in jeans whilst standing up, revealing her to be very flexible.
Later on in Meme Schoolgirl! Mari puts her meme knowledge, or lack thereof, to the test as Ian shows her a mixture of famous memes and random images. She initially believes meme to be "a name for your favorite stuffed animal" and only gets one question correct.
"Meme Schoolgirl!" also revealed Mari as the winner of the audition for Smosh's next video series, which would turn out to be Smosh Pit Weekly. She hosted the series ever since its first episode, We Have "Crabs". However, during its run, Smosh Pit Weekly received very mixed reception from viewers, ranging from positive comments and constructive criticism to irrelevant compliments and negative responses. As a result, Smosh Pit Weekly episodes gained the most dislikes on YouTube out of all Smosh videos. However starting in August 2011, the later Smosh Pit Weekly episodes gained 90% more likes compared to the earlier episodes.
After Smosh Pit Weekly‘s discontinuation in 2015, Mari still occasionally appeared in Smosh 2nd Channel videos, usually as a guest.
On August 19, 2017 - nearly two years later - Smosh Pit Weekly was revived, with Mari returning as the host. Five months later she was replaced by Shayne Topp and Damien Haas for uncertain reasons (though at the time it was assumed that it was due to her travelling to Japan for her wedding).
Over time, Mari has become a regular and important member of the Smosh Games cast. She was the only female member of the cast until the addition of Ericka "Boze" Bozeman in early 2017.
Appearances
Mari makes her first appearance in a main Smosh video in Pokemon Theme Song REVENGE. She was the assistant that came running in to the office to tell the CEO that Smosh had made another Pokemon video.
She was also in the video I'M NOT RACIST!!! as one of Ian's two new Japanese friends who had just come from an Elvis convention. She said, "F***ing racist" in Japanese to Anthony.
She was featured in three Lunchtime with Smosh episodes: ASIAN LUNCHTIME! (W/ MARI!), The Reverse Cowgirl! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Smosh!
Mari accompanied Ian in an Ian is Bored video, Crazy Asian Food Test!.
In AWESOME NEW ROBOT!, Mari appears as the girl in pigtails in the robot commercial, playing with Ian's character Billy Hamburger.
Mari in "HOLY CRAP! 2 BILLION VIEWS"
She appears also in Holy Crap! 2 Billion Views! with all the cast of "Smosh Games". She's in the bathroom playing a Pokemon Tournament with a Gameboy Advance SP.
In May 2013, Mari had an appearance in Dixon Cider as one of the background dancers, though she wears less revealing clothes than the other dancers and even performs as a ballerina for a few seconds.
Since Dixon Cider, she has appeared in many Smosh brand update videos on the main channel such as The TRUTH about Smosh. She has also played minor and major roles in some Smosh sketches such as EVERY GIRLS NIGHT OUT EVER and HOW TO NOT PISS OFF ASIAN PEOPLE.
Personal Life
Mari and her boyfriend (now husband), Peter, Christmas 2013
Outside of Smosh commitments, Mari has most notably worked as a ballet dancer, as explained in one of her Smosh Pit Weekly episodes. This explains the flexibility shown in her Smosh audition, and there are videos of her demonstrating her talent for dancing on her personal channel, AtomicMari. She sometimes goes on tour with her dance group, as seen in two Smosh Pit Weekly episodes where she filmed in her hotel room. According to her own YouTube channel, Mari has uploaded exerpts of four of her performances. Her videos include her performances for Giselle, No Place to Rest, Musume and the Nutcracker Suite.
Mari also enjoys rock climbing. As shown in some pictures, she has been known to climb some slopes without a harness.
Mari loves traveling, as seen in her online posts. According to a Smosh Pit Weekly episode, she always takes her traveling buddy, a monkey doll she calls Silvio, along with her. She also takes home souvenirs that are made of dead animals, an example being a monkey skull.
She is also on another YouTube series completely separate from the Smosh canon, Ask a Naked Guy. Coincidentally, Ian and Anthony once starred in an episode of the series. Mari also collaborated with Hidden Fortress for a video, Mari's Shadow.
Mari also competed on the 33rd season of Survivor, entitled Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. She placed 19th.
Mari has been in a relationship with photographer Peter Kitch since 2010. They met in January of that year at a rock climbing gym, where Mari had decided to officially take lessons after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; Peter was her instructor.[1] They became engaged in April 2017 and kept it a secret for many months. They got married in Japan on April 4th, 2018, in a traditional Japanese ceremony. Mari has mentioned that she wants to have children "eventually", though she has not directly stated how soon this might be.
Trivia
- Mari is the only member of Smosh Games to have been a full-time member throughout its entire existence.
- During the interim period after the sutdown of Defy Media, she shared this honor with Jovenshire. However, since Smosh's acquisition by Mythical Entertainment, Joven has gone on record saying that he will not return to Smosh Games full-time, despite the channel becoming fully operational again.
- Mari considers herself a tomboy.
- Due to her background in ballet dancing, Mari is consistently one of the best players in dancing games, having only been in the bottom three for 3 out of 12 times (Just Dance Rematch, The King Of Pop Would Be Proud and Making Music With Our Bodies (All of which she came 4th place in)). As of Making Music With Our Bodies, she remains the only player that has never had to do a punishment in a dancing Game Bang.
- There is a character in Otaku Taco Truck named after her.
- Mari began her training in ballet dancing aged two, and became a professional dancer at seventeen.[2]
- Despite showing numerous videos of herself dancing, doing ballet as a full-time career and even branching out into teaching, Mari apparently believes herself to be an "average" ballet dancer - though she also claims to not let this belief hinder her.[3]
- Mari is good friends with all of the Smosh cast, but she seems to be closest to Ian and Joven, as they and their partners are often seen at each others' social events.
- She sometimes hangs out with the Smosh Squad.
- Mari is the second oldest member of the Smosh Family, being several months younger than Lasercorn but several years older than Joven, Flitz, Sohinki and Ian (all born in 1987).
- She stated on the SGA Live episode "Super Mario Maker w/ Mari & Sohinki" that she and Sohinki were born approximately 10 months apart.
- Mari and Joven are both fans of British Sci-Fi Drama Doctor Who, Mari herself even has a TARDIS painted into her living-room wall.
- Mari's father appeared in the Maricraft episode "Minecraft Arson with Mari's Dad".
- Mari has a brother who is ten years older than her.[4]
- Joven, amongst others, has proven that Mari is easily scared. Two notable examples would be that Joven scared her by hiding under her desk and in Smosh Games Forms a Biker Gang she scared both herself and Flitz by them walking into each other.
- She is not a good player of Deadliest Warrior, losing six times in "We Are Not the Deadliest Warriors". She taunted her opponents in Japanese, and Joven replied "I don't speak Spanish". Her gaming strengths are in dancing games, such as Just Dance.
- There is running joke/theme about Mari being the most lustful or kinky of the Smosh Games group; for example, in Lasercorn's prop hunt video she was happy to see a hentai picture, did various acts and said certain things in Grand Theft Smosh and hosted a top 5 video called Top 5 Bangable Aliens.
- As a result of this, many fans temporarily believed that Mari was bisexual; however this is probably unlikely as it was just part of a joke.
- Up until MARI LEARNS TO RIDE A BIKE Mari had never learned how to ride a bike, implying that her parents had not wanted her to - though the precise reason for this is unclear. By the end of the video, she was able to steer the bike on her own for a certain amount of time.
- The above video was also the first appearance of her future husband, Peter, on the Smosh Games channel.
- In the BTS video for Smosh Live, it was shown that Mari taught the Smosh Squad the dance for the "IntergalacWhip" skit.
Gallery
References
| Characters | ||
| Ian Hecox Characters |
Ian Hecox (character) - Sergeant Anous - REDACTED - Boxman - Bob Roberts - Billy Hamburger - Billy Mays - Benny Jean - Metrosexual Hipster - Adrian Hecox-Hendrix - Frankie Rogers - Adam - Bella Swan | |
| Anthony Padilla Characters |
Anthony Padilla (character) - Antoinette Padilla - Ash Ketchum - Brent Hamburger - Cletus - Manspider - Amy Franklin - Edward Cullen | |
| Shayne Topp Characters |
The Chosen - Aunt Carolyn - Courtney Freaking Miller - Bryce Chryson - Dumpster Wizard - Man Who Just Stands There - CHIPS GHOST | |
| Courtney Miller Characters |
Brianna Boho - Dominic Perignon - Gerald Cakes - Shayne Freakin' Topp | |
| Damien Haas Characters | ||
| Amanda Lehan-Canto Characters | ||