Every couple has a meet-cute story. In this day and age, nine times out of 10 that tale begins with some form of online interaction. It’s only fitting that TikTok’s Alejandra Hernandez Bravo and Kellan Ness, better known as Alex and Kellz, met through a slide into the DMs. “I was scrolling through Instagram, being a creeper, and then I came across Alex’s profile, so I slid into her DMs,” Kellz says.
“I’d just taken a picture at the gym. He replied saying I was looking really healthy and we should go to dinner at 7 p.m.,” Alex adds. “So I read that and then I left him on read. I was like, ‘I don’t know who this guy thinks he is.’ He kept trying for maybe a month and then I saw him post this really funny thing on his story. I decided he was kind of funny and agreed to go out to eat.”
Although it took a bit of pursual on Kellz’s part, the two eventually met face-to-face and realized there was something between them. From there, the relationship moved quickly and by their second date, they were connecting on an intimate level. “She’s from Chico, California, and there was a huge fire out there,” Kellz says. “We went and bought a bunch of blankets, socks, toothbrushes and other stuff to help the families who’d lost their homes in the fire. We got to spend a lot of time together and that’s when we realized that we liked each other. Then after about a month, we moved in together.”
Photos by Mark Zhelezoglo
It’s been two years since Alex took a chance on the gent who slid into her DMs and in that time, they’ve accomplished a lot as a couple. They’ve traveled the country, grown together and still found the time to cultivate a TikTok empire. But before they were earning millions of views on their page, they were flexing their funny bones and playing pranks on one another just for a laugh. “The very first prank Alex ever did to me was when she made it seem like she’d left the house, but she was hiding in the walk-in closet,” Kellz says. “I went in there naked and super vulnerable. Then she scared the shit out of me. I thought that no one else was in the house, so I damn near had a heart attack.”
At first, these pranks were just for them. After a while the two realized that this content was too good to keep between themselves. They needed to share it with the world. “It started out as just random stuff, but then we started posting it on our stories,” Alex says. “We didn’t think anything of it, just that it was super funny. That’s when people started saying, ‘You guys should start your own prank page.’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, why not?’”
Alex and Kellz began posting their pranks to Instagram but ultimately it wasn’t the right platform for them. They didn’t know it at the time, but something bigger (and, some would argue, better) was coming their way. “When the quarantine happened, we needed something to do, so we started our TikTok,” Kellz says. “We were like, ‘Let’s take this seriously and see what we could do with it. And now, we’re here.”
Photos by Mark Zhelezoglo
Making the transition from screwing around on their personal pages to taking their pranks to the next level required a whole change of mindset. Soon the couple were intensely focused on posting consistently and before long, they were getting up at 6 a.m. to create content. Building a following was a chore for the couple on Instagram, but once they started cranking out videos it didn’t take long for their TikTok page to start attracting millions of eyes. “Our first viral video was actually the first one we ever posted on TikTok,” Kellz says. “It was a video of me and Alex inside Walmart, but we weren’t even trying to make a TikTok and this was just me being funny. I’m recording her and there was this elderly couple in front of us in line. Suddenly I made this huge fart sound and the cashier and the couple turned around to give Alex the most disgusted look. Then the guy turned back around to check Alex out.”
For the past two years, they’ve taken on the world together, one viral challenge at a time. They’ve acquired over 6 million dedicated followers on TikTok, racked up nearly 100 million likes and brought in enough cash from content creation to make it their full-time jobs. Now, they’re gearing up for their biggest challenge yet—parenthood. “So I had a nose job surgery booked and my doctor was like ‘Hey, I want you to get bloodwork done to make sure you’re good to go,’” Alex says. “I got my bloodwork done and the next day I’m having breakfast with Kellz and my doctor calls me. He tells me, ‘I can’t perform surgery on you because your bloodwork came back and you’re pregnant.’”
“She started yelling in the middle of the restaurant and I thought someone was dying because she started crying immediately after,” Kellz continues. “Both of our minds were blown. We created the baby on Christmas and it was quite the surprise.”
Photos by Mark Zhelezoglo
While the baby may have been a surprise, Alex and Kellz couldn’t be more ready to bring a child into the world. They’re an unstoppable force and have checked off many milestone boxes as a couple. Start a business together? Check! Make a baby? Check! Get tattoos for each other? Check!
“I recently got her name tattooed on me when I got my neck done,” Kellz says. “I wanted to surprise her so I also got our anniversary, 12/12, on my fingers. Now, whenever I hold her hand she can see our anniversary and her name.”
Alex and Kellz may put it all out there online, but at the end of the day, they’re still a real couple that strive to balance their personal and professional lives. Social media puts a literal filter on relationships and even this pair have to put in the work. “I think doing this has brought adversity into our relationship, but in a good way,” Kellz explains. “We’re business partners, so we need to find a healthy balance with our work, truly enjoy being with each other and stay present.”
If anyone can make it work, it’s Alex and Kellz. Their relationship has been on the fast track since their second date and now, only two years in, they’ve accomplished more than most couples do in a decade. At the end of the day, it’s not the years themselves that count but what you accomplish in those years that makes all the difference.