Jordan Schwarzenberger Part Two: A Radical Religious Conversion
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Could finding religion allow Gen Z to better find their place in the world? That is the assessment made by Jordan Schwarzenberger, the manager of Europe’s biggest YouTube group Sidemen and advisor to Downing Street’s Small Business Council. He converted to Catholicism in 2020 after being a devout atheist all his life.
He now argues that we're too obsessed with pleasure and that in turning our backs on the Catholic Church we have become a less moral society.
Jordan tells Amol about how he came to Christianity at a Kanye West album launch party, how his new-found faith has impacted his life and why he wants more people to follow in his footsteps.
This is part two of Amol’s Jordan Schwarzenberger interview. Look back in your feed for the first part, where Jordan explains how to build a successful brand on social media.
GET IN TOUCH
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan
Amol is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today podcast. If you enjoy this (and you've read this far so hopefully you do), then we think you’ll also like another podcast from Today. It’s called Political Thinking with Nick Robinson and you can listen to Nick’s interviews here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p04z203l
This episode of Radical with Amol Rajan was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Phil Bull. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | Hello, it's Amol here with a slightly different sounding introduction to this episode, |
| 0:09.3 | and that's because I am deep in Nappy Valley, sorry, on holiday with my lovely children. |
| 0:15.7 | I'll tell you all about it next week. |
| 0:17.3 | I hope you've had a good August so far, whether working or away. You may have noticed |
| 0:22.2 | this is a second episode with Jordan Schwarzenberger. Episode one was a masterclass on how to win in |
| 0:29.2 | the attention and creator economy. That's something he knows rather a lot about as the manager of |
| 0:35.1 | the sidemen, probably Europe's biggest internet collective or phenomenon |
| 0:38.5 | with tens of millions of subscribers and multiple lucrative spin-off businesses. |
| 0:45.5 | If you're someone trying to understand this new economy or even make a living from it, |
| 0:49.2 | I really hope you got a lot of value out of that conversation. |
| 0:53.6 | But, you know, when Jordan came into the radical |
| 0:55.2 | studio, our chat went into a, well, it went into a very unexpected place. I have to say, I didn't |
| 1:03.0 | know that he had discovered Catholicism and in a big way. And for him, modern secular society |
| 1:09.4 | has a very big hole. And the radical and best way to fill that |
| 1:13.8 | has been written down in fact it was written down a long time ago in the bible i really want this |
| 1:19.9 | podcast which is reaching a lot of people to be a place where our guests can speak openly |
| 1:24.8 | about a limitless range of ideas and explore what matters to them. |
| 1:29.9 | Jordan did that and I very much hope you enjoy our conversation |
| 1:33.1 | about his journey to God and meaning and morality. Do you know something? I spent, so I had, when the team said that they'd been in touch |
| 1:53.6 | and approach you, which actually they did, because they knew you to be an extraordinary |
| 1:56.9 | interest in person before, I'd suggested your name. I knew quite a lot about you and about |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.