Jenna Marbles: YouTube star gets Madame Tussauds waxwork as vloggers take over museum chain

In the Madame Tussauds museums dotted around the world, there are wax figures of Hollywood stars, musicians, global politicians and kings and queens, and now – since it's 2015 – there are quite a few YouTube personalities as well. Madame Tussauds New York added Jenna Marbles to its collection of wax figures on Monday (26 October).

Jenna Marbles, real name Jenna Mourey, is a YouTube personality and vlogger with over 15 million subscribers on her channel and over 1.8 billionn video views. Marbles hosts one of the top 10 YouTube channels and owns the top channel operated by a woman.

"Who thinks that this is going to happen to them in their life? Never. Certainly not by doing that in my room," said Marbles after the unveiling ceremony.

Madame Tussauds New York made the announcement about their first YouTube personality during the summer, just as the museum's San Francisco branch unveiled its first set of YouTube personality wax figures of SMOSH members Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox and the London branch announced plans for waxworks of Zoella and Alfie Deyes.

"It was really cool to see how they make them. It was not my favourite thing in the world to have someone measure your armpit and stuff. I'm like, oh I shouldn't have eaten all that pizza, sorry guys. But it was incredible to see how they match your eyes and your teeth and your hair, your gums. And my favourite part was probably the hand moulds because it's all gooey, it felt really good. My least favourite part was the mouth mould because I just had to sit there and stare into space for a while, just don't say anything," said Marbles.

Marbles' wax figure is not only the first YouTube personality at the New York museum but it is also the first wax figure that is capable of taking a selfie with guests. The wax figure holds a working phone in an outstretched arm. Guests can pose next to the figure, take a photo, and upload it to their phones via a touch screen tablet near the wax figure.

"We're really thrilled to launch this figure here today in New York because it's the first figure that is selfie taking. So, when our visitors are wandering through the attraction we encourage people to get up close and personal to all of the figures," said Eric Fluet, head of marketing for Madame Tussauds. "But this figure is a little bit different because instead of taking a photo with the figure this figure will take a photo with you. So the photo that you'll be able to download looks just like Jenna Marbles is taking a photo with you instead of the other way around."