he got famous by giving away money, now he's giving away money with extra steps (those steps being various degrees of having to "earn it" through challenges) so he's basically became a game show host
If I got a completely new account, watch the first video showed up on the home page and leave the Autoplay on, isn't that just the algorithm jerking itself off?
No different from how it normally works, imo. The YT algorithm is shit and it only suggests the same content over and over, sometimes figuratively as it shares content which approximates successful content or sometimes literally because it will just share the same stuff on repeat.
If you disable all watch history for your account they will simply refuse to recommend anything on the home page, so you'll have to use the search bar and maybe start with the first video ever published like OP did with the elephants and the YT founder.
I also started there in parallel to watching the new stuff and the First Doctor isn't that enjoyable. The second is cool but the episodes aren't, the third has good stories he himself isn't that cool, the fourth is perfection and that's how far I got.
You understand many things better when watching the old stuff and you see the series grow which is quite cool.
ehh, as someone with adhd i didn't get far into old who. I understand the constraints of the era and the budget but without something to stimulate my brain (like sound design, music, various camera shots, eccentric acting) i'd just rather read a book about it so i can imagine those myself