Third of thirty. Boxed in.

The result: BDJ finished 3rd of 30

Thirty finalists went into The Box. Six came out of the day's knockout into the final. I was one of the six — and when the twelve hours were done, I placed third.

Third of thirty, in a room built to test everything a DJ actually does — mixing, endurance, booth etiquette, crowd control and musical knowledge — with a live audience voting and six of the country's best DJs watching from the floor, is a result I'm proud of. It is not the residency, and I went in to win it. But making the final six from thirty, on camera, across twelve hours, against that field, tells you the open-format way of playing holds up under the hardest kind of pressure there is: a clock, a crowd and no hiding.

Ministry of Sound had not published the overall winner on its own channels as this went up; when it does, this page will name them. Whatever the top line, I want to thank everyone who watched, chatted and voted through the day — you were the difference between a set and a moment.

What was Ministry of Sound's Boxed In?

Boxed In was Ministry of Sound's live-streamed DJ competition, built to find the club's next resident. It ran for twelve hours on Sunday 13 September 2026, broadcast on Twitch from The Box, the newly renovated main room of the club on Gaunt Street in Elephant & Castle.

It was not a mix contest judged behind closed doors. Finalists were put through challenges on camera that tested mixing, endurance, booth etiquette, crowd control and musical knowledge; six established DJs mentored them through the day; and the people watching voted live. Ministry of Sound's managing director, Caitlin McAllister, described it as the club championing new talent for a new generation of DJs.

The format was developed and produced by Mako Studios with Objekt, with social content from Salen Studios. The open call launched in July 2026 for DJs worldwide aged 18 and over, and closed in August.

BDJ: Finalist #12, into the final six

Ministry of Sound revealed the thirty finalists one at a time on the Boxed In Instagram. I was number twelve. Their post called me "a London DJ veteran with 15 years behind the decks", tagged me genre-fluid, house and electronic, and described sets that move across eras, regions and tempos, built on curation and reading the room.

That is the whole practice. I'm an open-format DJ: afrobeat, amapiano, R&B, soul, hip hop, grime, dancehall, house and UK garage, threaded into one continuous set rather than played as a list. The work is reading a room before it knows what it wants, and letting the energy build instead of forcing it. A competition that tests crowd control and musical knowledge, not just clean blends, was built for that way of playing — and it carried me from thirty to the final six, and to third.

The application was a one-minute video to camera and a fifteen-minute mix. Ministry of Sound shared my entry mix on the Boxed In Instagram stories when they announced me.

How Boxed In worked: 30 finalists, 6 mentors, 1 resident

The open call asked for two things: a one-minute video to camera on why you should be Boxed In, and a fifteen-minute mix uploaded to SoundCloud. From the entries, Ministry of Sound picked thirty finalists.

On the day, a knockout round cut the thirty to six. The six mentors were in the room throughout the stream, scouting, and each took one DJ to guide to the end; where more than one mentor wanted the same DJ, the DJ chose.

The six then competed across the twelve hours. The challenges tested mixing ability, endurance, booth etiquette, crowd control and musical knowledge, and the audience was part of the mechanism: live votes and real-time reactions from viewers helped shape the challenges and the outcome — the result of which put me third.

The six Boxed In mentors

Six established DJs mentored the finalists, a panel that spanned genres and generations:

• Mak 10Also billed as DJ Makten
• Sam Divine
• G33Of Girls Don't Sync
• FISH56OCTAGON
• Jakkob
• Siân Owen

The prize: a Ministry of Sound residency

The winner takes a Ministry of Sound residency, including club and global shows, with mentorship and artist development, plus a package worth £25,000 in DJ equipment, studio time and artist development support.

The residency is the part that matters. Ministry of Sound opened on 21 September 1991 in a disused bus garage on Gaunt Street, founded by James Palumbo, Justin Berkmann and Humphrey Waterhouse, and it has never moved. Boxed In landed eight days before the club turned thirty-five. For a London DJ, a residency in The Box is a line that needs no explaining anywhere in the world — which is exactly why getting within the final three of it means something.

After Boxed In: what a top-three finish changes

A competition result is a headline; the work is the same the morning after. But third of thirty in The Box is a real credential — proof, on the biggest stage London club culture has for new residents, that this practice reads a room and holds a floor under pressure.

So the diary stays open, and it opens a little wider. BDJ plays clubs, festivals, fashion rooms and private events, booked from London and worldwide — afrobeat, amapiano, R&B, soul, hip hop, dancehall, house and UK garage in one continuous set. If Boxed In is how you found this page, that is the DJ you were watching.

Thank you for watching and voting

To everyone who followed the channel, watched across the twelve hours, chatted through the sets and voted when the vote opened: thank you. A live competition is decided partly by the people watching, and you showed up. Third of thirty is your result as much as mine.

If you liked what you heard in The Box and want it in your room — a club night, a festival stage, a wedding, a brand event, a private floor — the booking details are below, and the rest of this site is the fuller picture of how BDJ plays.