Jack Dover
That's actually a still from Phil's video on making a Queen Anne lowboy. I checked the final glue up episode and he didn't do anything you've described, he actually applied quite a generous amount of glue to mortises and all three tenons in every corner, event though introduction episode says "we will use joinery that expands and contracts seasonally together". The back panel was pine, so that's less of a concern, but the sides are walnut, so the only excuse I could think of is stability of the lumber. There's a question asked by some member about this crossgrain glue up, but FWW has a terrible forums software and the question was too late anyway