I’ve been watching Jimmy Donaldson — more commonly known as MrBeast — on YouTube for over seven years and have enjoyed all of the content he has produced across his six channels. MrBeast has amassed a YouTube-leading of 362 million subscribers and over 76 billion views on his videos.
When he announced “Beast Games,” a 10-episode series on Amazon Prime on March 18, 2024, I was thrilled to check out what it was.
“Beast Games” has multiple references to the well-known Netflix original series “Squid Games,” in which a large number of contestants fight for a cash prize. In the MrBeast version, he had 1,000 contestants competing for $5 million, the biggest prize in TV and entertainment history.
This type of content is not unusual to MrBeast, as he makes high-budgeted, over-the-top challenges and giveaway videos all the time, but I was looking to see what he would do differently — and it wasn’t much.
But months leading up to the show’s release, articles flooded my feed, showcasing multiple lawsuits coming MrBeast’s way from contestants of the show. After talking with the media, the contestants broke their nondisclosure agreement that he has talked about in the behind-the-scenes video from YouTuber Colin and Samir.
In those lawsuits, MrBeast was accused of negligence, a lack of consistent meals and sexual harassment. Several contestants were hospitalized, and many were not given adequate access to hygienic products or medical care, just to name a few, according to court documents from Variety. People say any publicity is good publicity, but in this aspect, it didn’t look great on MrBeast.
Though with all of the controversy surrounding MrBeast and the show, I still tuned into the episodes every Thursday from December up to the last episode on Thursday, Feb. 13 because I wanted to see the next step.
Coming in knowing that it would be a similar concept to competitions he has done in the past doesn’t leave me with the best taste in my mouth. For people wanting to watch the show, you had to pay $8.99 per month for Amazon Prime Video. Well, until MrBeast released episodes one through three on his second YouTube channel, MrBeast2. It’s not known yet if the remaining episodes will be released.
That aside, let’s get into the episodes.
I’ll hand it to MrBeast, I was on the edge of my seat each episode.
Known for pushing the limits of YouTube entertainment, he has once again delivered a spectacle with “Beast Games,” his most high-stakes competition yet. The series captured everything people love in competitions: intensity, drama and psychological challenge. And the first two episodes showed this right away.
The first two episodes released simultaneously on Dec. 19, and they put this notion right in front of us. Even through episode one, which was the shortest of the ten episodes, it provided us with the perfect start to get you hooked. With 1,000 players in one room battling it out to make it to Beast City — the town built specifically for under 500 people — you could see the raw emotion of people’s decisions.
Multiple players started taking money away from others after being bribed at most $100,000 after only knowing them for an hour. And this was a consistent theme throughout the whole show.
From gut-wrenching eliminations at the last second to twists that blindsided the contestants, the cruelty was the very thing that made the show so compelling.
Take, for example, the “Hope You Can Catch” challenge in episode two which seemed simple at first but quickly turned mentally exhausting and emotionally devastating. A red ball was dropped from the ceiling and started to bounce around until finding a hole to plummet to the ground; all you had to do was catch it. But they struggled, with one team losing on the first drop.
One of the biggest components that kept me entertained was episode seven, “The Elimination Train.” The episode was based on the trolley problem game where you either sacrifice one person to save a larger number or vice versa. At this point only 21 players remained, so the contestants had made friends, but that friendship was put to the test.
You saw the thought of betrayal when their friends were trotted out most likely to be eliminated. One player had the decision to either save random people, their closest ally or even a brand new Lamborghini and Tesla.
But the biggest storyline came at the end of the show when two players were remaining — Jeff (player 830) and Twana (player 831). Both could’ve been eliminated from episode one if either chose to be bribed by the thousands of dollars thrown their way. But both stuck through highs and lows and after 998 people were eliminated, it was up to the final two.
Episode ten was one of the best-edited episodes of the show, pulling on the emotional strings and showing what both contestants were playing for. The music, shot selection and lead-up had me in a trance watching to see which one would win. While I won’t spoil who won and invite you to watch it for yourself, the ending was heartbreaking and made me shed a tear when their family ran out.
Whether you like MrBeast or entertainment shows like this, I suggest taking a swing at it and see if you get the same reactions as I did. MrBeast — after all that transpired before the release, you made a good show and I can’t wait for a potential season two.
