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YouTube’s biggest star MrBeast is facing complaints about the safety of contestants in the preliminary round of his ambitious Beast Games game show, which features 1,000 contestants vying for a US$5 million (S$6.6 million) grand prize.
Some contestants complained online and to other YouTube influencers that they were denied proper access to food, water and medication during early filming at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and that some contestants were injured during filming.
A spokesperson for MrBeast said his team is reviewing the entire process and seeking audience feedback before moving to the next stage of production in Toronto.
The stakes are high not only for the contestants, but also for Mr. Beast himself, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and the recipients of his brand of “stunt charity,” which often involves outright gifts of cash or even houses. The complaints about the production of Beast coincide with Donaldson’s admission this week that he used racial and homophobic slurs in recordings he made years ago as a teenager.
The show, which has been picked up by Amazon Prime Video to air in 240 countries, is part of Donaldson’s cultural expansion beyond YouTube, where his channel has 307 million subscribers, including countless young consumers who have bought his Feastables line of candies or the burgers that bear his name.
“My goal is to make the best show possible and prove that YouTubers and creators can be successful on other platforms,” Donaldson said in an Amazon news release in March.
Donaldson’s company selected 2,000 people for preliminary auditions at Allegiant Stadium in July, with 1,000 expected to make the final run. Amazon Prime Video was not involved and did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for MrBeast said Friday that the filming of the promotional video was “unfortunately complicated” by extreme weather, a global technology disaster caused by a massive CrowdStrike outage, and “other unexpected logistical and communications issues.”
We have “taken steps to ensure we learn from this experience and are delighted to welcome hundreds of men and women to the world’s largest game show ever,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
MrBeast offers eliminated contestants $1,000 when they leave the competition, and most of those remaining are prepared to continue, a spokesperson said.
Some contestants were looking forward to challenges similar to Netflix’s dystopian series Squidward Gone Wild, a fictional series about a – and the ultimate reality game show – Debt-ridden people compete in a high-stakes children’s game for millions of dollars.
The Associated Press contacted three contestants about the Beast game, but they either did not respond or declined to speak publicly because they signed nondisclosure agreements. A fourth contestant said he felt cheated by the game.
Scott Leopold, a 53-year-old father from Austin, Texas, told The Associated Press he thought he was competing in a real Beast game, not a prelude to the show. He said he felt cheated about his odds of winning and that the Las Vegas race would not be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
He said Donaldson should not be “demonised” but added that “an apology would go a long way”.
“I can only conclude that he had gotten himself into a corner,” Leopold said. “There were too many people, and I don’t think he knew how to handle the situation.”
MrBeast has had its share of run-ins with contractors before. One of Donaldson’s companies sued a supplier they worked with to make MrBeast burgers, and then they countersued, with the supplier being widely criticized.
Fans have previously complained about not receiving items they ordered from MrBeast, or receiving the wrong item or the wrong size. Last year, a supplier that worked with MrBeast to ship some orders admitted in an online post that they had let fans down.
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