[ad_1]
Jimmy Donaldson is the fairy godmother of the internet.
Donaldson, 26, known online as MrBeast, is a philanthropic YouTube star who has attracted hundreds of millions of subscribers with sensational acts of charity, such as paying for cataract surgery for 1,000 people in an eight-minute video frivolously titled “1,000 Blind People See for the First Time.”
Big prizes have become his calling card. He gives away houses, cars, private islands and wads of cash. Often, the prizes take a dark twist: He once offered a man $10,000 a day to live in a grocery store. In his most popular video, “$456,000 for Squidward in Real Life!”, 456 people compete in a game show inspired by the dystopian Netflix series “Squidward.” (In the Netflix show, down-and-out contestants play deadly children’s games to win $38 million.)
In March, when Donaldson and Amazon MGM Studios announced “Beast Games,” a reality competition show modeled after MrBeast’s hit videos, thousands of people jumped at the chance, posting on Reddit about the application process and hoping to be accepted.
Prize money: $5 million.
Familiar with MrBeast’s content and the lengths to which the characters in the videos have to go in order to win, many expected the challenges to be outlandish and potentially risky.
During this year’s recruitment process, several contestants told The New York Times that they were asked if they would be willing to be buried alive or travel to outer space. One contestant recalled being asked if she could swim to shore if thrown overboard from a boat. A contract that applicants are required to sign, reviewed by The New York Times, includes a line that reads: “I understand that these activities may cause me death, illness, or serious bodily injury, including but not limited to exhaustion, dehydration, overexertion, burns, and heat stroke.” (Such language is common in reality TV contracts.)
However, they didn’t expect to encounter these mundane yet potentially dangerous inconveniences during the game.
A dozen participants in the first Beast Games told The New York Times they were not given adequate food and medical care, and that some contestants were injured as a result of the physical challenge. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements. (The event is being filmed for Donaldson’s YouTube channel to select contestants for the Amazon MGM show later this summer.)
One competitor said some competitors were carried off the field on stretchers, but it was unclear whether any of them had serious medical conditions. Another competitor described seeing other competitors vomiting and appearing to pass out. Several competitors were taken to hospitals.
A MrBeast spokesperson said in a text message that the shoot was “unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues.” The spokesperson said MrBeast has begun a formal review and is “taking steps to ensure we learn from this experience.” —The New York Times
[ad_2]
Source link
