Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, ridged the gap from youtube sensation to show creator and star on Dec.18, 2024 with the release of his new game show “Beast Games”. MrBeast is known for his insane YouTube videos, giving out stupendous amounts of money, and doing crazy challenges. When Prime Video went to MrBeast with the idea of having his own game show, he jumped right on it and was fully on board shown in a behind the scene video on the YouTube channel Samir and Colin. Before this, no YouTubers had this type of chance to have their own mainstream show, so MrBeast knew that it would have to be a hit. If the show flopped, everyone would know that YouTubers should stick to publishing content on YouTube, but if the show was a success it could open a whole new gateway for YouTubers to expand. He knew the significance of the show, so he went big, having 1,000 contestants which is the most of any non scripted reality show and he stated in the show that this is the biggest ever grand prize of five million dollars.
To start the show off and get every viewer’s attention he made one of the biggest sets ever to fit all of the 1,000 contestants in one room.This set was 77,000 square feet, encompassing three hangars. The set featured trap doors beneath each contestant, which would open to eliminate them from the competition.’ He positioned the five million dollars in the middle and was standing on it as all of the contestants came in. He told the contestants that even before the first game starts in the show, he is going to give away one million dollars to anyone who wanted to leave. All of the people who took the bribe would be out and will split the cash prize. The reason that MrBeast wanted to give away all of this money so early in the show was to prove that his show is going to be different from others. He also almost mocked other shows that the grand prize in their whole production is being given away in the first 30 seconds. This sets the tone for the rest of the series showing the viewers how crazy it is going to be.. As things got moving more and more, people got out and as a viewer it is a neat addition seeing the contestants getting dropped from the trap doors under them when they got out.The set featured trap doors beneath each contestant, which would open to eliminate them from the competition. I found this really interesting because so many people got out so fast and there were still so many contestants left. One of the big things this show advertised was the “Beast City” that the contestants were going to stay in. This city was constructed for more than 14 million dollars and was designed to fit over 1,000 people in it.
MrBeast and his team aimed to create a show that had the polish and production value of a professional TV program, rather than the informal style often associated with YouTube content. MrBeast wanted to make heroes and villains in the show, so that is what he did. In the second episode, a competition emerged that created four major heroes. Jimmy divided the contestants into four large teams, each of which had to choose a captain. After they elected their captain they went on top of the town to find out the challenge. There was a button in front of the contestants and behind them there was a count with money rising up rapidly. The rules of this game was that the first person to press the button won the money but in return your whole team would be out. As time passed, none of the four captains pressed the button. Even when the timer stopped at one million dollars, no one took the offer. As the challenge ended the captains were celebrating with their teams as they did not take them out of the game for the bribe. This action from their captains made it so that the people on their teams almost owe them something and as if there was a debt towards them. These four contestants were big heroes for the rest of the show and idolized by people on their team.
Now looking at one of the biggest villains of the show: the Habibi Brothers Karim and Hazim.Their villainous behavior began in the second competition when they bullied an older woman into quitting the game, showing no remorse for their actions. After this, they were known as a big threat in the game and always had a big target on their backs. They were both very cut-throat in all the games and dominated most of them. When both brothers lost a game of trivia, all the contestants celebrated as they had eliminated two major competitors. They praised the people that got them out and are happy that such a big threat of the game is out.
As the show progressed, one of the biggest prizes was introduced: a $1.9 million island. Contestants could choose to compete for this prize or opt to stay safe and continue in the regular game.After the contestants who picked to fight for the private island were on it they were told that they had five minutes to hide before five Navy Seals came to find them. All of the constans rubbed mud all over their faces to blend in to the muddy tropical island. After this challenge was over they had a couple more eliminations to get the contestants on the island down to the final two people.
MrBeast’s final challenge was for the contestants to choose a different briefcase, and if you get the one with the check in it you won the whole island. This moment was very suspenseful and was definitely a very important moment in the show. The person who won was Mia Speight or better known as Player 952.The show often ended episodes with massive cliffhangers. In this case, viewers had to wait a week to find out who won the island. This was a big criticism of the show and many people did not like it, yet it gave viewers a reason to continue watching.
Wrapping everything up, as the show came to an end, all of the contestants had a close connection but they all knew that they were going to have to break some of their friendships. As the challenges got more serious they got just as more cut throat. Right as the last six contestants were getting ready for the last couple of challenges, MrBeast offered them something that has never been done in history. He gave the contestants a chance to flip a coin; if the coin landed in their favor on tails, the prize pool doubles to ten million dollars. But if it did not, they are eliminated. After some convincing from his peers, Player 831 decided to take the chance and flip the coin. He called tails and flicked the coin in the air. As the coin tumbled in the air it was one of the most suspenseful moments of the show. The coin rolled on the and rested on tails. All of the contestants started to go crazy and celebrate as MrBeast was in shock after losing another five million dollars. After another two exhilarating challenges, it came down to the final two contestants. The final challenge had ten briefcases in a spinning circle and only one had the ten million dollar check in it. If you guess the wrong briefcase they would take away one briefcase at a time until one player guessed correctly. The opposite player could change what case the check is in and switch things around. Player 830 spun the wheel slowly as she chose where to put the check. Everyone on the set was not looking so no one could tip off the other contestants, so even the viewers didn’t know what was going to happen. This was so no one could tip off the constans and give them an upper hand. Now it is Player 831’s turn to try to guess where the check is. As he spun the wheel around, he was looking at the other contestants very closely to see if she would tip him off on anything. He slowly chosed his briefcase and locks it in telling her that this is the one. The briefcase files open as he tried to open it as the check is sitting inside. Everyone started to go crazy as Player 831 won the ten million dollars on his first guess. He jumped into the pile of money celebrating and jumping up and down. As his family comes out, he gets very emotional as he gave them a big hug. Once everyone started to calm down he thanked the other constant and is still in shock.
When looking over the whole show, I thought that it was a great success with stats like 50 million in 25 days for MrBeast and the YouTube community . This showed that a YouTuber can make an entertaining show that holds people’s attention and get them to watch more. Yet it is still not at the level of other more well known TV shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Overall, though the show was a big success, it will not take the spots of classic TV shows.
