MrBeast has responded to allegations that his upcoming Amazon reality TV series "shamelessly exploited" its contestants, insisting he has the footage to show they were "blown out of proportion."
In September, MrBeast, the biggest YouTube channel on the platform with more than 300 million subscribers, and Amazon were sued by contestants of the Beast Games competition show who alleged sexual harassment and "chronic mistreatment."
Five unnamed participants of the show, which pits 1,000 contestants against each other for a single cash prize of $5 million, have had a class action lawsuit filed against both MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, and Amazon over the alleged mistreatment.
According to the lawsuit, participants were not paid properly, experienced "emotional distress," did not receive uninterrupted meal breaks or rest breaks, and were deprived of medical care, food, sleep, and the necessities of basic hygiene. Female participants were allegedly subject to "a hostile work environment."
While the 26-year-old has yet to formally comment on the proceedings, MrBeast replied to a user on X / Twitter who asked about the allegations. "We have tons of behind the scenes dropping when the show does to show how blown out of proportion these claims were," MrBeast said. "Just can't release it now because it would spoil the games."
Beast Games was announced in March as "the biggest reality competition" of all time. It aims to turn MrBeast's regular YouTube formula of having strangers compete for grand prizes into a series for Amazon's Prime Video platform.
Here's a little teaser for Beast Games! I spent over a year creating this 10 episode competition series, breaking 40 world records, building the craziest sets in entertainment history, featuring 1,000 players, and a $5,000,000 grand prize! I poured everything I have into this… pic.twitter.com/cjStGESIcn
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) November 25, 2024
"While participants knew upon signing the contract at the production’s inception that they were facing a potentially long and challenging competition, they allege getting a lot more than they bargained for," lawyers representing the plaintiffs said.
"Several contestants [ended] up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions."
Undeterred, MrBeast released a teaser trailer for the series, while admitting his recent YouTube videos had "def suffered a bit from me filming this show/spending a bajillion hours on it.”
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
