MrBeast's Team Responds To Grim Allegations Against Beast Games

MrBeast's team has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the YouTuber's upcoming Amazon Prime show "Beast Games." The show will feature 1,000 contestants competing for $5 million in prize money, but after MrBeast held a preliminary event in Las Vegas with 2,000 contestants, people started making serious allegations about the TV series. Reports of dangerous filming conditions started coming out in late July, and the MrBeast team gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on August 2.

MrBeast's spokesperson identified several different issues that affected the shoot, saying it "was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues, which we are currently reviewing." They went on to talk about the 1,000 contestants who qualified for the next stage of filming in Toronto, saying, "We are grateful that virtually all of those invited to Toronto for our next production have enthusiastically accepted our invitation."

According to MrBeast's representative, the team isn't trying to simply push past the concerns about "Beast Games." They apparently began a formal review process that involved reaching out to the 2,000 contestants in the Las Vegas shoot. So far, they've heard back from 97% of the contestants, and they say, "[We] have taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience." Hopefully, the experience in Toronto will be better than it was in Las Vegas, but not everyone is satisfied with the statement that MrBeast's team made.

Certainly, some fans wanted to hear about this issue from MrBeast directly, but statements from his team are becoming a bit more common. When resurfaced MrBeast videos caused a stir near the end of July, it was his team that sent out the apology. Considering the scale of "Beast Games" and the number of people involved in the production, it's not too surprising that we've gotten a general response rather than a direct statement from MrBeast.

The response itself didn't touch on any of the concerning stories that have been coming out of the "Beast Games" Las Vegas shoot. YouTuber Rosanna Pansino -– who previously criticized MrBeast, claiming that he'd edited her appearance in his "Creator Games 3" video -– shared messages she was getting from some upset "Beast Games" contestants on her YouTube channel. The contestants claimed they were denied food and water and that some people had their medications withheld while filming, sometimes for 12 hours at a time. Other reports touched on a number of contestants who were sent to the hospital after sustaining injuries on the show. MrBeast's team has yet to say what exactly they've learned from the shoot and what changes they'll be making to their own processes when the show continues in Toronto. That's something that MrBeast's fans, not to mention the contestants themselves, are going to want to hear about.

This "Beast Games" story is just the latest in a string of controversies that are plaguing MrBeast and his YouTube empire. People are still wrapping their heads around the Ava Kris Tyson controversy, where a longtime friend and collaborator of MrBeast was accused of exchanging inappropriate messages with underage fans. The internet is also digging into claims that MrBeast fakes his videos, even as attention is starting to turn toward "Beast Games." The statement from MrBeast's team about the show was meant to assuage concerns, but many people aren't buying it.

i've been kinda critical of Mr. Beast's game show videos for a while and this just feels like the obvious consequence of what he's been doing

Putting people less well off than himself through torturous challenges in exchange for a large monetary prize was always insane https://t.co/UbXN4HZNjN

— Ary (@DetectiveAry) August 3, 2024

Some people are applying the concerns about "Beast Games" to MrBeast's entire approach to creating content based around making people compete for money. They seem to think an issue like this was almost inevitable.

I turn on my phone, first thing I get is Mr. Beast denying stuff that happened in the Beast games was his fault, no matter what as a game show host you should be fully aware fo whats going on. Its not anyone elses fault for negligence besides your own.

— Byleth summoner (@BylethSummoner) August 3, 2024

Others are in the "We need to hear from MrBeast himself" camp. The size of the "Beast Games" production is massive, but they argue that ultimately the buck stops with MrBeast.

This guy is one of the nicest people on the Internet, stop attacking him for pathetic reasons.

— Felix (@FelixLysander) August 4, 2024

Not everyone is turning on MrBeast over the "Beast Games" story, however. They point to all the good that MrBeast has undoubtedly done, and they see this latest issue as a mistake that any creator could make when massively scaling up their usual formula. Regardless of how people feel, they'll be watching the next phase of "Beast Games" with way more attention than they gave to the initial Las Vegas shoot.