MrBeast was forced to put out literal and figurative fires over the weekend after one fiery stunt in a YouTube video sparked concern from fans online.
The content creator, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, uploaded his latest video on Saturday, which was titled, “Would You Risk Dying For $500,000?,” and saw one contestant face a number of blazing “death traps” in an attempt to nab a cash prize.
The footage opened up with Donaldson asking the contestant, a stuntman named Eric, if he’d be willing to “risk burning alive” in the quest to earn half a million dollars.
After the contestant agreed to the challenge, he escaped being tied to a chair while a room burned down. The video also boasted several other stunts, including shooting someone out of a canon into fire.
It didn’t take long for the video to spread like wildfire, with many voicing their safety concerns for the contestant.
In response to the growing criticism, MrBeast issued statements on both YouTube and X. Specifically, in a pinned comment on the video — which has over 50 million views at the time of writing — the social media star promised fans that “we take safety extremely seriously.”
“Every challenge was tested by multiple stuntmen, we have a full rescue team on standby with firefighters, EMTs and divers equipped with an ambulance and fire truck,” he continued. “We also had a pyro team controlling the fires and multiple fire suppression methods on every challenge to ensure we could essentially turn off the fire if there was ever an issue.”
Donaldson went on to praise the production’s stunt coordinator and noted that they didn’t need to utilize any of the aforementioned safety systems.
He expressed a similar sentiment on X on Sunday, where he shared his surprise at how the video “blew up,” especially regarding the safety concerns.
“If you’re curious obviously we had ventilation for the smoke and a kill switch to cut off the fires,” he added. “We had professionals test this extensively and the guy in the video as stated is a professional stunt man. I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine.”
The video has prompted mixed responses from fans, with some applauding the stunt man’s skill and others comparing the challenge to Netflix’s “Squid Game” — which MrBeast (sort of) brought to life in a 2021 video.
For the record, Eric emerged from the stunts seemingly unscathed and with $350,000 in prize money.
