Amazon Prime Video is one-upping “Squid Game: The Challenge” with its own massive reality competition show. “Beast Games” comes from influencer MrBeast and will follow 1,000 contestants competing for a prize of $5 million.
The upcoming series is based on MrBeast’s already successful YouTube show and seeks to become the biggest reality competition series ever. It certainly has the biggest cash payout in the history of both television and streaming. Netflix’s “Squid Game: The Challenge,” which previously held that record, followed 456 players competing for a prize of $4.56 million.
MrBeast will serve as the host and executive producer of the upcoming series. “Beast Games” will be a Prime Video exclusive and will be available to stream in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“MrBeast has captured the attention and imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life and all over the world,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, said in a press release. “We are excited to work with Jimmy and his talented team to bring his brilliant, high production and stakes-raising concepts to ‘Beast Games’ for our global customers to experience.”
“When MrBeast first told us about his concept for the show, we were blown away by his ambition to make ‘Beast Games’ the biggest reality competition series ever,” Vernon Sanders, head of television for Amazon MGM Studios, said in a press release. “We’d like to thank Aaron DeBevoise, Nic Paul and the Spotter team for the introduction and kickstarting this journey for us.”
“My goal is to make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms,” Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, said. “Amazon gave me the creative control I need to try and make it happen. I hope to make the YouTube community proud.”
Details about what the reality show will actually entail have yet to be released. But the influencer’s previous work may hold some clues about what the upcoming series may look like.
The YouTuber’s current channel is filled with an assortment of challenges for money. In one video, MrBeast pitted three Minecraft players against each other and told them that once they pressed a red button they could walk away with $100,000. The catch was players had no way of knowing which press of the button would lead to the cash prize, and every wrong button press led to them being assigned a tedious task such as finding a blue flower in a field of flowers. These challenges often rely on deliberately wasting player’s time in silly ways as they know there is a large cash at stake.
Donaldson has grown to become one of the most recognizable influencers YouTube has to offer. In November 2022, he became the most subscribed YouTube creator worldwide and currently has over 244 million subscribers.
The influencer is also behind the chocolate and snack company Feastables, the global charity organization Beast Philanthropy and the ghost kitchen empire MrBeast Burger. The latter business venture was shut down after the quality Virtual Dining Concepts provided failed to live up to the MrBeast brand. It resulted in a lawsuit from the creator in 2023.
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