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Contestants on YouTuber MrBeast’s new game show, Beast Games, say they are being underfed and deprived of adequate medical care.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, recently became the most popular YouTuber in the world.
He is known for putting together outrageous stunts that offer significant cash prizes.
In March, he announced he was teaming up with Amazon MGM Studios to create a reality competition show called Beast Games. The show promises the winner a prize of $5m, the biggest prize in streaming and television history.
Thousands of fans signed up to compete on the show, with 2,000 being selected to compete in Nevada at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. This number will be whittled down to 1,000 who will compete in the televised event.
Competitors were aware of MrBeast’s previous content, and the risks they could be expected to face in order to win. They also signed liability waivers, acknowledging that the “activities may cause me death, illness, or serious bodily injury, including, but not limited to exhaustion, dehydration, overexertion, burns, and heat stroke.” This sort of language is reportedly commonplace in reality television contracts.
However, The New York Times reports that competitors now say they have not received adequate food or medical care.
“We signed up for the show, but we didn’t sign up for not being fed or watered or treated like human beings,” one contestant told The Times on the condition of anonymity, as they had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
One meal, described to The Times by several different contestants, consisted of a small portion of cold oatmeal, a few pieces of raw vegetables and a single hard-boiled egg.
Contestants reported being fed these small meals twice a day, although a spokesperson for MrBeast maintained they had been offered three meals a day.
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“We were treated horribly,” one contestant said. “They took on this challenge of 2,000 competitors. They should have known they needed an enormous crew to handle this correctly.”
Several contestants said that they had sought out production staff for assistance with medical care, food and hygiene issues, only to find that staff members were unhelpful and seemed to be disorganized.
The Independent has approached MrBeast for comment.
Earlier this week, Donaldson acknowledged his use of “inappropriate language” in his early online days after clips from 2017 podcasts that included racist and sexist comments resurfaced.
“When Jimmy was a teenager he acted like many kids and used inappropriate language while trying to be funny,” a spokesperson for the YouTuber said in a statement to the Associated Press.
“Over the years he has repeatedly apologised and has learned that increasing influence comes with increased responsibility to be more aware and more sensitive to the power of language.”
Mr Beast has 307m subscribers on YouTube and over 103m on TikTok. According to Forbes, Donaldson’s net worth was estimated to be around $500m (£392m) in 2022.
