A new YouTuber is trying to recreate one of the internet’s most talked-about early challenges but with a small twist. Nearly nine years after MrBeast’s famous counting video helped launch his career, creator Lets Test Laurence has started a live stream where he is counting all the way to 100,001. The idea is simple: go one number beyond what MrBeast did back in 2017 and see if people watch the journey live.
MrBeast’s original video, uploaded in January 2017, showed him counting from one to 100,000 in a marathon recording that lasted close to 24 hours after edits. That video later crossed tens of millions of views and became one of the early moments that pushed his channel into the spotlight. According to MrBeast’s recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he said the process was less serious than it looked, explaining that he watched shows while counting instead of staring at a wall the whole time.
Lets Test Laurence follows MrBeast’s counting challenge with 100,001 live attempt
Now, Lets Test Laurence is trying to add his own version to the idea. He began streaming on February 13 and planned to count for around 40 hours to reach 100,001.
Unlike MrBeast’s pre-recorded video, this challenge is happening live, meaning viewers can watch every moment as it happens.
At the latest update, Laurence had streamed for over 24 hours and reached around 40,000 while a small group of viewers watched along. The audience has stayed steady even though the stream is long and slow-paced.
The attempt is clearly meant as a tribute to MrBeast’s early stunt, but it also shows how different today’s YouTube world is, where live streaming and endurance content still attract curious viewers.
Many people recall MrBeast's counting video as the pivotal point that influenced his subsequent challenge-style material.
Though his videos got bigger and more complex over time, many fans still view the counting challenge as the beginning of everything.
Whether Laurence will actually finish counting to 100,001 is still unclear.
During the stream, he even wondered out loud if he could keep going, showing how mentally tough such a simple idea can become after many hours.
