NEW YORK (AP) — YouTube's biggest star MrBeast is facing complaints about the safety of contestants from the preliminary round of his ambitious “Beast Games" game show, which boasts 1,000 competitors hoping for a $5 million grand prize.
Some contestants complained online and to other YouTube influencers that they lacked regular access to food, water and medication during early production at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and that some competitors were injured during the production.
A spokesperson for MrBeast said his team is reviewing the process and soliciting attendees’ feedback ahead of the next phase of production in Toronto.
The stakes for “Beast Games” aren't just high for the contestants, but for MrBeast himself, whose real name Jimmy Donaldson, as well as the recipients of his brand of “stunt philanthropy" that often entails direct gifts of cash or even houses. The complaints about the “Beast Games” production coincide with Donaldson’s acknowledgement this week that he used racial and homophobic slurs years ago in recordings he made as a teenager.
The show, which has already been picked up by Amazon Prime Video to air in 240 countries, is part of Donaldson's cultural expansion beyond YouTube — where his channel has 307 million subscribers, including countless young consumers who already purchase his Feastables line of candy or the burgers that bear his name.
“My goal is to make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms,” Donaldson said in a March press release from Amazon.
Donaldson’s companies cast 2,000 people to take part in an initial tryout of sorts at Allegiant Stadium in July, with 1,000 of them presumably advancing to the actual show. Amazon Prime Video was not involved and did not respond to a request for comment.
A MrBeast spokesperson said Friday that the promotional video shoot was “unfortunately complicated” by extreme weather, the widespread CrowdStrike outage that wreaked global technological havoc and “other unexpected logistical and communications issues.”
We “have taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience and we are excited to welcome hundreds of men and women to the world’s largest game show in history,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
MrBeast offered eliminated contestants $1,000 upon leaving the competition and the spokesperson said most of those who remain in contention are ready to keep going.
Some contestants expected challenges similar to those from the dystopian Netflix show “Squid Game,” a fictional series — and eventual reality game show — where deeply indebted people compete for millions in high-stakes children’s games.
The Associated Press reached out to several contestants about “Beast Games,” but most either did not respond or declined to speak on the record because they had signed nondisclosure agreements.
Scott Leopold, a 53-year-old father from Austin, Texas, told the AP he thought he was competing in the actual “Beast Games,” not a precursor to the show. He said he felt deceived about his chances of winning and that the competition in Las Vegas would not stream on Amazon Prime Video.
He said that Donaldson should not be “villainized” but added that “an apology would go a long way.”
“All I can conclude is that he was in over his head,” Leopold said. “There were too many people, and I don’t think he knew how to handle the situation.”
Nancy Libby, a Navy veteran from California who said she was one of the last people eliminated, told AP that she applied after seeing a casting call on Facebook. Her daughters watch MrBeast videos, she said, and she’d already planned to take off work anyway.
On-set conditions met her expectations. Libby said she was instructed by recruiters beforehand to watch previous MrBeast challenges to gain some understanding of the experience. Because of that, she said, she was unsurprised by meals of oatmeal and nights spent sleeping on the floor.
Libby said that “crowd control” was an issue at times and that more staffing could help ensure competitors do not injure their counterparts. But Libby said the MrBeast team appeared to take safety seriously and that she only witnessed rude behavior from outside contractors.
“Sometimes when you run things that are first of their kind, things come up that you can’t foresee,” Libby said. “I think that the template was there for a really good competition.”
MrBeast has also previously had some contentious relationships with its contractors. One of Donaldson’s companies sued and then was countersued by a vendor they worked with on the “MrBeast Burger" that got widely panned.
Fans have also previously complained about not receiving merchandise they ordered from MrBeast or receiving the wrong items or wrong sizes. A vendor working with MrBeast to ship some of those orders acknowledged in an online post last year that they’d let the fan down.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
FILE - Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTube video maker who goes by MrBeast, wears a Lionel Messi jersey as he stands in a sideline box at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and CF Montreal, March 10, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. MrBeast is facing complaints about the safety of contestants from the preliminary rounds of his ambitious “Beast Games" game show, which boasts 1,000 competitors hoping for a $5 million grand prize. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kevin Willard deadpanned that — no, he hadn't heard the laundry list of complaints lodged against him by Maryland fans and former players and, well, the list goes on — that he threw his program under the bus and then happily got behind the wheel to steamroll over their carcass all while the Terrapins made a run to the Sweet 16.
But yes, Willard confessed, he was generally aware of the consensus sentiment that he used Maryland as just a pawn to get whatever it was he wanted at a traditional power such as Villanova.
So perhaps Willard knew Maryland alumnus and ESPN star Scott Van Pelt went scorched earth on him and said, among many criticisms levied, “you don’t do damage to the university and program where you’ve been for three years.” So perhaps Willard heard Jimmy's Famous Seafood — the self-proclaimed home of “ the world's greatest crabcakes!" — stuck snakehead bites on the menu in honor (honor?) of the former Maryland coach with all proceeds donated to Maryland's name, likeness and image efforts. Or that all-time Terrapins great Len Elmore said he was weary of ”mercenary coaches" who played the school like fiddles.
Yeah, it's a long list of unhappy Terrapins.
And the damage done was ... nothing.
Willard landed at a Villanova program — that while foundered for three seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance under former coach Kyle Neptune — still has elite status within reach with deep NIL coffers and a whopping payout ahead courtesy of the proposed upcoming House settlement. Maryland forged ahead by plucking Buzz Williams away from Texas A&M. He has also coached at Virginia Tech, Marquette and New Orleans. One could argue another mercenary coach in it for the payday.
Williams bounced on to a new gig. Just like Willard. Just like so many successful coaches in March — consider, there are two of four coaches already who won a game in the tournament — and have moved on to a new, presumably better job with deeper pockets.
Willard understands why he caught some heat.
He publicly campaigned — pleaded, really — during Maryland’s run to the Sweet 16 for more from the university and athletic department for his Big Ten program.
More of everything — “fundamental changes,” he called them — that really came down to more money, so much more, being funneled into basketball. Willard wanted Maryland to share its plan for revenue sharing with athletes and questioned how the Terrapins could ever be a “top tier” program as the race in college sports to outspend for players and all the adjacent bells and whistles nearly rivals professional levels.
“I think some of my comments during the NCAA Tournament probably could have been a little bit less abrasive,” Willard said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, sometimes when my passion for my program, my passion for my players comes out, I get a little excited. The only thing I'm going to say is, normal fans just don't understand what went on.”
And for those at Maryland with hurt feelings, “I just think it’s time everyone moves on.”
In fairness, it's been two or three days.
Willard expressed concerns with the direction of Maryland’s program on the eve of the Terps’ opening game in the NCAA Tournament. He had not signed an extension before the tournament, a matter complicated when Maryland athletic director Damon Evans bolted the program for the same job at SMU.
“Everything I said during the press conference was because I loved Maryland. I was very passionate about my job,” Willard said. “Very simply, all I wanted to do was try to get the best for my players and best for the program. I'm going to do the same thing here at Villanova. My comments were just about having an opportunity to try to make Maryland the best program we could make it.”
He should get what he needs at a program that was a perennial Final Four contender and won two national championships under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright.
A court settlement that would require colleges — for the first time — to pay athletes billions for their play is set for approval next week. Many schools have said that most of the up to $20.5 million they’ll pay out to their athletes as part of the $2.8 billion House settlement would go to football and men’s basketball players.
At Villanova and other Big East programs, the bulk of that war chest is going to men’s basketball.
“If you understand the House settlement and cap space and all that stuff, I think the Big East is really situated in a unique situation where they’re probably never going to have to worry about the cap,” Willard said. “I think football conference schools or football-centric conferences are going to run into the fact that if you have $16 million to football, you only have a $3 million cap. The Big East you just don’t have that issue.”
Willard said all the right things about fitting in on his first few days on the job. He watched the women’s team play in a postseason tournament and met with the men’s team while they played in Las Vegas in the College Basketball Crown. Willard schmoozed with donors, worked the transfer portal and — like any new employee at a company — filled out HR paperwork.
He even tipped his cap to the “special culture” created within the program by Wright, threw his support behind the Big 5, and was professionally polite by saying he wanted to build on what “Kyle and his staff” has done over the last three years.
Yet, he acknowledged, it was time after three seasons without the tournament at Villanova to “get everyone excited again, get everyone engaged again.”
Wright endorsed Willard — his long-time Big East rival while Willard coached at Seton Hall — and former Wildcats openly supported the new coach on the Main Line. Josh Hart, a 2016 national champion with Villanova who now plays with the New York Knicks, also said Willard was the right coach for the Wildcats.
“I hated playing against him because he was a hell of a competitor, had a tough team, a physical team,” Hart said. “He's going to bring that back to Nova. Super excited to have him at the helm. Nova Nation should be excited. He's for sure that good. He's had success everywhere he's been. The way his teams fight, play, compete, that's what you want.”
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this story.
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Maryland head coach Kevin Willard reacts during the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament game against Florida, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Maryland head coach Kevin Willard reacts from the sideline during the second half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament game against Florida, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
