Monster of the Week: MrBeast

‘Media literacy is dead’ is a phrase often thrown around to describe how modern audiences engage with film, television, and books. People say that younger audiences are unable to fully engage with the true messaging of what they consume, and instead misinterpret it. Still, you would think that after watching Netflix’s hit show Squid Game, your first thought would not be: ‘wouldn’t it be great if somebody ACTUALLY made Squid Game?’

You see, in Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson’s eyes, since he isn’t actually killing anyone, he’s alright. It’s not incredibly surprising that the guy who became famous by filming himself counting to 100,000 isn’t the most creatively nuanced individual. When your whole career has been built on lowest-common-denominator content, it’s no shock that you might misinterpret even the most obvious allegories.

MrBeast is the hyper-capitalist figure that the American Dream for the internet age was always destined to create. Jimmy was prepared to count to 100,000 for fame and money, and he seems unable to understand why everyone else is not. Arthur Miller would be rubbing his hands at even the idea of this guy.

YouTube’s real-time analytics determine whether your creative endeavour has been “successful” (has made the most money), pushing for content geared towards becoming the most efficient, profit-driven product imaginable. Given that MrBeast has always created lowest-common-denominator content designed to break through algorithms, it was somewhat surprising when he turned to television with his hit show Beast Games.

Jimmy signed a deal reportedly worth $100 million with Amazon Prime Video to produce his new show Beast Games, which sees a group of contestants compete for $5 million through a variety of challenges. The format is not exactly groundbreaking; not only is it essentially a repackaging of the content MrBeast has been producing for the past decade, but it also echoes numerous game shows that have come before it.

In Beast Games, the contestants are gradually whittled down until only one remains, through challenges that test their character, strength, and intellect. Essentially, it is like Ninja Warrior if it had a slightly higher budget and, instead of the lovable Chris Kamara commentating, you had a man who only recently learned how to show emotion.

But no one is content with being just a game show anymore. Jimmy is also determined to prove to us that he is some kind of philosopher for our times, exposing humanity’s inner workings in a Stanford prison experiment-esque psychological study. His show asks the biggest questions humanity has to offer: ‘Would you steal $1 million?’, ‘Would you betray your friends for $1 million?’, and, of course, ‘Is it better to be smart or strong?’, a question I feel has already been answered by most American high school comedies.

Nothing highlights the philosophical nature of the show better than when we are treated to the ‘real life trolley problem’, where contestants are asked to pick between other contestants getting eliminated and prizes that include, but are not limited to, a Lamborghini.

Of course, this is not really what the infamous trolley problem is about. The whole purpose of the thought experiment is to have the trolley already going in one direction, and have the subject save more lives by diverting its course. This raises a moral dilemma over determinism and whether it is wrong to save lives by killing someone who was not supposed to die.

Rather, if the trolley problem was actually interested in humanity, it would posit whether you want a LAMBORGHINI or some people you have never met to go home empty-handed. But who doesn’t want to see a collection of us ‘normal people’ fight for scraps in front of the evil overlord MrBeast? We are his entertainment as much as he is ours. The clear influence that dystopian fiction has had on him is, regrettably, hilarious.

His more troubling qualities don’t stop there, however, as there was also the Beast Games class action lawsuit in 2024, which included allegations of sexual harassment, a lack of medical care, unpaid wages, and a lack of food on set. Not to worry though, as it turns out that was all just sensationalist journalism, as Jimmy himself clarified: “I’ve personally talked to 700–800 contestants, they all want to come back, they all had a great time.”

Well, isn’t that great? Never mind the fact that it must surely not be possible to personally talk to 800 contestants about their experiences on the show, is it really the best response to serious allegations to go ‘well the other guys loved it!’?

MrBeast is here to stay, and his pivot to evil TV gameshow host really cannot be all that surprising. Even better, we’ve all got his transition into Presidential candidate to look forward to, so let’s just hope he hasn’t seen The Purge.