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Youtuber MrBeast’s reality show will still air despire the fact he is being sued by the contestants who took part.
When the show was first announced in March, the 26-year-old star, who is the biggest YouTuber in the world, told his 29 million followers on X that the series was ‘insane’. Declaring the new series as “the biggest reality competition series ever”, he wrote that it is ‘big news’ for gamers.
The new show, which had been picked up by Amazon Prime Video to air in 240 countries, was part of Donaldson’s cultural expansion beyond YouTube – where his channel has 307 million subscribers. It was billed as seeing 1,000 contestants compete for a $5 million cash prize (around £4 million) – the largest giveaway in streaming and television history.
In a case filed against sued the production companies involved in the show, which include Donaldson and Amazon, at a Los Angeles court on Monday September 16 participants alleged they weren’t paid, were subjected to unsafe conditions and experienced sexual harassment during filming.
In the legal papers, parts of which have been redacted and uploaded by Variety, five anonymous contestants have brought claims on behalf of everyone who took part.
Attorneys for the anonymous Beast Games contestants said in a statement about the lawsuit: “While participants knew upon signing the contract at the production’s inception that they were facing a potentially long and challenging competition, they allege getting a lot more than they bargained for.
“Several contestants ending up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions.”
Amazon declined to comment on the situation at the time the lawsuit was filed, while representatives for MrBeast have also declined to comment. Also named in the papers is a production company, Off One’s Base LLP, but they have been unable to be contacted.
At the time, it was unclear if the show would still be aired. But, now Amazon have confirmed a release date for the controversial show. The competition series is set to debut weekly from Thursday December 19, and will indeed be shown on Prime Video across more than 240 countries.
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