Viewers have reported feeling ill after watching the new Amazon Prime Video series Beast Games, which, despite its colossal £79,600,000 budget, has received a shockingly poor reception with a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 17 per cent.
The game show, the first of its kind for YouTube mogul MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, promises the largest cash prize in TV history, £3,980,000, along with lavish prizes including a private island, Lamborghinis, and millions more in cash throughout the competition.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur invested £11,950,000 to build Beast City in Toronto, Canada, creating a battleground for only the top 493 contestants. The series challenges participants with intense moral dilemmas, such as accepting bribes that could eliminate their entire group, adding a brutal twist to the competition.
In the second episode, for instance, four team captains were offered $1 million each to eliminate their entire teams—an offer none of the captains took.
The third episode escalated the tension as teams of three were confined to big red cubicles and given five hours to decide whom to eliminate.
Critics have not held back their disdain. Stuart Heritage of the Guardian wrote: “True, there is something weirdly compelling about Beast Games, but it is compelling in the same way that picking a scab is. It exists solely to show us the worst of the human condition, as obnoxiously as possible.”
Despite the harsh reviews, MrBeast remains optimistic about the show’s impact, telling Amazon: “My goal is to make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms.
“Amazon gave me the creative control I need to try and make it happen. I hope to make the YouTube community proud.”
Viewer reactions have been mixed but generally more positive, with an audience score of 74 percent.
Comments from viewers range from “I just watched Beast Games episode 1 & I literally feel sick to my stomach,” to more enthusiastic feedback like: “I watched the first two episodes of Beast Games and I gotta say; we live in a blessed timeline. This is literally the largest game show/psychological experiment ever mustered in human history and no one else could have put it together but Mr Beast. VERY hype to see how it ends.”
Controversies surrounding the show’s production have also surfaced, with allegations of “inhumane” conditions and insufficient wages before its release, which MrBeast has said were “blown out of proportion”.
The Ontario Labour Ministry is also investigating an alleged industrial accident that occurred on the set, after reports cited an incident on September 11, 2024, at a Toronto filming site.
A 6×6-foot piece of wood is believed to have fallen from a constructed tower in a miniature village, and allegedley injured a crew member.
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