The Background Of The Beast Games
On March 18, 2024, Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, the owner of YouTube’s top subscribed channel with over 431 million followers, announced that he has inked a deal with Amazon MGM Studios worth $100 million to produce a reality television series for their streamer Amazon Prime Video. Two months later, the casting call for the brand new show Beast Games was announced, as well as MrBeast himself serving as the competition’s host and executive producer, with the series getting renewed by Prime Video for two more seasons shortly after the debut announcement.
The competition itself was inspired by the hit television series Squid Game, as well as MrBeast’s own viral YouTube video “$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!”, which was directly based on the popular Netflix series, and had an overall $3,5 million budget. In comparison, Beast Games' first season’s budget was $100 million.
The first season of Beast Games ended up breaking multiple Guinness World Records, overall - 44. Amongst those records was the largest physical cash prize on set, which initially was $5 million, and later doubled to $10 million. Season 1 of Beast Games also set records for the most prize money turned down on a competitive reality TV show, the largest prize fund awarded for a competitive reality TV show, and the most money won in a single episode of a competitive reality TV show, among many more.
The Games Of The Beast Games
With an extensive variety of challenges and rules planned to test both physical and psychological aptitude, the main themes of the first season of Beast Games were financial temptations and strategic decision-making. Even before the games formally began, MrBeast offered all of the confirmed 2,000 contestants the opportunity to eliminate themselves in exchange for a cash prize. 52 of them took the offer and left the competition before it even began, with $19,230 in their pocket.
The first six episodes of the Beast Games featured at least three different challenges, covering different segments and different locations, with the competition taking contestants from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Toronto, Canada, and even uninhabited La Vivienda Island in the Pearl Islands, Panama.
As the participant count significantly lowered, final episodes featured fewer challenges per segment, with the finale starting off with the final six. By the final challenge, only two participants remained and had to flip a coin to decide who would choose first from a table with overall 10 briefcases, nine empty, one with $10 million inside it. Jeffrey Allen chose the right briefcase on the first try, winning the first Beast Games.
Allen planned to use part of his prize to fund research into the creatine transponder deficiency of a rare condition that affects his youngest son.
The first season of Beast Games became the most viewed Amazon Prime Video unscripted series yet, gathering 50 million viewers worldwide over the course of its first 25 days.
How To Join Beast Games
Season 2 of Beast Games has already wrapped its production, which took place from July to August 2025.
The requirements for candidates to participate in Beast Games are rather simple, including being at least 18 years old, being eligible to travel internationally, and being available for extended periods, appropriately six weeks, of time for the filming of the reality show.
Hopeful participants can already enter their personal information at the official submission website to be among the first to receive information when they are opened again. With Season 3 of the reality competition series already confirmed, it should happen in the upcoming months.
