Five contestants from a reality competition show hosted by MrBeast have initiated a class-action lawsuit against his production company and Amazon, alleging unpaid wages, dangerous working conditions, and exposure to a “culture of misogyny and sexism.”
The legal action was filed in a Los Angeles court by participants of “Beast Games,” a show on Amazon Prime Video that was released in March.
MrBeast, legally known as Jimmy Donaldson, had promoted the show as featuring “over 1,000 contestants, $5,000,000 in prizes, and numerous world records.”
A 54-page complaint outlines claims of “unreasonable, unsafe, and illegal employment conditions,” which allegedly resulted in hospitalizations for several contestants.
The plaintiffs report being infrequently and inadequately fed, along with lacking sufficient access to hygiene products and medical care.
The complaint includes allegations of sexual harassment, although many details of these claims were omitted from the public filing.
The filing highlights the show’s $100 million production budget and accuses the production of using an “illegal contract” and providing misleading information to Nevada to misclassify participants as volunteers, thereby securing tax benefits.
Consequently, the production allegedly received $2.5 million in incentives from Nevada for filming in Las Vegas.
A report by The New York Times last month covered allegations of risky conditions from anonymous contestants, describing instances of contestants being evacuated on stretchers, witnessing vomiting, fainting, and multiple hospitalizations.
A spokesperson for MrBeast commented to the Times that the shoot faced challenges from the CrowdStrike incident, adverse weather, and other unforeseen logistical and communication issues, and mentioned that a formal review of the series had been initiated.
“Beast Games” is touted as potentially the largest game show ever, with the highest number of contestants and the largest prize pool, a record currently held by Netflix’s “Squid Game: The Challenge.”
MrBeast ranks among YouTube’s top creators, boasting 245 million subscribers, with his videos regularly attracting over 100 million views, sometimes reaching close to half a billion.
Besides his stunt videos, Donaldson has also gained recognition for his distinctive approach to philanthropy.
Previous controversy emerged in early August regarding a 2017 video in which he responded to a viewer’s comment about “selling” Black people, to which he replied, “The most I would pay is probably 300.”
A spokesperson for MrBeast acknowledged that he had used “inappropriate language” in his humor.
