MrBeast has just acquired his 100 millionth subscriber. To celebrate, he announces: "I bought this ginormous private island - and I'm giving it to one of you in this video!" Four challenges follow, including walking the plank on a pirate ship, in which 100 competitors are gradually whittled down.  

"This doesn't even feel real," declares the winner. "I think this is the craziest video you've ever done!" MrBeast is all smiles. "Congratulations," he says. "I'm so happy for you!"

This is the MrBeast his fans thought they knew: wacky, generous and enthusiastic. But a lawsuit which began this week offers a different view.

The controversy is over the biggest reality show in history. Beast Games has 2,000 contestants competing for a $5m (£3.7m) prize. MrBeast - whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson - is making it in conjunction with AmazonA large river and jungle in South America. Also the name of a US-based company that started off selling books online. It now sells almost any product and is expanding into futuristic computer technology..

The first round of the competition was filmed in Las VegasA city in the desert of Nevada, USA. It is known for its casinos and gambling culture. in July. The contestants lived, ate and slept in a sports stadium for several days. By the end of it half of them had been eliminated. Shortly afterwards The New York Times was told by some that it had been a distressing and sometimes dangerous experience.

On arrival at the stadium they had to hand in their phones and watches. They also gave their clean clothes and medication to staff, on the understanding that they could get them back when needed.

In their contracts they accepted that the challenges could "cause me death, illness, or serious bodily injury, including but not limited to exhaustion, dehydrationWhen the body does not have the water it needs., overexertion, burns and heat stroke". But agreements of this type are common for reality shows, and not many contestants can have believed that it would come to that.

Complaints included having to sleep on the floor and being badly fed. One meal consisted of a small helping of cold porridge, a hard-boiled egg and some raw vegetables. One contestant claimed that she had to go for 20 hours without food. "We signed up for the show, but we didn't sign up for not being fed or watered or treated like human beings," said another.¹

Several contestants complained that they had not received medication when they needed it - including one who was dependent on insulinA hormone which controls blood sugar levels and helps your body to turn food into energy..

Contestants who made it through to the next round, in TorontoCanada's most populous city, home to 2.93 million people. , said they were treated much better there. But several members of the production crew told Rolling Stone that the environment had been disorganised and unsafe. Six people ended up in hospital.

Now the competitors are suing MrBeast and Amazon. They further claim that they were denied privacy and that there was a culture of misogynyHatred of or discrimination against women. The term comes from the Ancient Greek "miso", meaning "hate", and "gyne", "woman"..

A spokesman for MrBeast said that filming in Las Vegas had been complicated by "the CrowdStrikeAn American cybersecurity technology company. In July 2024, a software update by the company caused millions of computers to stop working. incident, extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues".² Afterwards they had taken "the necessary steps to ensure that we learned from this experience". All contestants were offered at least $1,000 (£747) in compensation.

Does wealth always corrupt?

Yes: People like MrBeast live lives so far removed from most of us that they lose touch with reality. They are so busy making money that they forget about people's basic needs, such as food and medication.

No: There are some very rich people who live unassuming lives and give a lot of their money to charity. Far from corrupting, wealth allows people to realise their dreams for themselves and others.

Or... The things that went wrong while filming Beast Games were probably down to disorganisation rather than nastiness. It was a huge thing for a 26-year-old to undertake: we should cut him some slack.