Better known online as MrBeast, Mr. Donaldson, 26, has made a name for himself as a benevolent YouTube star who has racked up hundreds of millions of subscribers for his provocative brand of philanthropy, like the time he paid for 1,000 people to receive cataract surgery.
The resulting eight-minute video was hyperbolically titled “1,000 Blind People See for the First Time.”Extravagant prizes have become his calling card.
Usually it comes with a dark twist: Once, he offered a man $10,000 a day for each day he was willing to live in a grocery story without leaving.
In his most popular video, “$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!,” 456 people competed in a game show inspired by the dystopian Netflix drama “Squid Game.” (In the Netflix show, down-and-out contestants play deadly versions of children’s games to win $38 million.)
Familiar with MrBeast’s content and with the lengths to which those who appear in his videos must go in order to win, many expected outlandish and even potentially risky challenges.
Persons:
Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson
Organizations:
Netflix, Amazon MGM, Beast