No Beast in Beast Games

“Beast Games” Season One Release

Photo by Mackenzie Macro on Unsplash

Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, is the most popular YouTuber in the world with over 360 million subscribers. His YouTube videos mainly focus on contestants partaking in extreme challenges, usually with large cash prizes. MrBeast has taken his content creation to the next level as the narrator of the “Beast Games” TV show, which has 10 episodes in its first season. Each Thursday from Dec. 19, 2024, to Feb. 13, 2025, a new episode aired on Amazon Prime Video. The show featured 1,000 contestants all fighting for the grand prize of $5 million, the largest cash prize ever in TV history. “Beast Games” is also Amazon’s second most-viewed series of 2024, with 50 million viewers in its first 25 days of release.

MrBeast is known for his high-quality editing and videography in his YouTube videos, which is also present in his “Beast Games” show. The show reveals many different angles of the same event, making the clips more dynamic. Each contestant is equipped with their own vlogging gear that lets them document their experience and up-close reactions, with a myriad of security cameras and drones filming the games from all sides. One of the best uses of drones in “Beast Games” was to film contestants falling one by one through trap doors to their elimination in episode one. “Beast Games” also has a large editing team that has produced high quality editing for each episode, incorporating interesting special effects and transitions that help move from one idea to the next. The style is fast-paced, captivating viewers.

“Beast Games” is unscripted, which means that there are no actors or scripts; anything can happen, and there is no way to know which contestants will make it to the final rounds. Despite these setbacks, “Beast Games” shows some character development that makes the show seem more emotional. Character development is especially prevalent in the final episodes, where viewers deeply connect with the remaining contestants while seeing their families and backstories. There are also constant flashbacks before a pivotal moment, especially when a well-known contestant is eliminated, adding to the dramaticness of scenes. Viewers also see the contestants’ personal reactions and thoughts in the later episodes when MrBeast and his friends talk to them or when we hear them speak into their vlogging cameras.

Despite these entertaining traits, the show falls short of some expectations. “Beast Games” encourages non-competitiveness, fairness and passiveness among competitors, and numerous games felt uninteresting and lame. Many games are based on luck rather than skills or intelligence. Some contestants also turn down hundreds of thousands of dollars or an advantage in the games to “play fairly,” even though the point of the show is to win the most money they can. Contestants are discouraged from lying or being strategic in games to progress partly because contestants who were deemed as “playing unfairly” would be singled out by other contestants and quickly eliminated, as many of the games relied on popularity to get through. “Beast Games” would have been more entertaining if contestants could be more strategic and cunning. Moreover, games that are interesting, like one where navy seals hunt contestants down on an island, are over after just one contestant is found. Nevertheless, MrBeast frequently adds plot twists and dramatic effects to challenges, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.

The lame games and the pressure to be “fair” among contestants in “Beast Games” makes the show more uninteresting, even though the show’s high-quality editing, videography and plot twists make up for some of this. The character development in “Beast Games” is subpar, but the fact that it is unscripted should be taken into account.

<Star Rating>

Plot: ★★★★★

Character Development: ★★★★★

Visual Effects: ★★★★★

Cinematography: ★★★★★