On the Amazon actuality present “Beast Video games,” contestants participated in a potato sack race, tower climbing job, and coin assortment problem, amongst others, as they competed for a $10 million money prize, the single biggest prize within the historical past of tv and streaming. The present, which aired the ultimate episode of its first season on February 13, was Amazon’s greatest unscripted present ever, incomes 50 million viewers in its first 25 days.
Now Jimmy Donaldson, the 26-year-old creator who can be recognized on YouTube as MrBeast, is revealing that he misplaced “tens of tens of millions” of {dollars} on the present, however that he has no regrets about utilizing his personal cash to assist fill within the gaps within the present.
“I misplaced a ton of cash filming the present,” Donaldson advised Steven Bartlett on a “Diary of a CEO” podcast episode launched earlier this month. “It was not a very good monetary determination to make ‘Beast Video games’.”
Jimmy Donaldson. Photograph by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC through Getty Pictures
Donaldson revealed that the primary episode alone required over $15 million to assemble the set, which consisted of 1,000 towers that have been every 10 toes tall. The set of the second episode, in the meantime, took $14 million to construct.
Associated: MrBeast Has Grown Up. He Thinks His YouTube Videos Should Too.
Donaldson declined to specify how a lot all the 10-episode season price however mentioned that the present price greater than its $100 million budget total.
Nevertheless, when Bartlett requested if he had any regrets, Donaldson mentioned no.
“For me, it was about making season one nearly as good as doable,” Donaldson said. “I am unable to let the YouTube neighborhood down.”
Based on Donaldson, YouTube creators haven’t got a very good popularity in the case of shifting over to streaming platforms. He mentioned that even he, because the YouTuber with the most subscribers in the world, struggled to garner curiosity amongst streaming executives for his present.
So the stakes weren’t simply excessive for “Beast Video games,” they have been excessive for the YouTube neighborhood at giant, Donaldson mentioned. Now that the present is a hit, doorways are opening for him and different creators.
“I already know of two creators who’ve signed offers simply based mostly on the success of ‘Beast Video games,’ and doubtless lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} [are] going to movement into creators’ pockets simply due to ‘Beast Video games’ within the subsequent 12 months,” Donaldson claimed.
Associated: MrBeast Has Grown Up. He Thinks His YouTube Videos Should Too.
Donaldson additionally revealed within the interview that whereas he could also be a billionaire on paper, he truly has lower than $1 million in his checking account. Although he provides himself a wage, he ensures it’s simply sufficient to cowl his private bills. He reinvests the remaining into his model.
Beast Video games is on the market solely on Prime Video. Based on Donaldson, the present attracts about 700,000 new distinctive viewers day by day.
