YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson aka MrBeast has revealed that doing the Amazon Prime show, Beast Games was not a “good financial decision” as he ended up losing over $10 million. The social media sensation, who is also the world’s most subscribed YouTuber, is known for putting together elaborate challenges where cash prizes run into millions.
In a new interview with Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Beast confirmed that he spent $100 million on Beast Games, with a personal investment of $50 million.
“We lost a ton of money making that show, and that came out of my pocket. We spent way too much money on it. I lost tens of millions on that show. I’m an idiot,” said Mr Beast.
Despite the show becoming Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted series ever, raking in 50 million viewers over the course of 25 days, Mr Beast could not break even on his investment.
“It was not a good financial decision to make Beast Games, I lost money. I would have more money if I didn’t film it.”
Mr Beast also revealed that he had less than a million dollars in his bank account. “Are you a billionaire?” Mr Bartlett asked the 26-year-old.
“On paper, yeah,” Mr Beast responded. “But I mean in my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars.”
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The YouTuber explained that he reinvested a lot of his income back into his brands and paid himself only the money he needed to live off in a month.
“I have some assistants and things like that so I try to pay myself what I spend personally a month just to stay even.”
“Money is fuel to grow a business,” he added.
Quizzed if he had any regrets making the show, MrBeast said: “No. For me, it was about making the first season as good as possible. I can’t let the YouTube community down. Creators don’t have a good rep when it comes to streaming.”
Apart from throwing cash challenges, MrBeast is known for his philanthropic work. Last month, he released a video where his team helped 2,000 amputees in the US get access to prosthetics. In 2023, MrBeast helped build 100 wells to provide clean drinking water for up to 500,000 people in Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He also raised more than $300,000 through a fundraiser to support local water aid organisations.
