MrBeast links with Amazon for reality competition series featuring $5m cash prize

Amazon is officially getting into business with YouTube creator MrBeast through a US reality competition series that offers a cash prize of US$5m.

MrBeast

While details about the concept remain scant, Amazon said the show, titled Beast Games, will feature 1,000 contestants vying to win the enormous cash prize, which it called the “biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming.”

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has become one of the world’s most watched YouTube creators in recent years, with his channel boasting more than 244 million subscribers.

He will host and executive produce the series, which is described as a “fast-paced and high-production format.” It is produced by MrBeast and Amazon MGM Studios and will debut exclusively on Prime Video internationally.

The greenlight comes less than two months after reports emerged that MrBeast was in talks with Amazon to sign a deal for nearly US$100m.

The US$5m prize would appear to be an attempt to one-up Netflix, which said it had broken the record for the largest prize in reality TV with its own series Squid Game: The Challenge. That show, based on its Korean scripted series Squid Game and released in November, gave away a prize of US$4.56m.

Indeed, the most watched video on MrBeast’s YouTube channel is a reenactment of challenges in the Squid Game scripted series. The video, which reportedly cost US$3.5m to produce and had a prize of US$456,000, has racked up more than 588 million views to date on YouTube.

MrBeast said his goal with Beast Games is to “make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms, adding that “Amazon gave me the creative control I need to try and make it happen. I hope to make the YouTube community proud.”

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, said: “MrBeast has captured the attention and imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life and all over the world. We are excited to work with Jimmy and his talented team to bring his brilliant, high-production and stakes-raising concepts to Beast Games for our global customers to experience.”

Amazon MGM Studios head of television Vernon Sanders added: “When MrBeast first told us about his concept for the show, we were blown away by his ambition to make Beast Games the biggest reality competition series ever.”