MrBeast, a.k.a. Jimmy Donaldson, has found himself in troubled waters after being sued by contestants from his reality competition, Beast Games. The lawsuit alleges that the YouTuber's show subjected the participants to chronic mistreatment, s*xual harassment, and wage denial.
Filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, September 16, 2024, the suit also names the YouTuber's MRB2024 production company and Amazon as defendants. It seeks class-action status for all participants who endured unjust treatment and neglect while participating in the competition.
Seemingly inspired by the popular TV series Squid Games, the Beast Games was organized jointly by MrBeast and Prime Video. It was first announced in March 2024 and featured over 1,000 participants engaging in numerous challenges as they competed for a $5 million cash prize.
The first round of the Beast Games competition was shot between July 18 and July 22, 2024, at the Allegiant Stadium in Los Angeles. Over 2,000 contestants competed to qualify for the second round, which was shot in August 2024 at Toronto's Downsview Park Studios. At least 1,000 qualified participants made it to the second round.
All you need to know about the lawsuit against MrBeast and Amazon
The lawsuit filed in the LA court against MrBeast and Amazon by at least five unidentified participants is being led by counsel Robert Pafundi of Pafundi Law Firm.
It alleges that participants of Beast Games had to sign 'illegal contracts' that misclassified them as volunteers. The suit claims the move was intended to qualify the show for tax concessions.
Hinting at how the scope of Beast Games changed into much more than what the participants signed for, the lawsuit read:
“While participants knew upon signing the contract at the production’s inception that they were facing a potentially long and challenging competition, they allege getting a lot more than they bargained for.”
The suit detailing the ordeals faced by the participants during MrBeast's reality competition continued:
“Several contestants ending up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions.”
The suit claims that the Beast Games producers jeopardized the safety of the participants by not offering them sufficient food or drink.
It hinted that the participants were deprived of necessities like basic hygiene, medical care, and sleep. It further claims that there was a lack of adequate medical staff on-site and that participants were not provided reasonable medical attention.
As per the lawsuit against MrBeast and Amazon, participants of the Beast Games were forced not to sleep and participate in the games instead. The suit alleges the games and challenges unreasonably put them at risk of suffering physical and mental injuries.
The New York Times reported in August 2024 that a contestant left the first round in a bruised and bleeding condition following an injury and elimination. The report also hinted that participants had to go through dangerous conditions, and some of them were offered medical assistance after they vomited or passed out.
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As of the writing, neither MrBeast nor Prime Video has shared an official comment. A September 18 report from The Times featured the YouTuber's spokesperson claiming the problems were caused by the July 19 CrowdStrike outage.
Readers must note that the outage affected Microsoft Windows systems in numerous countries worldwide, leading to financial losses of over $5.40 billion. The spokesperson said that the production was “unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues.”
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