Amazon reality show horrifies viewers who claim it promotes ‘worst of human nature’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro

Viewers have been left appalled after watching Beast Games (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios. All Rights Reserved)

Amazon Prime Video reality competition series Beast Games has been blasted by viewers for being ‘sadistic working class torture porn.’

Created by YouTuber MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, the programme has the largest cash prize in TV and streaming history of $5,000,000 (£3,993,000).

In Beast Games, one thousand players battle it out through a series of ‘physical, mental and social’ challenges for a chance to win the jackpot in a contest that has been compared to Squid Game and Hunger Games.

Before the show landed on Amazon Prime on December 19, it was hit by claims of sexual harassment, ‘inhumane’ conditions and insufficient wages by contestants. In November, MrBeast said on X the allegations were ‘blown out of proportion.’

On X, fans were left appalled after watching the first ‘dystopian’ episode which premiered on December 19 and argued it encouraged the ‘worst of human nature’ as the players behave ‘appallingly’ to remain in the competition.

@fakeart09 raged: ‘#BeastGames represents the worst of human nature, selfish, individualistic, push someone down so you can stand high all directed by a guy who broke the system and now throws endless amounts of money around to push people to their limits. It’s squid game capitalism.’

Echoing their sentiment, @JediChai fumed: ‘I just watched Beast Games episode 1 & I literally feel sick to my stomach. There is something so evil about packaging this sadistic working class torture porn as entertainment.’

@DustinGenereux said: ‘This new Mr Beast show is some dystopian Hunger Games type [garbage]. The way they toy with people for $5 million is some psychological warfare and the way the contestants treat each other is wild.’

@AndrewJ626 added: ‘Against my better judgment, I tuned into Beast Games and it is pretty bleak. Contestants screaming at each other hysterically and crying because they have massive debt and mouths to feed while Jimmy be like “FOR THE NEXT WEEK YOU WILL ONLY BE EATING FEASTABLES”.’

However, some Beast Games viewers enjoyed the show and described it as ‘entertaining.’

Among them was @totah_john, who raved: ‘Beast Games is so damn good. I’m shocked.’

The show has been blasted as ‘dystopian’ and ‘sadistic’ (Picture: Backgrid)

@Henry_Taylor04 commented: ‘It does make human beings seem selfish and violently obsessed with money But it’s good TV… and I’m sad to admit that I myself enjoyed it.’

@Sourheart_YT wrote: ‘I watched the first two episodes of Beast Games and I gotta say; we live in a blessed timeline. This is literally the largest game show/psychological experiment ever mustered in human history and no one else could have put it together but Mr Beast. VERY hype to see how it ends.’

On the social media site, Jimmy, 26, responded to Beast Games’ backlash after a fan complained IGN gave the show two out of ten stars, for ‘shock value.’

Jimmy replied: ‘Yeah, sad one person who doesn’t like me can just label something a thousand people poured their lives into a 2/10 when it’s clearly not.

‘The show as future episodes drop is phenomenal especially once we get the number of contestants down and you get to know them!’

MrBeast addressed the backlash and insisted the show was ‘phenomenal’ (Picture: Backgrid)

In August, a Beast Games competitor claimed to The New York Times they were ‘not fed or watered‘ during filming at Allegiant Stadium in Nevada.

One woman also said that when she and other contestants were menstruating and had requested more underwear, they were told it was ‘not a medical emergency’.

Another said she left the stadium ‘bruised and bleeding’ while others witnessed people ‘vomiting and appearing to pass out’.

In a message to The Times, a spokesperson for MrBeast said the shoot was ‘unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues’.

Several months later, five anonymous contestants announced they were suing MrBeast and Amazon, claiming insufficient wages, sexual harassment, and ‘gross mistreatment and neglect’.

The show has been hit by a lawsuit over the alleged treatment of contestants (Picture: Backgrid)

According to the legal complaint, seen by The Washington Post, several contestants were hospitalised or suffered physical injuries during the show. Some were also deprived of sleep, food, and medical care, the lawsuit states.

The complaint also mentions allegations of sexual harassment ‘throughout the production’.

In a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter in August, a spokesperson for the YouTuber said: ‘The MrBeast promotional video shoot, which included over 2,000 participants, was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues, which we are currently reviewing, but we are grateful that virtually all of those invited to Toronto for our next production have enthusiastically accepted our invitation/

‘We have communicated directly with 97 per cent of the 2,000 people who attended to ask for feedback, have launched a formal review of the process, and have taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience and we are excited to welcome hundreds of men and women to the world’s largest game show in history.

In November on X, Mr Beast was asked by an account if Beast Games was the show ‘where a lot of contestants complained of terrible conditions.’

In response, he said: ‘We have tons of behind the scenes dropping when the show does to show how blown out of proportion these claims were. Just can’t release it now because it would spoil the games.’

Metro has contacted Mr Beast and Amazon for comment.

Beast Games is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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