MrBeast, Amazon Sued by Game Show Contestants Over Mistreatment

YouTube star MrBeast and Amazon’s TV studio were hit with a proposed class action from contestants on his latest game show “Beast Games” who say they faced gross mistreatment, neglect, and sexual harassment on the show.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court said the over 1,000 participants, who were competing for a $5 million prize, were deprived of medical care, food, sleep, and basic hygiene, and several were hospitalized.

The Beast Games filmed this summer as a collaboration between MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and Amazon MGM Studios. It’s been billed as the world’s largest live game show. The show hasn’t been released, and local and national press outlets have reported on poor conditions for contestants on the show.

The MrBeast YouTube channel, which has over 100 million subscribers, is known for reality game show videos were participants compete in physical and mental challenges for prize money.

The lawsuit alleged that women contestants faced a pattern of sexual harassment during the games, highlighted by a MrBeast employee handbook that encouraged a “boys-will-be-boys” atmosphere among the contestants.

The handbook advised employees to “really do everything you can to empower the boys when filming” and “help them be idiots,” according to the complaint

Large portions of the complaint detailing the individual plaintiff’s allegations were redacted due to privacy concerns, the plaintiffs said in a press statement.

The complaint said the contestants were also intentionally misclassified as volunteers to avoid employment obligations under California law to wrongfully receive tax credits in Nevada.

MrBeast and Amazon also violated false advertising law by lying to contestants about the number of people they would be competing against and the amount of food they would receive, the complaint said.

MrBeast and Amazon didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Pafundi Law Firm APC, Singian Law, Stuart Alban Law, and Whang Law Firm PC represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Contestant 1 v. MRB2024 LLC, Cal. Super. Ct., No. 24STCV24042, 9/16/24.