MrBeast, the online personality of 26-year-old Jimmy Donaldson, is a master content creator. His elaborately staged philanthropic stunt videos have helped him gain nearly 340 million subscribers on YouTube and made him the most followed star on the platform. To his legion of fans, he is something like the Oprah of the internet; He funded a surgical procedure and even gave one of his subscribers an island. His business empire includes a charity and his chocolate and snacks brand Feastables, and he expects to make $700 million in sales this year.

Behind the glassy smile, however, lies an increasingly tempting target for critics who see something inauthentic and somewhat strange about his whole schtick. What stands out is MrBeast’s new chilling and chaotic reality competition series for Prime Video. Beast gameswhich reportedly cost more than $100 million – making it the most expensive reality show of all time.

“There is a cruel ruthlessness there Beast games This is truly inedible,” writes a reviewer for The Guardianin perhaps the most brutal comment I have ever read about MrBeast or any project he is associated with. “Overwhelmingly,” the author continues, “most challenges have come in the form of self-sacrifice, where groups of contestants are told that they cannot advance to the next round unless one of them willingly gives up their chance at the prize .” and leaves the show. The ugliness of these challenges is overwhelming. There’s endless pleading and crying and full-blown adult tantrums, all for a jackpot they’re statistically unlikely to win.

“Hand on heart, I can’t remember seeing a more disgraceful spectacle.”

The Prime Video show, a Squid game Wannabe, which has an abysmal 20% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, features 1,000 players competing in a series of challenges for the chance to win a $5 million cash prize. It’s essentially a continuation of MrBeast’s stunt-based charities from recent years, such as a recent video in which he paid for surgery that helped restore the sight of 1,000 blind people. Obviously, this surgery meant the world to these people – but when it came to audio, MrBeast was in full YouTuber mode in the video. He excitedly explains to the camera what’s going to happen, adding: “It’s going to be crazy!!!”

Across various platforms, you’ll find users discussing topics like (on Reddit): “How Mr. Beast’s Charity Content Grossly Exploits Poverty and Why Millionaire Charities Don’t Work.” And on Quora: “Why Do Many People Like Mr. Beast?” Is he exploiting a psychological loophole that causes people to enjoy his content?”

That’s it Guardian However, the above review fires one vicious broadside after another at the exploitative side of MrBeast and its content – and also touches on the 54-page class action lawsuit filed by several participants against MrBeast’s production company and Amazon, alleging mistreatment and inadequacy Compensation and “severe emotional distress.” Review continued: Beast games consists largely of the “unedifying sight of 1,000 attention seekers embarrassing themselves at the whims of not just one YouTuber, but a YouTuber who likes to shout things like, ‘Everyone has their price!’…

“It’s true that there’s something incredibly compelling about Beast Games, but it’s compelling in the same way that finding a strikebreaker is.” It exists solely to show us the worst of the human condition, as vile as it is possible.”