MrBeast responds after trapping man in burning house stunt sparks backlash
YouTuber said he wanted to be ‘transparent’ after viewers branded stunt ‘dystopian’
YouTuber MrBeast has said that he takes “safety seriously” after being accused of putting someone’s life at risk for his latest video.
The 27-year-old, real name Jimmy Donaldson, has the most followed account on YouTube, with more than 440 million subscribers, and often orchestrates elaborates stunts for cash prizes.
His latest video, which is titled “Would You Risk Dying For $500,000?”, features a stuntman subjected to seven death traps, all in an attempt to win the huge sum of money.
The video opens with a man tied to a chair inside a burning building with $500,000 (£372,000) in bags behind him. The challenge is to wrestle free from the chair and retrieve the money before everything is burnt to the ground. The man manages to grab half of the money before things become too unsafe and has to leave.
Although the video itself features many other stunts that are completed safely, a snippet of the burning house segment has since gone viral, with many left horrified by what they saw, calling it “dystopian” and “dangerous”.
Donaldson has since responded to the criticism and attempted to quash any concerns. “This blew up, if you’re curious obviously we had ventilation for the smoke and a kill switch to cut off the fires,” he wrote in response to a clip on X/Twitter.
“We had professionals test this extensively and the guy in the video as stated is a professional stunt man. I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine.”
In the comments section of the YouTube video, Donaldson offered a further explanation stating that the challenges had already been tested by multiple stuntmen before filming started and that rescue and emergency teams, as well as a fully equipped ambulance and fire engine, were also on set.
“We also had a pyro team controlling the fires and multiple fire suppression methods on every challenge to ensure we could essentially turn off the fire if there was ever an issue,” he wrote. “But our stunt coordinator did an amazing job as always, and none of these systems were ever needed. Just wanted to be transparent with you all since I saw some concern!”
Earlier this month, while attending the Canelo Alvarez v Terence Crawford boxing match in Las Vegas, the YouTuber was floored by a crushing body blow delivered by Mike Tyson.
"Mike Tyson is about to punch me, because thanks to Riyadh Season, Canelo v Crawford is about to happen, it literally starts within an hour, after this you need to go watch it,” said Donaldson.
"And to raise awareness I'm going to take a punch from Mike Tyson, whenever you're ready.”
Tyson then proceeded to land a crushing left hook to the body, immediately flooring the novice, who was left gasping for air on one knee
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