Featured Image Credit: MrBeast via YouTube
Topics: MrBeast, YouTube, Social Media, Viral, Celebrity
Liv Bridge
Topics: MrBeast, YouTube, Social Media, Viral, Celebrity
MrBeast is in the middle of his own firestorm after hosting a prank involving a man trapped inside a burning building for money.
Also known as James 'Jimmy' Donaldson', he is no stranger to outrageous stunts and controversial content.
Going by the alias MrBeast, the record-breaking creator is known for giving away life-changing sums of money to people who participate in his games.
Now, however, he's come under intense criticism for one of his latest viral videos, as he invited a participant to 'risk dying' by 'burning alive' for half a million dollars.
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The video showed a man 'trapped' while sitting on a chair, bound by rope and surrounded by the tantalising $500,000 in cash, as well as ever-increasing flames.
In the 25-minute-long video, which has been viewed 47 million times at the time of writing, the man could be seen frantically wriggling free of the ropes.
He had to escape 'seven death traps' while the room became engulfed in the blaze.
MrBeast himself says in the footage: "Oh my gosh, this is the craziest thing we've ever filmed," adding that he will 'push' the participant 'to the max' with the stunt.
Yet viewers have since said they've been left horrified by the prank, with one writing on Twitter: "He's [MrBeast] a f***ing psychopath.
"The smoke would've killed that guy before the flames got to him. Youtube cannot be allowed to show this on their platform this is reckless engagement?"
A second said they were worried for the predominantly young audience MrBeast appeals to, writing: "I hate to be that guy, but the fact that a lot of kids watch MrBeast, this isn’t a good look.
"Kids try really dumb s*** and all it takes is the wrong group of kids to think this is something fun or cool they could try out and it’d be a tragedy."
Others compared the YouTuber to murderous fictional villains from Squid Game as well as Billy the Puppet from Saw.
"Idk man… I like Mr Beast but this feels… predatory," chimed another. "People really need money and to put someone in this position? It’s starting to feel very Hunger Games like."
While the man did manage to free himself from the burning building - and was seen going back and forth with several bags of cash while on fire, before calling it quits at $250,000 - MrBeast has clarified the setup of the stunt.
In the video, the creator can be heard saying the participant is 'actually a professional stuntman', and has doubled down on his safety precautions in the face of the backlash.
Writing on Twitter, he said: "This blew up, if you’re curious obviously we had ventilation for the smoke and a kill switch to cut off the fires.
"We had professionals test this extensively and the guy in the video as stated is a professional stunt man."
He concluded: "I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine."