MrBeast And Amazon Sued By Contestants Of Prime Video’s ‘Beast Games’ Alleging “Chronic Mistreatment” And “Hostile Working Conditions”

Contestants from Prime Video‘s upcoming live gameshow Beast Games have filed a class-action lawsuit against YouTube sensation MrBeast and Amazon, detailing an allegedly hostile work environment that they say fostered mistreatment and harassment behind the scenes.

Five unnamed Beast Games contestants are accusing Amazon and MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, of exposing contestants “to dangerous circumstances and conditions as a condition of their employment,” per documents obtained by Variety.

The suit outlines several labor concerns, claiming production failed to pay minimum wages and overtime or offer uninterrupted breaks, and allegedly deprived contestants of adequate medical care, food and rest.

“While participants knew upon signing the contract at the production’s inception that they were facing a potentially long and challenging competition, they allege getting a lot more than they bargained for,” the contestants’ attorney said in a statement. “Several contestants ending up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions.”

The contestants’ personal accounts about the alleged sexual harassment were redacted from the complaint. But the lawsuit alleges Beast Games “created hostile conditions where women were forced to endure the severe embarrassment and unfair disadvantage.”

MrBeast
Photo: Steve Granitz

The lawsuit cites a passage from an employee handbook allegedly called “How to Succeed in MrBeast Production” that read, “If talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them… Really do everything you can to empower the boys when filming and help them make content. Help them be idiots.”

The defendants’ “own employment handbook, as detailed above, laid the groundwork for this collective sexual harassment and sexual harassment against female employees,” the complaint claims.

An unnamed contestant who is only identified as Contestant 5 said in a statement, “I expected to be challenged, but I didn’t think I would be treated like nothing — less than nothing. And as one of the women, I can say it absolutely felt like a hostile environment for us. We honestly could not have been respected less — as people, much less employees — if they tried.”

When the show was first announced, Amazon boasted that Beast Games was sure to be “the biggest reality competition series ever” with 1,000 contestants competing for “the biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming” of $5 million.

A premiere date for Beast Games has not yet been announced.

The plaintiffs are demanding unpaid wages and punitive monetary damages.