MrBeast said making his Amazon show ‘Beast Games’ was ‘not a good’ financial move: ‘I lost tens of millions of dollars’

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4 hours ago

February 23, 2025

MrBeast is one of YouTube's top creators.Cooper Neill/Getty Images

MrBeast said he lost “tens of millions of dollars” making his Prime Video series “Beast Games” as he opened up about his finances during a recent appearance on Steven Bartlett’s “Diary Of A CEO podcast.

While “Beast Games,” which was released in December, became one of Amazon’s biggest series debuts of 2024, MrBeast said making it was “not a good financial decision.”

“I lost a ton of money filming the show, so that came out of my pocket,” the YouTuber — real name Jimmy Donaldson — said.

The 10-episode reality competition sees contestants compete for $5 million cash prizes. It drew more than 50 million viewers in its first 25 days and became Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted series ever, Amazon said in January.

But that seemingly didn’t stop Donaldson from suffering big losses.

“I lost tens of millions of dollars on that show. I’m an idiot,” he told host Bartlett, explaining that just the sets on the first two episodes cost more than $29 million together.

Despite his heavy losses, Donaldson — who confirmed that the show cost more than $100 million to make in total — has no regrets.

“For me, it was about making season one as good as possible. I can’t let the YouTube community down because creators don’t have a good rep when it comes to doing stuff on streaming platforms,” he said. “If I fail, it’s over; no streaming platform is ever gonna touch a YouTuber ever again,” he added.

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Elsewhere in the interview, Donaldson touched on his own finances, telling Bartlett that he had “less than a million dollars” in his bank account.

“Are you a billionaire?” Bartlett asked the 26-year-old creator, who has more than 365 million subscribers on YouTube.

“On paper, yeah,” Donaldson responded. “But I mean, in my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars.”

Donaldson added that while he pays himself a salary, he tries to give himself just enough to cover what he personally spends a month, preferring instead to reinvest his money back into his brand.

“Money is fuel to grow business,” he said. “You find a business that you enjoy that’s better for mother nature or Earth or people, and there you go you have a fulfilled life. That’s my theory.”

source:Business insider