Search

Fifty YouTubers, One Cube, and a $1 Million Prize Won by Bluffing

MrBeast ミスタービースト · ▶ 41:26 · 14 min read
বাংলাDeutschEnglishespañolfrançaisहिन्दीIndonesiaitalianopolskiportuguêsрусскийTürkçeTiếng Việt
Open on YouTube ↗
Overview

MrBeast's premise is simple. Fifty of the biggest YouTubers, together representing about a billion subscribers, stand inside a cube bordered by a red line. Anyone who steps on the line is eliminated. The last creator left wins $1 million, and the money goes to that creator's subscribers, not the creator. A pile of real cash sits inside the cube.

14 min read

Before anything begins, the contestants predict how it will go. One says they feel "just a target." Another says people "are not going to be friends in this box." A third says the best strategy is to conserve energy. MrBeast warns early on that making enemies raises the odds of being eliminated. He also promises that the relaxed, laughing mood at the start won't last.

Challenge One: A Free Throw for a Cybertruck

The first challenge is optional and costly. A contestant may leave the cube and take one free throw. If the shot goes in, one of that creator's subscribers wins a Cybertruck and the creator returns to the game. If it misses, the subscriber gets nothing and the creator is out.

Opinions split between "a free throw is easy" and "I could not make a free throw to save my life." Nobody wanted to go first until Mark Rober stepped out. His fan, Matthew, stood nearby watching, and the other YouTubers crowded in behind. Rober missed and apologized to Matthew. Jidion tried next and missed badly, joking afterward that he had "definitely lost a subscriber."

Jesser, who calls himself a basketball YouTuber, made his shot and won his biggest fan a Cybertruck. At least one other creator missed and apologized to their fan. FaZe Rug made his shot and returned to the cube. After three big names had failed, MrBeast says, nobody else wanted to try.

Boredom caused the next exit. One contestant fooled around near the line. MrBeast checked the footage, confirmed a touch, and eliminated him. Another contestant then walked out voluntarily, which left 45 and started the next round. Meanwhile MrBeast swept up the scattered million dollars, which surprised several of the contestants.

Challenge Two: Captains, Cookies, and the Umbrella

For the second challenge, the contestants formed groups of five and elected a captain. MrBeast said only that captains would be immune. Teams chose captains based on trust. One group picked Marques Brownlee, whom a teammate called "the most trustworthy tech reviewer online." Sketch said he trusted his captain, Niko, "fully."

The twist appeared when tables were brought in. This was the Squid Game–style dalgona cookie challenge. Each captain received four cookies with shapes of very different difficulty and had to decide which teammate got which one. Anyone who broke their cookie within ten minutes was eliminated. MrBeast said that depending on the cookie, the task would be "either really easy or almost impossible."

The umbrella was the hardest shape, and handing it out became the real test of each team's loyalty. Niko gave the umbrella to Sketch, and others remarked that "his blood is on your hands." Michael Reeves said he took the umbrella because he believed he could do it. Fede, Lexi, and Pokimane also got umbrellas. One captain realized too late what the role meant: "I thought being team captain would mean I could do a challenge to help my team win. Turns out I skip the challenge and punished my team."

Those with simple shapes, such as the triangle, progressed quickly. Riku finished the star. Pokimane's umbrella cracked down the middle, and after that the other umbrella holders slowed down. Logan Paul struggled with the star and complained he was doing it to win a million for "the Logang." Sketch lasted a long time but eventually broke the cookie. A teammate said Niko had given "the guy with the worst eyesight, with the worst hands, the worst thing."

Eleven people were eliminated in this round: Colby, Rugs, Michael Reeves, Fede, Ossy, Lexi, MatPat, Jschlatt, Pokimane, Mastu, and Sketch. MatPat joked on the way out that "the true million was the friends we made along the way, and that's no theory," and called it the start of his retirement. That left 34 contestants. One remaining creator said openly that the eliminations were welcome because "my odds are better."

Challenge Three: Duct Tape and Jenga

While the next challenge was being set up, the contestants flipped bottle caps to pass the time. Then MrBeast told everyone to pair up and duct-tape their hands together, adding, "Be careful who you pick as your partner." Most people chose their closest friends. MrBeast notes this is "not the best strategy in a MrBeast video."

The reveal showed why. Each pair was cut loose and then played each other head-to-head in Jenga, with the loser eliminated.

The first game used giant Jenga, and it did not go as planned. The tower grew so tall that the players couldn't reach the top even with a ladder, which one contestant called "the most rickety ladder I've seen in my life." With a cap on height, the players eventually ran out of legal moves. After roughly an hour and a half, JJ (KSI) had no pieces left to pull. He then carried his opponent across the line, apparently so both would be out. MrBeast let the group vote on whether that was fair. The majority said it wasn't, so KSI was eliminated and his opponent, AJ, came back in. That left 33.

Because that one game took hours, MrBeast switched everyone else to normal Jenga and admitted, "I messed up." The games moved fast and got competitive. Because friends had paired up, some contestants sacrificed themselves. One creator's partner had been best man at his wedding and had flown 27 hours to be there, and the creator stepped aside so his friend could continue. Others described that choice as "how the UK does it" and said "you got to be selfless."

As the towers grew, even a breath could knock them over. At one point Logan Paul eliminated a creator who had flown in from India. The two then talked about MrBeast overtaking T-Series, and the eliminated creator said whoever reaches the top first deserves respect for the YouTube community. The final tower was the most competitive of all, lasting more than two hours longer than the others before it fell.

Beds were brought in, and the first 24 hours ended with the contestants asleep next to $1 million in cash.

Morning: Speed Is Voted Out Before He Arrives

The next morning MrBeast brought news. IShowSpeed, whom he calls one of the largest creators on the planet, was supposed to arrive more than 24 hours earlier but had only just landed. The contestants could vote to let Speed join alongside another creator, or send him back to the plane.

One person began to talk about inclusion and was cut off with "No, we're not." Others argued Speed "hasn't suffered" and knew nothing about life-size Jenga. The group voted to keep him out. Speed left saying he remembered all their faces, and MrBeast hinted he would be back.

Challenge Four: Steal or No Steal, with Heart Rates

The fourth challenge brought back a game MrBeast says fans loved, along with Howie Mandel as host. Seven briefcases said "eliminated" and the rest said "safe." One player looks inside a case, and the opponent decides whether to take it or leave it with the first player. A player whose case gets stolen keeps playing until someone declines to steal.

Logan Paul went first as the contestant with the most subscribers. He chose Sam as his opponent and picked case 11, then said it was "not safe." Sam didn't believe him, stole it, and it said eliminated, which ended the Sam and Colby channel's run. Logan faced Kai next and again said his case was not safe. Kai stole it anyway, explaining that he had watched Logan since Logan started YouTube and could read him. The case was safe.

For Logan's game against Ludwig, the two wore Samsung Galaxy Rings (the video's sponsor) so their heart rates could be shown live. Logan was at 106 and Ludwig at 87. Logan said he would ask Ludwig to let him keep the case regardless of what was inside. Ludwig reasoned there was "too much to guess," chose no steal, and Logan was safe. A later reading showed 103.

One contestant, who had traveled 27 hours to be there, insisted on case 14 and stole it without looking. The result was elimination. Another eliminated contestant was sent off with a joke about not hitting a kangaroo on the way home.

The harshest moment came next. A player looked into her case, appeared distressed, and said it read eliminated. Valkyrae thought she was acting and stole. The player smiled, and her heart rate peaked at 152. The others called her "a demon" and said "can't trust anyone anymore." Valkyrae then played the same deception game with two eliminated and three safe cases left. After seeming upset earlier, she now looked "the happiest I've ever seen her" and said her case was safe. Her opponent stole anyway.

With four players and two safe and two eliminated cases left, one player reasoned that a rival who had quickly offered safe cases twice wouldn't do it a third time, and chose no steal. The rival replied, "You read me like a book." Marques Brownlee ended up with the last eliminated case. His opponent, who had been on his team earlier, said she didn't think he was being truthful but chose no steal. Someone else said MKBHD "doesn't know how to lie." The two unchosen cases were both safe. Ten contestants remained.

Challenge Five: A Team Cooking Challenge Judged by Speed

Tiredness was starting to show. One contestant said they could barely move, and another said the game was getting harder because they now had to eliminate new acquaintances.

For the fifth challenge, the ten formed pairs again, this time as teammates. They were blindfolded while the room was rebuilt. They guessed from what they could sense (gas, cloth, an apron) and removed the blindfolds to find a kitchen. The rules: three judges score each dish from 1 to 10 on taste, creativity, and presentation. The top three teams advance and the bottom two are eliminated. Several contestants admitted they couldn't cook. One said their best dishes were eggs, toast, and cereal. Another pair said they had been on a cooking team before and lost.

The judges were Joey Chestnut, described by MrBeast as holding the Guinness record for breaking the most world records; Miranda Cosgrove; and IShowSpeed, the creator the contestants had just voted out.

A pair who had become friends partly because one of them spoke French made a French cordon bleu with asparagus. It scored 26. A pair making American comfort food, mac and cheese and chocolate cake, also scored 26, after MrBeast told Speed to judge on the food and not the emotional pitch. Speed also objected to Joey giving out a 10 "because you like to eat." Kai and AJ aimed at each judge. For Miranda they made Spencer's spaghetti tacos from iCarly. For Speed they made "Ronaldo pasta," prefaced by a Cristiano Ronaldo chant. For Joey they made a "tower of records." Miranda called the tacos solid but said, "at the end of the day, it's about the food."

Another team served a creamy chicken tomato pasta and a dessert of chocolate-covered strawberries, which one member said was inspired by their father, who is "still very much alive." Once one team's total passed a threshold of 16, MrBeast declared a lower-scoring pair eliminated without Miranda needing to vote.

Then came an unforced exit. Logan Paul, already out of the running, ran out to smash a plate as he used to in his 2017 vlogs and crossed the line. He said, "I forgot all about the line," and that seeing the plate made him feel he had to smash it. Others said the kitchen made the cube feel like a different place, which may have caused the slip. The last dish was a Spanish tortilla, from a pair that had planned to combine a tortilla and fried rice. It scored 22, and that pair was eliminated. Five remained.

What the Finalists Would Do With the Money

Before the finale, the five said how they would give the money to subscribers. One planned a "find me and win money" challenge. One wanted to donate as many meals as possible. One would host chess events. One wanted to pay for art degrees. One wanted to build schools in southern Morocco. MrBeast also announced that the winner would receive every play button from every participant, which one contestant compared to "collect[ing] the heads of people you killed."

The Final Challenge: One Check, Five Briefcases

The final game was about bluffing. Each round, the players were blindfolded while five briefcases were shuffled. Four were empty and one held a $1 million check. Each player took a case, looked inside, and then everyone voted on whose case to open. If the chosen case was empty, that player was eliminated. If it held the check, the game ended and that player won for their subscribers.

In the first round, one player said early that the money was with one of the two women, based on facial expressions. One woman flatly claimed to have the million. A skeptic argued she was lying to stay in. Another player pointed out that since she had deceived people in Steal or No Steal, she had shown she would lie. She replied that surely others had lied too. One player said that without information, the obvious move would be to vote along old alliances. Another simply asked the group to vote for them because they wanted to win.

The first vote went Jaiden Animations, Ludwig, Amixem, Jaiden, Ludwig, a tie. Jaiden was surprised: "I didn't even do anything." After a minute of arguing, including over who had voted for themselves, the three other players broke the tie. Ludwig's case was opened and was empty. He was eliminated and joined the others in the viewing room.

In the second round, after a reshuffle and a ten-minute timer, the discussion focused on body language and on who was being more animated. Someone suggested Jaiden was unlikely to have the million again as "a matter of statistics, probability," and Jaiden questioned whether that reasoning held up. The votes went Jaiden, Alex, Jaiden, Jaiden. Jaiden had been calm the whole time, and the case held the million-dollar check. The others had expected her to be out.

Asked how she would give the money away, Jaiden Animations said it's hard for many artists and she would like to send many of them to art school. MrBeast closed by announcing that she had won $1 million for her subscribers.

Article published