Search

100 Pilots, One $2.4 Million Jet: How MrBeast's Riyadh Challenge Came Down to Trust

MrBeast ミスタービースト · ▶ 28:40 · 12 min read
EnglishespañolIndonesia日本語한국어português繁體中文
Open on YouTube ↗
Overview

MrBeast (Jimmy) opens the video with a simple offer. The host has bought a private jet, and whichever of 100 pilots wins the video keeps it. Over five rounds, most of them filmed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the field shrinks through physical endurance, a lying game at 10,000 feet, and a marathon of keeping a hand on the plane. The contest is decided by whether the final three can agree on anything at all.

12 min read
0:17

Challenge 1: Pulling a 40,000 lb Plane

The pilots split into three teams, and each team tries to be first to pull a 40,000 lb plane across a finish line. Only the winning team advances, so two-thirds of the pilots are eliminated in the opening race. The race is close. The commentary calls it "neck and neck" and singles out one pilot who is "single handedly brute forcing this." When the winning team crosses, one pilot says, "I did it for my daughters." That line comes back later in the video.

1:13

Challenge 2: "Jet Spinner"

The survivors are told they are four challenges away from the $2.4 million jet. The second game turns the prize against them. Each pilot stands on a platform while the jet ramps up its engines to produce what the host describes as 60 mph winds. The jet then rotates in a circle to blow each contestant off in turn. The host points out the irony: "what you're competing for is literally what's eliminating you."

The first eliminations come quickly. The pilots then learn by watching the people ahead of them. One notes that the winning technique is to brace sideways, not to face the blast head-on. Contestant #46 is shown holding on using that approach. Technique alone isn't enough, though. The video notes that a pilot who had played in the NFL still couldn't stay on, which prompts the comment that "the big muscle couldn't do it." One eliminated pilot explains that they expected a light breeze, but the blast "hit me in the chest" and they couldn't recover. The jet eliminates 15 pilots in total, and 19 move on.

3:59

Challenge 3: Steal or No Steal at 10,000 Feet

The host reveals that the production has taken over Riyadh and shut down the city for 24 hours for the remaining challenges. The third challenge takes place aboard a cargo plane at 10,000 feet.

The pilots choose a captain. Samuel, who had volunteered early, gets the role. There are 19 briefcases. Ten say "jump," which means the holder skydives down to the next game. The rest are eliminations. In each round, one pilot looks inside a briefcase and says what it contains. The opponent then decides whether to steal the briefcase or leave it. Samuel picks case #8 and faces Andre. Samuel says it's a jump, Andre believes Samuel and takes the case, and it is a jump. Andre moves on to the top ten.

At first everyone tells the truth, which the narration says gives all the power to the person deciding whether to steal. Some pilots openly admit their case says "eliminate" and ask to be spared anyway. One pilot, called "Commander," refuses to lie or even say anything. According to the video, Commander gave away two jumps before being eliminated. The host asks why anyone wouldn't lie, and someone answers, "Pilot's got integrity."

The honesty breaks when Brett uses a plan they say they had worked out after watching one of the channel's previous videos. With six jumps and six eliminations left, Brett swears their case is an elimination. The opponent trusts Brett and lets them keep it, and it turns out to be a jump. The narration concludes that "in this game, lying pays off." Once one person has lied, trust collapses. In the next round, a pilot who truthfully says "jump" is disbelieved, so they keep the case and advance. The video's comment is "sometimes it pays to tell the truth."

With four jumps and six eliminations left, the narration frames the question as "what is their integrity worth?" One contestant gives a speech about wanting to be "the good person in aviation" who doesn't tell lies, calls themselves "a person of integrity," says their case is an elimination, and invites the opponent to steal it. The opponent doesn't steal, and the case was a jump. Colby remarks that this "doesn't sound like good integrity." Another pilot says they can't believe someone claimed so much integrity "and it was all just a farce."

The odds keep getting worse, dropping to three jumps against six eliminations. Eventually only one jump remains among the last cases. Eddie says the case they are holding is the last jump. The opponent chooses not to steal, and Eddie was telling the truth. That round decides the last spot, and all ten jumpers skydive out of the cargo plane.

8:39

Challenge 4: Last Hand on the Jet, on Riyadh's Biggest Freeway

The skydivers land for the final challenge, which is held in the middle of what the host calls the biggest freeway in Riyadh so the whole city can watch. Every remaining pilot puts a hand on the jet. The last one to take their hand off keeps it.

The host says that moving a jet through the city would have been logistically impossible before this video, and that the team spent months planning a route. The plane barely fits between the light poles, and crews have to turn street signs so the wings can pass. Drivers call out to MrBeast as they pass. The host says thousands of people filmed the procession, generating millions of views on TikTok.

The contestants settle in for a long wait. One says they will last "until I pass out," and others joke that it could take hours or days. The host decides it could go on all day, so the difficulty increases. The pilots have to move down to the wing and walk alongside it, with no hand ever leaving the plane. Then the truck speeds up. One pilot says past marathon running makes the walk "not even a factor." After about five minutes of running, the group goes quiet as everyone focuses on breathing. Graham is the first out when their hand slips off. The Saudi heat takes its toll, and the video shows a pilot changing clothes by feeding fingers through a sleeve. The host says this is shown to answer commenters who claim the videos are fake.

10:19

Buyouts and a Vote on the Pace

The host then brings in briefcases containing $50,000 for the next person to take their hand off the jet. Joseph takes it almost immediately. Joseph says they have a family and a career, and that the "young guns" have a lot ahead of them and deserve a shot.

Next, the host lets the pilots vote on the speed: a majority for "faster" speeds up the truck. The debate is tactical. Some argue that running would knock someone out quickly and save energy for everyone else. Others suspect that the people pushing for speed are about to quit anyway. Samuel argues that running is better because it's shorter. Andrew admits, "I don't think I have a whole lot more in me," and a majority eventually forms. After the speed-up, Andrew's hand slips off, leaving seven pilots.

15:20

The Button: One Finger, a Red Square, One Foot

By this point the convoy has driven through the entire city. The pilots are loaded onto the trailer to rest, hands still on the jet, and taken back to the site of the first plane-pull. The host calls them "very stubborn" and introduces a button. Each press adds a new rule that stays in effect until someone is eliminated, and anyone can press it. One contestant presses it almost immediately.

The first rule bans sitting and allows only one finger on the plane. One pilot picks the thumb because it is "short and strong." Thirteen to fifteen hours in, with the sun coming up, contestants begin pressuring each other to quit. One is told, "You have three daughters, man." Another keeps pressing the button, which angers the others. The next rule requires each finger to stay within a red square. The rule after that requires everyone to stand on one foot.

The narration emphasizes what's at stake for the contestants. One wants the jet to start a charter business. Another repeats that they are doing it for their daughters. A third says that for them and their wife, IVF is the only way to have children, and the jet would help with that.

Samuel drifts dangerously close to the ground, and Brett seems to notice. Then Brett passes out. Brett later describes it as "literally just like white," then falling. Brett falls onto Bobby and worries that Bobby's elimination is their fault. On review, the host rules that Brett pulled Bobby's rope, which pulled Bobby's thumb off, so Bobby stays in. The footage also shows that Samuel's foot touched the ground just before Brett collapsed, so Samuel is eliminated. Brett is eliminated too, because their hand fully came off the jet. From here on, everyone who drops out receives $10,000. Five remain.

19:29

Sleep Becomes the Enemy

The host teases a twist for when three are left. Contestants have been awake for more than 22 hours. One strategy is to let everyone else sleep first, because sleep means losing control. One pilot says they can't bear the thought of losing $2.5 million by dozing off. Then exhaustion catches up. One contestant wakes up, says "I messed up," and suspects their hand lifted while they slept. Bobby is also out, apparently after raising their hand, and can't explain it: "I don't know what I did." Someone sums it up as losing focus for one second. The narration adds that exhaustion often catches up with you before you know it has.

21:23

The Twist: One Hour to Agree

The final three get a one-hour timer. At the end of the hour, if more than one of them still has a hand on the plane, nobody gets the jet. The host tells them to "be smart." They could agree on a person or a game to decide it, but anyone could lie and refuse to let go.

The negotiation immediately falls apart. One proposes a jumping contest and is accused of choosing something that suits them. One says they won't do anything physical because they're too tired and suggests a quiz. One proposes that the host bring three cases, one holding a golden ticket and two empty, and that they pick at random. The pilot who insists on skill says they want to walk away knowing they earned the jet, not that it was "gifted to me by luck." They accuse the luck supporter of wanting "a handout." The luck supporter admits they're "just not gonna be skilled." The host observes that the three won't stop bickering and that at this rate no one wins.

A moment of progress comes when one contestant tells the others about the pilot who has been trying to have children for about five years. That pilot confirms, with a firm "yes," that they would sell the plane to pay for it. Then one contestant reverses course, saying it won't be luck-based and "I wanna compete." Halfway through, the host sets the briefcases down anyway, "no obligation," and suggests the three separate and cool off.

The underlying problem is trust. One contestant says they are "100%" sure that if they play a game and one particular rival loses, that rival won't remove their hand. The host adds, "he did lie in the skydiving challenge," and the video replays the "person of integrity" speech. Saud says they worked hard to get here and are going to lose anyway. A plane flies overhead, and the host points out that it could be one of them in 15 minutes if they worked together.

With just over ten minutes left, the three are still arguing. One is still proposing an airplane-identification quiz. Two of them pick briefcases and ask whether the others would take their hands off if their own case turned up empty. The answers are yes. The holdout says the briefcases are a last resort and keeps looking for another option. In the final minutes, someone urges Jabar to shake on it: "Take it or we lose it." One of them tells the other, "I heard your story. If you got it, I wouldn't be upset at all."

27:37

The Outcome: They Honored It

They open the cases on a count of three, and one of them finds the golden ticket. The host then stresses that the other two still don't have to let go. Only their decision stands between the winner and the jet, and time is nearly up. Both say "We will" and take their hands off the plane. The host shouts "They honored it!" and the winner breaks down sobbing. The two who let go each receive $20,000, and the jet goes to the pilot who drew the golden ticket.

Article published · Updated