MrBeast Pits Elite Athletes Against Ordinary People, Ending With a $500,000 Shootout Against Neymar

Open on YouTube ↗
Overview

The video is a series of one-on-one contests. In each, a world-class athlete faces regular people, usually with a handicap meant to even things out. If the challenger wins, they keep the prize, usually $100,000. If the star wins, MrBeast donates the money to a charity the star chooses. The opening teases the biggest stake: a subscriber gets half a million dollars if he can beat Neymar. Before that, the video works through tennis, basketball, motorsport, baseball, breath-holding and competitive eating. The challengers win some and lose others, and the athletes are not always as untouchable as their reputations suggest.

11 min read

Serena Williams vs. Four Quadruplets

The first contest sets Serena Williams, whom MrBeast calls the greatest female tennis player ever, against four sisters who are quadruplets. The bar is low. If any one of them can return a single Serena serve, the group wins $100,000. The sisters were confident going in, but the serve "literally went past all of them," as MrBeast puts it. None of the four got a racket on it. Serena directed the $100,000 to the Yetunde Price Resource Center.

Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Tristan

Next, Giannis, the "Greek Freak," introduced as a nine-time All-Star, two-time MVP and NBA champion, plays Tristan, described as a typical basketball player. The format is a race. The first to make a layup, a free throw, a three-pointer and a half-court shot wins $100,000.

Tristan moved through the sequence fast. Giannis got stuck when he missed his free throw while Tristan made his three and reached the half-court stage. Giannis eventually hit the free throw, and MrBeast predicted the champion's clutch instincts would bring him back. Tristan hit the half-court shot first, though, and won the race. Giannis admitted he was "so salty," and MrBeast noted that Tristan "came to Milwaukee and left with 100,000 in his pocket."

Steph Curry vs. a High School Shooter

MrBeast introduces Steph Curry as the greatest shooter on the planet and the NBA's all-time leader in three-pointers. His opponent is Demarrion, the best shooter at a high school, competing in front of his classmates. The handicap is time. Curry gets 30 seconds to make as many threes as he can, and Demarrion gets 60 seconds to beat that number. Before the contest, Demarrion said he preferred LeBron James to Curry, which MrBeast joked was a bad idea before facing him.

Curry started strong, missed a couple, and finished with 14 threes in 30 seconds. Demarrion started slowly, and MrBeast reminded him he still had double the time. He found a rhythm midway through but ended with 9, short of Curry's 14. He called the experience an honor. Curry chose the Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation for the $100,000.

Dan Ticktum vs. Ronnie in Single-Seater Race Cars

The motorsport contest puts Dan Ticktum, introduced as a two-time Formula champion, against MrBeast's friend Ronnie. Ronnie is not a Formula E driver, so he only has to complete three laps before Dan completes four. Ronnie could win $100,000. If Dan wins, the money goes to his charity. Ronnie went in looking for "redemption" and said he had lost $750,000 across earlier videos.

MrBeast describes the cars as among the fastest-accelerating single-seaters on the planet. He says that while doing a test lap for this video he hit the wall "at multiple Gs of force," so he did not blame Ronnie for being nervous. Ronnie said he was deliberately tuning out anything that might scare him.

Ronnie actually got the faster start, but Dan soon passed him easily. MrBeast's commentary says Dan was going about 200 miles per hour while Ronnie played it safe. When asked over the radio, Ronnie gave his speed as 112. By the time Dan finished his second lap, Ronnie had only completed his first. Dan lapped him and finished all four laps while Ronnie was still on his last. Dan celebrated by jumping into the money in front of Ronnie and chose Help for Heroes, which he described as a UK veterans' charity. Asked whether that made him feel better, Ronnie said, "Yeah, I guess so."

Damian Lillard vs. a Fan in a Packed Arena

This contest happens in front of almost 20,000 people, with what MrBeast calls the greatest NBA players of all time watching. Damian Lillard, introduced as one of only three players to score 70 or more points in a game, faces a randomly chosen fan. The fan wins $100,000 if he makes one shot before Lillard makes three.

Lillard missed his first attempt. The fan missed his first try too. Lillard then made two shots, which left him one away from winning. During the exchange, the fan was told to "just shoot as high as you can." The fan then made his shot and won. He called the moment "surreal" and thanked his dad.

Aaron Judge vs. Chandler in a Home Run Derby

The baseball contest is the longest in the video, and the handicap almost doesn't matter. Aaron Judge, introduced as a two-time MVP and six-time All-Star, faces Chandler, a member of MrBeast's crew. MrBeast jokingly hypes Chandler as a "Division 2 juggernaut." Chandler says he has one career home run. MrBeast says Judge has about 300 and that no one in baseball has hit more home runs over the past five years. To even things out, Judge gets 10 swings and Chandler gets 20.

Judge hit 5 home runs in his 10 swings, with some near misses that landed on the warning track. One ball "dinged the top of the fence," and after some debate it was counted. That meant Chandler needed 6 home runs to win $100,000.

Chandler's swings mostly went sideways or stayed in the park. One hit a telephone pole, one was caught by the first baseman, and one would have been a double in the gap. When Chandler asked Judge for tips, Judge immediately said no. Chandler replied that he wasn't 6'8". After 13 swings he still had no home runs, and MrBeast acknowledged that Chandler's chances of catching up were slim.

MrBeast then changed the deal. If Chandler hit just one home run, he would give "each of you" $100,000. He pointed out that Big Justice had once hit five home runs and argued that Chandler, the "King of Clutch," could manage one. Chandler came close several times, hitting the warning track and then the wall, and said he was getting tired. His last swing fell short by about two feet. Judge chose the All Rise Foundation. Chandler joked that he was glad the money went to the kids and that this was why he hadn't hit any.

A World-Record Breath-Holder vs. Five Contestants

The next contest replaces the dollar prize with a new Lamborghini. Five contestants must hold their breath longer, combined, than one man introduced as the world-record breath-holder. He said he started at 48 and is now 60. The contestants thought they would need to beat about five minutes and were told "you guys got it." Then MrBeast mentioned the next 20 minutes, and they realized the target might be much longer. One contestant said he couldn't swim.

The breath-holder did breathing exercises before going under and then stayed calm. The contestants panicked. One came up after 23 seconds, and by the one-minute mark they were already on their third person. Before long everything depended on the last one, and the others shouted at him to stay down. He came up too, and the group's combined total was 3 minutes and 13 seconds. MrBeast confirmed that the breath-holder was fine. According to the video, he went on to hold his breath for 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

Joey Chestnut vs. Four Sumo Wrestlers

Joey Chestnut, whom MrBeast jokingly calls the winner of "literally every hot dog eating contest ever," faces four sumo wrestlers with a combined weight of more than 1,500 pounds. Whichever side eats more hot dogs in 10 minutes wins $100,000.

Chestnut quickly pulled ahead. After one minute he had eaten 10 hot dogs, while the four wrestlers together had eaten 4. MrBeast calculated that each wrestler was eating at about a tenth of Chestnut's speed. At two and a half minutes the count was 20 for Chestnut and 11 for the wrestlers. One wrestler said he was full. Chestnut finished with 46 hot dogs and the sumo team with 33. He chose Gleaners Food Bank in Indiana, which he said makes sure kids don't go hungry.

The Grand Finale: Neymar vs. Higor for $500,000

MrBeast says he has given away almost a million dollars by this point. The finale raises the stake to $500,000. Neymar is introduced with 28 championship wins, an Olympic gold medal, and the title of Brazil's all-time leading goal scorer. He faces Higor. If Higor wins, the money goes to his bank account, and if Neymar wins, it goes to Neymar's chosen charity. Neymar teased him right away with "Sorry, you lose!"

The format starts as a penalty shootout. Whenever both players score, they move 15 feet back. This continues until one scores and the other misses, all the way down the pitch if needed. Neymar won rock-paper-scissors and shot first. Both scored easily from the first four stations, and after one shot MrBeast noted that Neymar tied his shoe and seemed to be taking things seriously. MrBeast's narration says that the fifth station and beyond is what "separates the average from the elite."

At one station, one of Neymar's shots curved out and then back into the goal. Neymar said he loved the pressure, but when asked how this compared with the World Cup, he said the World Cup was more pressure. MrBeast handed Higor the half-million dollars to hold for motivation.

The next exchange is hard to follow from the video. Higor's shot apparently missed. The rule was that Neymar then had to score, and if he also missed, it would be a reshoot. A condition was added that the goal would only count if it hit the crossbar and went in, which MrBeast presents as Neymar's own choice. Neymar shot without hesitating, which MrBeast called "the most nonchalant thing I've ever seen." He also said Higor was "lucky Neymar is a forgiving man," and the contest continued.

At the next station Neymar shot first and scored. Higor looked like he might be in trouble, and Neymar started coaching him, telling him where to aim. Higor scored.

The decisive round came at midfield. Neymar's shot looked like a goal at first, but when everyone went to check, the ball was resting on the line. MrBeast first thought it counted because most of the ball was over the line. Neymar and the others explained that the whole ball must cross, so it was ruled no goal. That meant Higor would win if he scored. Shooting from midfield with $500,000 at stake, Higor scored, won the money, and celebrated with Neymar. The video ends with a nonsensical gag involving whales and a request to subscribe.