Mack's Third Shot: Six Obstacle Courses, 200 Feet Up, for $800,000

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Overview

In this video, MrBeast (Jimmy) builds what he calls "the most deadly obstacle course in the world" and gives one contestant, his friend Mack, a final chance at a big prize. Mack has to complete six separate obstacle courses, most of them hundreds of feet in the air. Finishing all six wins $800,000. Jimmy says each course will be harder than the one before.

10 min read

Who Mack Is and Why This Is a "Final Chance"

Partway through the video, Jimmy explains that Mack was a contestant in two earlier challenge videos and lost both. Over those videos Mack lost $700,000 and then $800,000, which Jimmy later totals as $1.5 million. Jimmy says Mack became "a massive crowd favorite," so this video is a last opportunity to "redeem himself and win this money once and for all." Jimmy also says that if Mack loses this time, he won't be brought back. That stakes the video as the end of a trilogy, and Mack refers several times to past losses, especially the final cookie challenge that ended a previous attempt.

0:06

Level One: Platform Jumps Among Swinging Hammers

The first course is a series of jumps between small, shaking platforms hundreds of feet up, with swinging hammers in between. A miss drops Mack into a net far below; Jimmy later describes the fall as the same 100-foot free fall used in level two. Jimmy, standing on a stable platform, says even he finds it scary. The last jump is the hardest one. It has double swinging hammers and the longest distance, and Mack says he doesn't know if he can jump that far. Mack makes it and starts celebrating. Jimmy says this was "the easiest of the six obstacle courses."

1:28

Level Two: Monkey Bars Without a Harness

Level two is higher still. Mack has to cross using one of two childhood games, a balance beam or monkey bars. Jimmy also tells Mack to take the harness off. A failure means a 100-foot free fall into a net, and the $800,000 "will burn." Mack picks the monkey bars. Jimmy notes that once Mack hangs from the first bar there's no going back. The gaps between bars widen as the course goes on. Jimmy's crew tells Mack to keep looking toward the money, and Mack reaches the other side.

3:52

Level Three: Crossing a 44-Tile Pattern From Memory

Jimmy says level three is meant to test Mack's brain rather than his strength, and he calls it "potentially your worst nightmare." While Mack holds down a red button, a pattern lights up on the floor. Mack has to cross the floor stepping only on the green tiles, with the button released and the pattern hidden, so the whole route comes from memory. Mack gets 30 minutes to memorize the 44-tile pattern. One step on a red square sets off a rigged explosion that destroys the money. Mack is given a riot shield for protection.

Progress is slow in the rain. After about five minutes, Karl points out that Mack has managed roughly one tile per minute and is still near the start, with more than 30 tiles to go. Asked how confident he is about a step, Mack answers "not," then "kind of confident." At one point Mack asks Jimmy which way to go, and Jimmy asks whether Mack really wants him to help win his own money.

As Mack got deeper into the course, the narration says, each attempt took at least six minutes, and he kept forgetting the very end of the pattern. With nine minutes left, Mack reaches what he calls "uncharted territory." Jimmy asks if Mack remembers how losing the earlier prizes felt, and suggests checking the button once more. Mack goes back to the start for a last look and spends about half of the remaining time repeating the sequence aloud. Mack starts the final run with under four minutes left. The time drops below three minutes, then to ten seconds, and the group yells at Mack to just jump. Mack lands on the final tile with about two seconds to spare. Jimmy makes a half-finished remark about what would have happened on a red tile and then moves on.

8:47

Level Four: A Water Course and a Chocolate Bar

Level four is on the ground, a water obstacle course that Jimmy compares to Wipeout. He calls the obstacles nearly impossible in "your one and only attempt" and offers two options. Mack can try the course once and lose everything on a fall into the water. Or Mack can hold a Feastables chocolate bar from Jimmy's own brand and get unlimited attempts, as long as he never drops it. Mack takes the bar. Jimmy says it was a good decision, because Mack would have lost within the first two steps.

The log roll takes many tries; Jimmy later says Mack fell off one rolling log six times in a row. A gap-crossing obstacle also gives Mack trouble, and Jimmy demonstrates it himself and falls into the water. The last part is a row of large red balls. Jimmy says the balls are much harder than the rest of the level and that other creators who tested them "didn't do too hot." Mack falls over and over, specifically failing to grab the third ball. The narration says it took about three hours, and the sun is coming up by the time Mack gets on. Mack finishes and presses the end button while still holding the bar.

12:58

Level Five: Three Rolling Logs at 200 Feet

Jimmy says level five was built around Mack's weak spots. Mack has struggled with balance in past videos, turned down the balance beam in level two, and fell repeatedly on a single rolling log in level four. Here Mack has to cross three rolling logs and carry all eight bags of money to the other side, and one fall means losing everything. Jimmy then has Mack pull a lever, and the whole setup rises to 200 feet.

Mack says he's scared and expects to lose everything again. Mack points out that he couldn't cross this exact kind of obstacle on the Wipeout-style course, falling about five times, and now there are three of them in the sky. Before starting, Mack thanks Jimmy for a third chance. Jimmy jokes that Mack mostly just yelled at him, and suggests the thank-you might be stalling.

After the first successful crossing, Jimmy reveals one more rule. Once across, Mack can move on to the final course with whatever money he has already carried, or go back for more. Mack asks what to do. Karl pushes Mack to keep going, and Mack later says he's continuing because Karl said so. Several trips follow. At one point Karl is throwing bags of money across the gap, and Jimmy remarks that each throw is worth $100,000. With $600,000 already across, Jimmy offers a last choice: stop and play the final level for $600,000, or go back for the last $200,000 and risk all of it. Mack goes back, gets frustrated after nearly falling on one crossing, and then brings the last bags across. All $800,000 makes it.

19:05

The Final Level: Obstacle Course or Umbrella Cookie

Mack is blindfolded again and taken back up for what Jimmy calls "by far the most insane obstacle course in this entire video." Because of everything Mack has been through, including "spiders, drowning, boulders, lasers, and of course, cookies," Jimmy offers an alternative: complete an umbrella cookie challenge instead of the course and win the $800,000. Mack says he has had "actual, legitimate nightmares about this cookie" and refuses. Jimmy reminds Mack that this cookie challenge already cost him $1.5 million, and that losing now would mean $2.3 million lost with no future attempts. Mack throws the cookie away and picks the course.

The course is a series of linked stages:

  • Trapeze bars to a yellow platform. Two trapeze bars lead to a platform, and Jimmy says the level ends only when Mack finishes or falls. Jimmy then reveals that Mack's mom and dad are below, watching.
  • The "Wall of Death." Jimmy says this stage involves some strategy: Mack can climb up and down or go straight across. Mack complains that the handles are very small and that his arms are tired.
  • A rotating circle. Jimmy says this stage is all about the dismount, because letting go too early means falling. He also warns Mack to save strength, since "the hardest is still yet to come."
  • Giant swinging hammers over a balance beam. Mack crosses the beam while dodging the hammers.
24:07

The Cookie Jumps

The last part of level six brings the cookies back as obstacles. Mack complains that Jimmy has now brought them back twice. The finale is a series of jumps onto cookie-shaped platforms with trapeze bars between them and 200 feet of untethered free fall below. Each jump is longer than the last, and Jimmy says the cookies get "exponentially smaller" each time. There are four jumps in all.

Mack nearly falls on the first and biggest cookie. On a later jump, the trapeze bar is out of reach, so Mack has to leap for it in midair. Jimmy warns Mack not to swing too long and to save strength for the umbrella. When Mack lands on the star, Jimmy asks if its crack reminds Mack of anything, and calls these cookies the ones that "have broken you just as much as you have broken them."

The final jump to the umbrella is twice as far as the one before it. Jimmy frames it as do-or-die: either Mack wins $800,000 or "the saga ends." Jimmy says there are 60 seconds left. The jump appears to go wrong at first, and Mack calls himself "such an idiot" and asks "I did that twice?" Then Mack lands it, and the crew erupts.

What Mack Plans to Do With the Money

Holding prize money for the first time across the three videos, Mack is asked how he'll spend the $800,000. Mack says he has three childhood friends who "don't have a lot of money," and wants to make sure they don't have to worry about money anymore. Mack adds that his own life has changed. Mack celebrates with his mom and family, and Jimmy closes by saying he has "never been so happy to lose $800,000."