Search

Cop and Convict, 100 Days in a Mock Prison: How a $500,000 Pot Shrank, Split Them Apart, and Survived

MrBeast ミスタービースト · ▶ 39:35 · 13 min read
العربيةবাংলাDeutschEnglishespañolfrançaisहिन्दीIndonesiaitaliano日本語한국어മലയാളംमराठीਪੰਜਾਬੀpolskiportuguêsрусскийதமிழ்తెలుగుไทยTürkçeo‘zbekTiếng Việt简体中文
Open on YouTube ↗
Overview

MrBeast built a set modeled on a maximum-security prison and locked two strangers inside: Lenny, who says they spent 17 years as a police officer, and Ian, who served three years in federal prison. If both stayed 100 days, they would share $500,000. If either one walked out at any point, both would get nothing. Every ten days the "warden" made an offer that cost them prize money, divided them, or tested their trust. The video follows whether a cop and a former inmate could get through that together.

13 min read

The Setup and the First Days

The two met for the first time on day one. The warden's rules were three meals a day, lights out at the same time every night, and a wake-up call every morning, with cameras recording everything. Ian compared the set to real prison: the mattresses were "a little thicker," and they had pillows, which Ian said real prisons don't provide. Otherwise MrBeast called the set a 1:1 replica, down to the prison toilet.

Ian explained the conviction as fraud and money laundering. By their account, they borrowed from one person to pay another, lost everyone's money, and then lied about the losses. That left them $500,000 in debt, the same amount as the prize.

The first conflict was over the bottom bunk. Lenny claimed it by "elder respect," the prison custom that the older person chooses first. The second was snoring. Ian said Lenny's snoring kept them awake all night, then moved their bed to get away from it. The two still cooperated to fight boredom. They turned a bed frame into a basketball hoop and used it as a pull-up bar. Ian said they hadn't been athletic during their first prison stint and wanted to "turn a jail body into a beach body."

Lenny described how strange the reversal felt. After locking people up for a career, they now had someone else deciding when they slept, woke, and ate. Ian, by contrast, seemed at home.

Day 10: Paying for the Yard

MrBeast took them through a locked door to a recreation yard with a pull-up bar and a basketball hoop. It would be open one hour a day for the remaining 90 days, at a cost of $50,000 from the prize pool. They decided separately. If both accepted, both got the yard. If only one accepted, the $50,000 was still deducted, but only the person who said yes got access.

Ian struggled with it, saying they were tired of looking like the bad guy and that being the good guy for 90 days "kinda sucks." Both said yes. Lenny said their view of the money had "changed drastically." In their reasoning, passing up comforts could mean not making it to the end, and some money beats no money. Seeing the sun again, both called it worth the price. MrBeast remarked that one hour of daily recreation seemed to make them believe they could last 100 days.

Day 20: Kitchen or Yard

The prison food was a running complaint. Lenny called the "meatloaf" a defrosted frozen burger with gravy and said they hadn't known the people they arrested ate like this. MrBeast's day-20 offer was a fully stocked kitchen for cooking every meal, in exchange for giving up yard time.

One person had to decide for both, and Ian let Lenny choose. Lenny privately admitted preferring the food and wasn't sure what Ian would want, but kept the yard. Ian had predicted that choice and approved. A day later, neither regretted it.

During this stretch the two talked about family. Lenny said winning the money for their wife and family was the goal and that everyone was depending on them. Ian said they had gone a year without family while incarcerated, seeing their father once for two days and not seeing their mother or brother at all.

Day 30: One Library, Two Readers

The next locked room was a library with hundreds of books, magazines, a Bible, and an old computer that ran Tetris and Minesweeper. Access was free, but only one person could use it, for one hour a day over the remaining 70 days, and no books could leave the room. When Ian immediately tried to take a book out, MrBeast made them put it back.

Lenny handed the decision to Ian, since Ian had let Lenny decide the kitchen. But Lenny kept coming back to the Bible, which they said was the only thing that would get them through the next 70 days and was "not just for entertainment." Ian replied: "So because I'm not religious, it's an issue." Lenny denied saying that. The talk broke down, and at one point they floated taking no books at all.

When MrBeast returned, Lenny gave the library to Ian. Lenny explained that Ian had agreed to the yard without hesitation and accepted losing their own $25,000 share. Since the library was the only thing Ian had wanted, Lenny felt they owed it. Ian said they hadn't expected that from a cop and had been wrong.

Smuggling

On the first day with library access, Ian copied Bible quotes to share with Lenny. By the next morning Ian was testing the rules, first tearing out pages as "artwork" for the cell walls, then hiding whole books, including in the bathroom, and calling themselves "Smuggler Vic, the Smuggling Convict." The cell filled with smuggled material, and both enjoyed it despite the cameras.

Day 40: A Store Where Everything Costs $10,000

MrBeast opened a store stocked with items the two had mentioned on camera, priced at $10,000 each, from a $1 handball to a mystery box. Lenny went first and bought only the mystery box. Ian said they were nervous Lenny would be angry but spent $30,000 anyway, on items including colored pencils, paper, clippers, a sleep mask, earplugs, melatonin, and chocolate. Lenny initially said they would have bought those things themselves if they had needed them. Ian answered that they had gone to prison for spending a lot of money and "couldn't resist." The mystery box held $20,000, which partly made up the loss.

The purchases did help pass the time. They drew murals for the walls, made paper airplanes, and Lenny gave Ian a haircut. Lenny later admitted the earplugs and melatonin helped them sleep. What both still wanted most was contact with family.

Day 50: The Visit Becomes a Punishment

On day 50, MrBeast said both families were waiting outside on a prison bus and would have been let in for free. Then he played footage of Ian stuffing books into their pants, throwing books out of the library, and eventually walking out with them openly. Because of the rule-breaking, only one of them could see their family, and this would be the only visit before day 100.

Ian gave the visit to Lenny, and Lenny said Ian was honoring them as they had honored Ian. But Lenny also said on camera that Ian was "kinda also the reason why we're being punished." Ian took that as Lenny siding with the guards. MrBeast then confiscated the smuggled items and added a condition: Lenny's family could stay as long as Lenny wanted, but Ian would stay in solitary confinement until they left. Lenny's children ran to them, and one remarked on seeing their father in orange instead of blue. Meanwhile Ian, alone in solitary and listening to the reunion, grew angrier by the minute.

When Ian came out, they called Lenny "Lenny the Snitch" and accused Lenny of throwing them under the bus by calling the smuggling Ian's idea. Lenny answered that everything was on camera anyway. Ian argued that the books under the bed hadn't been discovered until then and that they should have stood united. Lenny warned Ian to watch what they said. Afterward they talked much less. Ian said they were depressed, had had enough, and wanted to go home, halfway through a challenge where one departure would cost both of them everything.

Day 60 and 70: An Offer They Refused, and Silence

MrBeast pitched the day-60 offer as something to bring them back together: an old TV with a VCR, a stack of old movies, and board games, for one hour a day at $30,000. Ian pointed out you can't finish a movie in an hour. Lenny wasn't interested in the movie selection and called it "a terrible deal." They turned it down. As the TV was wheeled out, MrBeast had Ian searched and found something hidden in Ian's underwear. MrBeast criticized Ian for seeking sympathy after already being punished once for breaking the rules.

Ian said they felt "brutalized every 10 days," with no family visit and not even a phone call, and noticed their own temper getting shorter. Lenny was frustrated by the constant complaining and worried Ian would quit. MrBeast held his biggest offer for day 80 and gave nothing on day 70 so they would have to repair the rift themselves. They didn't, at first. Ian kept the "Snitching Convict" jokes going. Lenny said being around Ian's negativity made them feel they would have no problem walking out early, and the two discussed taking a smaller payout to leave if offered. MrBeast said that with 20 days left, it looked like they were about to fail.

Day 80: Breaking a Boulder

The day-80 offer was a 2,000-pound boulder with a key inside that opened a box holding $100,000. Accepting meant paying $50,000 up front, then getting one hour a day for ten days to break the rock open. MrBeast told them they would only succeed by working together. They accepted.

The first hour ended with little progress, and one of them thought they had just lost $50,000. For the first four days Ian mostly cheered from the sidelines while Lenny swung. After a "very disappointing day," and with Lenny saying they had to work as a team, Ian changed approach the next morning and took over the hammer when Lenny tapped out. Big cracks gave them hope, but the sixth hour ended with nothing to show. They were swinging hundreds of times a day, and the threat of quitting if the $50,000 was lost came up again.

Ian then went to the library and found a book about rocks, tearing out the relevant pages. Its first suggestion, leverage, failed because the rock was too heavy to lift. With two days left, Ian found a picture showing a chisel driven into a weak point. That split the boulder in half, but the ninth hour ended before they reached the key, and they rated their chances at 50/50. In the final hour, with roughly ten minutes left, they dug the key out and won the $100,000. They celebrated as "Cop and con, baby. For life."

The Last Ten Days

MrBeast offered nothing on day 90 and told them something "especially brutal" was planned for day 99. On day 91, Ian's birthday, Lenny woke Ian with a surprise. Ian said it was their third birthday spent in prison, but at least they had a good bunkmate. Ian also used library access to steal the computer, which the two set up side by side in the cell, and they took extra rec time when told to come inside. MrBeast observed that what finally brought a cop and a criminal closer together was stealing. Ian said they liked seeing Lenny encourage rule-breaking. Lenny said they were glad to have experienced this as a police officer, to understand what it feels like on the other side of the fence, and had no regrets.

Day 99: The Button

Both said they expected to stay friends outside. MrBeast then put each in a separate solitary cell for 24 hours. Each cell had a button. Pressing it before time ran out meant leaving immediately with the entire $480,000 pool and the other person getting nothing. Neither would know whether the other had pressed it until the timer hit zero.

MrBeast pushed each of them. He reminded Lenny that Ian had stolen books and movies and had complained bitterly about solitary, and asked whether Lenny should press first. Lenny said they thought Ian would do it and that they'd press before Ian did. Lenny questioned trusting someone convicted of fraud with a button worth $480,000. Ian, who said they were afraid of tight spaces, covered the countdown clock with a garbage bag to avoid the anxiety.

Both considered the money. Ian said one push would pay off all their restitution and "fix everything in the past," and argued they had had a far worse 100 days than Lenny: no family visit and twice as much time in solitary. Lenny listed their kids' education, a new car, and possibly another house, but said they had put in as much work as Ian and that if Ian couldn't toughen up for 24 hours, it would show Ian's "convict ways" hadn't changed. Ian said there had been too many "doggings."

When the 24 hours ended, both were called to the middle of the prison behind black curtains. If both were there, they would split the pool evenly. If only one was there, the other had spent 100 days in prison for nothing. The curtains dropped and both were standing there. Neither had pressed the button. They each took $240,000, and their families were brought in to celebrate their release.

Article published