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MrBeast Gathers 50 Early YouTube Creators to Compete for $1,000,000 for Their Subscribers

MrBeast ミスタービースト · ▶ 32:01 · 14 min read
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Overview

To mark his channel reaching 500 million subscribers, Jimmy (MrBeast) brought together 50 creators he calls "YouTube legends," the people he says built the platform and whom he watched growing up. They stood in one large cube and played a series of elimination games. The last one standing would win one million dollars to give to their subscribers. Jimmy presents the video as a way of "giving back to those who inspired me," and most of the games are based on old YouTube trends.

14 min read

A reunion of the channels he grew up on

Jimmy describes the group as the equivalent of today's Speed and Kai Cenat, "but of like ten years ago." Someone in the room corrects it to fifteen. He says that if you had looked at his subscriptions on his computer when he was seventeen, "it's basically this cube." Several contestants say it feels like a reunion, and one compares it to "some sort of weird high school reunion."

The opening introductions are mostly nostalgia and teasing. Jimmy reminds the FaZe members that they turned him down when he tried to join as a small YouTuber. One of them admits "we fumbled the bag there," and Jimmy asks if he can join now. A creator who was once the fifth most subscribed channel on YouTube calls themself "probably the biggest fall-off in this whole box," maybe ever. Jimmy introduces Fred as the first channel to reach a million subscribers, and points to the Call of Duty creators who, he says, "ran YouTube 15 years ago."

The most notable guest is Chad, whom Jimmy introduces as one of YouTube's co-founders. Chad describes his role this way: "I created the stage, and they brought the talent." Jimmy replies that without YouTube he would "be working at Walmart right now."

Round one: five Lamborghinis, one made of cake

The floor changes to show five Lamborghinis. One of them is a cake. Players have to stand next to a real car, and everyone at the cake is eliminated. People started running before Jimmy finished explaining the rules.

The contestants mostly couldn't tell which car was fake. Different people were sure it was two, three, four, or five. One player, who said they knew nothing about cars but did know cake, thought number two looked "particularly delicious." Another worried about how car two reflected light. The Corridor Digital group concluded it was car four, because its windows "are not as shiny" and "not reflecting the light as much as the other ones."

When Corridor Digital left their spot to look more closely, another player took it. That started a chain of spot-stealing. Roman Atwood took a spot, then Dude Perfect, then Philip DeFranco. At the reveal, car four was the cake. The players there said they had guessed it was wrong "but we were TRAPPED here." Philip DeFranco's steal turns out to matter later, because the swap is what kept them in the game.

Water bottle flips by team

The remaining players were sorted into four color-coded teams of ten. Jimmy calls water bottle flipping "arguably one of the biggest trends in YouTube history," and notes that Dude Perfect has over a billion views on bottle-flip trick shots. A Dude Perfect member told their team that the worst mistake is to "under-rotate the bottle." Players went up one at a time and kept trying until they landed a flip. The first three teams to get all ten members through would advance, and the last team would be eliminated.

Jimmy spent the round heckling people he grew up watching. He told Casey that Casey's vlogs had been "a big inspiration" and that Casey was "letting childhood me down" while Casey kept missing. Lloyd from Epic Rap Battles of History and Evan Fong of Vanoss took their turns too. Jimmy played one of Evan's songs, since Evan makes music now, while Vanoss struggled with the flip. Teammates kept yelling for "more flick." Orange finished first. Green and pink were close behind. Then blue, which had been in last place, recovered when Ali-A made a late flip, and the round came down to Bailey, who landed the last flip.

Blue was eliminated. One teammate complained about never getting a turn ("I didn't even get to FLIP!"). Jimmy said he hated watching people he grew up with lose, and he reacted to Fousey going out with "Who's gonna prank everyone?"

Finding five humans among the mannequins

During a break, the contestants heard strange noises from behind curtains and guessed it might be a hearing test or that the crew was "messing with us." The curtain then dropped to show hundreds of mannequins. Five of them were real people. The first fifteen players to enter all five correct numbers would advance, and the other fifteen would be eliminated.

Jimmy made it easier by playing the Harlem Shake. When the beat dropped, the five humans would move slightly. A contestant asked if the song was copyrighted, and Jimmy said they had "reached out, and we got the rights."

Nobody played alone. Groups split up to cover different parts of the room, and one group agreed to sweep clockwise so they wouldn't check the same mannequins twice. The answers were also easy to copy. One player said they were "just taking answers off people." Others watched someone enter number forty-two and typed it in themselves. A player who wasn't on a team ran back to grab an answer and took the last spot from someone who was. Jelly also got through.

Goodbyes to the people who were eliminated

Many well-known creators were eliminated in the mannequin round, and Jimmy's reactions show the nostalgia behind the video. He called one eliminated player "the number one trick shotter to ever live" and another "the number one vlogger." He asked one creator whether they were coming back or "just disappearing for another five years." They answered, "I'm out, bro." He also said goodbye to Smile More, the FaZe players, the Vanoss crew, the group he called "Clown gang" ("my childhood"), and Casey. One eliminated player tried to sneak back in, got noticed, and left.

Floor is lava, handcuffed in groups of three

The final fifteen played Floor is Lava, with one twist: they had to handcuff themselves into groups of three, and they picked their own groups. Each group had two circles. They stepped onto one circle, placed the other ahead, and repeated until they reached the far side. If anyone in a group touched the lava, the whole group was eliminated. The first two groups to cross would advance. All the players wore helmets. Jimmy explained this by pointing out that one contestant had fallen earlier. Another contestant had made a Floor is Lava video "like, 6-7" years earlier.

The groups used different methods. Philip DeFranco's group stood together on one circle, pushed the other one forward, and moved across. Ali-A carried a teammate on his back. Marques's group tried to scoot. Marques's group and Jacksfilms's group fell far behind. One group decided not to rush so they wouldn't make a mistake that let another group win. One group crossed first, and then Jelly's group and Coby's group raced for the second spot.

The finish was too close to call, so the crew reviewed the footage. It showed Ali-A crossing and Chad accidentally touching the lava. Jimmy announced that "the co-founder of YouTube himself has been eliminated." Before Chad left, Jimmy thanked Chad for creating the platform. Jimmy said YouTube had let everyone there change their lives and connect with billions of people.

The eliminated players become the judges

Jimmy then met the eliminated contestants, who were waiting together in a lounge. He told them they would all come back for the final challenge and decide who won. One of them said they were "kind of willing to do anything for a million dollars at this point."

The Sidemen's challenge: the world's hottest chip

With six players left, Jimmy said that not every YouTube legend could attend, so he had asked the Sidemen to choose the next challenge. He mentioned that KSI was still in the Sidemen when the clip was recorded and has since left. Jimmy said he wasn't sure what to do about that and decided to use the clip anyway. The Sidemen's choice was the world's hottest chip, which Jimmy described as over two million units on the Scoville scale.

The rules: two players stand on opposite sides of a podium. One player privately chooses to eat either the hot chip or a regular chip. The other player guesses which one it was. A correct guess sends the guesser through and eliminates the eater. A wrong guess does the opposite. The player with the oldest public upload chooses whether to eat or guess, and also chooses their opponent.

May had the oldest upload. May chose to eat and picked Ali-A as the opponent "'cuz you're in the middle." May took a big bite and kept a poker face. Ali-A thought May looked like they were "focusing TOO hard" on seeming fine, but in the end went with "the logical answer" and guessed the regular chip. That was right, so May was out.

Cute Girls Hairstyles had the next oldest upload. Jimmy said "a generation of women grew up learning how to style their hair from her." Cute Girls Hairstyles didn't want to eat and chose Jelly, who had said about spicy food, "I don't mind it." Jelly ate the whole chip without visibly reacting: no sweating, no tears. Jelly said they had wanted to be the one eating, and added, "I get a video. We're all winnin'!" Cute Girls Hairstyles guessed the regular chip. It was the hot one. Jelly then said it "was pretty hot" and asked for milk.

The last matchup was JC against Philip DeFranco. JC's oldest video is from 2010 and Phil's is from 2017, so JC chose, and JC had Phil eat because they didn't want "to go through what he's goin' through." Jimmy offered chocolate milk from his own brand during the round. When asked whether he was promoting his product or trying to trick someone into drinking it, he said "a little bit of both." JC noticed that Phil kept closing his mouth and had glossy eyes but wasn't really sweating. JC also reasoned from the earlier rounds: the first chip was regular and the second was hot, so JC guessed this one was regular. Phil had eaten the hot chip and said, "I was on Hot Ones, man. It was easy."

The finalists and the final game

Ali-A, Jelly, and Philip DeFranco made the final. They described how they might give away the money. Ideas included gaming equipment and consoles for people who can't afford them, $20,000 each to fifty people, giving away $50,000 at a time, and rebuilding this whole video inside a video game for a community to compete in.

The final game was Minecraft. Jimmy calls it the most popular video game in the world and the subject of the first video on his channel, and says it "shaped the platform into what it is today." The finalists had one hour to build the best house they could out of physical Minecraft-style blocks. Then the eliminated YouTubers would vote, and the build with the most votes would win. The experience gap was big. Two finalists estimated about 2,000 Minecraft videos each. Phil said they had made zero.

Phil said their son, who loves gardening, would be happy to see rose bushes. Phil also admitted the kids "run circles around me" in the game and that they had underestimated how long it takes to put blocks together. At the halfway point, Jimmy said Ali's build was "getting there," Phil had "a fortress," and Jelly "maybe has a tree." Neither Jimmy nor Jelly could say what it was yet. During the build, Jimmy stepped away to meet Neal, YouTube's CEO, who gave him a surprise in his channel's color to celebrate 500 million subscribers. Jimmy said he would save most of what he wanted to say for the end. Near the deadline, Jelly said the build was "little Jimmy the Bee's" house, because "if you build a regular house, it's harder to stand out." Ali-A thought their own build and Phil's were very close, said Jelly's was unique, and expected the result to "come down to personal taste."

The vote

CaptainSparklez cast the first vote. Jimmy calls CaptainSparklez arguably the most famous Minecraft YouTuber ever, and CaptainSparklez estimated about a year of total playtime in the game. Each finalist presented their build. Jelly showed a treehouse with a ladder and side entrance for foxes or squirrels. Ali-A showed a house with trees on either side and doors that close to keep mobs out overnight. Phil said they had maybe forty logged hours and that their son yelled at them for using the wrong wood. Phil called the build "pretty much our first build together." CaptainSparklez gave the vote to Ali-A for "the most impressive structure."

The rest of the votes split along the same lines. Some voters picked Ali-A for real "Minecraft architecture." Others picked Phil because of the connection with their son ("I gotta go with the feels"). One voter judged by how well each build would work in the game: the tree had torches that would make it burn down, the house had no interior lighting and would spawn zombies, and Phil's build "works." Another chose Phil simply for having the biggest house. Jelly got one vote out of 31. Jimmy joked that Jelly could leave now. Jelly said they had needed to do something unique to stand out "and it didn't work out." Phil and Ali-A were almost tied.

Jimmy eliminated Jelly first and then named Philip DeFranco the winner. Phil said they could hardly believe it, pointing out they had almost been eliminated in the first challenge. Phil plans to give the million to subscribers as $20,000 to each of fifty people.

Closing message from his childhood bedroom

The video ends in the bedroom where Jimmy started his channel with zero subscribers. He says this is part of why he made a video honoring the "OG YouTubers that came before me." As a kid in that room, he watched many of them every day. He thanks the 50 creators and calls them "super kind." He thanks his viewers too, saying their watching is what lets him build wells and feed people in need. He says that even if most viewers left and he were talking to ten people, he would still be "grinding YouTube," and that he will never take his audience for granted.

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