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Chained to Five Strangers for $250,000: Alison's 30-Day Trust Game

MrBeast ミスタービースト · ▶ 34:55 · 13 min read
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Overview

The premise, as host Jimmy lays it out, is simple: Alison will spend thirty days handcuffed to strangers, and if she gets through it she wins $250,000. The catch is that the stranger chained to her at the end will have the chance to steal the whole prize. Alison picks each partner on looks alone, without speaking to them first. The video tracks whether she can work out, from days of forced closeness, who will actually split the money.

13 min read

Alison is not new to these challenges. The video notes she has already won $250,000 in an earlier challenge she refers to as being "in the sky," and several strangers bring that up when deciding what to do.

Day 1: Choosing the Biker

Alison takes off her blindfold to find three options: a granny, a biker, and a gym bro. Jimmy reminds her that whoever is chained to her at the end can steal the prize. She picks the biker, without knowing his name. He introduces himself as Bryce.

Jimmy shows them a small house with a kitchen and living room. The rules are that they can't step over a red line painted outside, and they can't take off the handcuffs. Hidden cameras cover the house except the bathroom. Jimmy then tells viewers what Alison doesn't yet know: Bryce won't be her only partner, and every stranger she's chained to will get a chance to steal the money.

Bryce tells Alison he hopes they split. Alone on camera, he says he is "strongly, strongly leaning towards stealing." Alison says she suspects Bryce is trying to seem very trustworthy so he can steal. She also says she has nothing to complain about compared with her previous challenge. Bryce, for his part, tells the camera that $250,000 is a lot of money but he still doesn't think he could steal it, and adds that Alison can hear him say he won't steal and still has to hope he isn't lying. The video doesn't reconcile his two statements, and that contradiction carries through to the finale.

Day 5: The First Twist and the Cheerleader

On day five a limo arrives carrying three new strangers: a college cheerleader, a pregnant woman, and a lawyer. Jimmy explains the new structure. Every five days, Alison will be chained to a new stranger, again picked on looks alone. On day 25 he will bring all of them back, and she must decide which one she trusts most not to steal.

Alison and Jimmy reason through the options aloud. Alison says she doesn't trust the lawyer and points to his grin. Jimmy says the pregnant woman "look[s] very nice" but has more reason to want the money. They guess the cheerleader probably has student debt and that the lawyer might be rich enough not to need it. Jimmy reminds her she could go home with nothing. She chooses the cheerleader, Skyler, and Bryce leaves.

The mood changes immediately. Skyler brings eye patches for a "spa day," and the two run away from each other back-to-back as a test, which mostly turns into laughing. Jimmy notes that at first they don't talk about the money at all. Skyler tells the camera that "the game is for her to trust me" and she plans to keep playing it the way she has been. When they do talk about the prize, Skyler says she would ask her dad to teach her how to invest it, because if she waited until she was old to make money, he might not be around to share the experience.

Jimmy then shows a slip-up. While celebrating, Skyler shouts "One step closer to 250K!" and immediately says it was an accident and that she "told my secret." This clip returns at the decisive moment of the finale.

Day 10: Merging into the Grocery Store Video

The day-ten twist, which Jimmy calls bigger than the first, starts with the red line being painted over. The next five days won't be in the house. Alison and Skyler are driven to a grocery store set from another of the channel's videos, in which four people have to eat all the food in the store to win $1 million. Jimmy calls this "the Beast Multiverse," the first time the channel has merged two videos.

Skyler is released, and Alison chooses among the four grocery-store contestants. When she asks who wouldn't want to be chained for the money, one of them says he's fine with $125,000 and wouldn't steal, and says none of them would. She notices that Juan has been quiet and picks him.

Alison joins the contestants' workouts, which they do to burn off what they eat, and says she has lots of energy after ten days in the cramped house. She also tries to help them eat food they don't like, including a juice made from nothing but cauliflower, which the boys find disgusting.

Their conversations about the money are the emotional center of this section. Juan tells her he has never stolen anything, "no food, no money, nothing," that he has six kids, and that the money is all for his family. Alison says she feels the same, because her dad was recently diagnosed with dementia. He took care of the whole family, and she wants to give back to them because they need it more than she does. On camera she says Juan doesn't have "a bad bone in his body," loves everyone, and reminds her of her dad. She adds that she trusted all the grocery-store guys, but the goal is to find the most trustworthy.

Near the end of this stretch, Jimmy asks whether she wants to go back to the tiny house. She says she hopes not, and he asks if she wants him to destroy it. She says yes.

Day 15: The Cowboy and the Plane

The next lineup is a fighter, a cowboy, and a sumo wrestler. Alison picks the cowboy, Jason, and Juan returns to his challenge. Jimmy then reveals the twist: they drop a plane on the tiny house, citing Alison's earlier request. The crashed plane becomes their home for five days, sealed inside a newly painted circle. Inside, everything is badly tilted, and Alison doesn't know how they'll sleep.

When Jimmy visits and asks whether Jason would split the money if chosen, Jason answers, "As of right now, I would." Jimmy grants a wish he'd offered the day before by delivering an exercise bike. Jason describes his plan for the money as a kids' cowboy camp with sheep for small children and junior bulls for 13- and 14-year-olds. Alison tells the camera she's waiting for him to say outright that he won't steal. If he can't, she says, she won't be able to rank him above the people she's already been chained to.

Day 20: The Basketball Player and the Promise Tattoo

On day twenty, crew member Majd presents the last lineup: a rock star, a fisherman, and a professional basketball player. Alison chooses the basketball player, Brie, and Jason leaves. They are sent into a second crossover, the sequel to one of the channel's most popular videos, in which a couple is trying to lose 150 pounds before their wedding. Alison and Brie share the couple's facilities, train on a tennis court, and Brie offers to teach her to be "the next female Harlem Globetrotter."

On camera, Alison calls Brie a cool, talkative, athletic person. Brie is blunter in private: she doesn't know Alison well, Alison has already won $250,000, and "she's gonna have to convince me to NOT take the 250." Jimmy says Brie is already going for the steal and asks whether Alison will sniff it out. Asked what she would do with the money, Brie says family first. She would try to help her aunt, who has been homeless for a while, and says "this isn't about me."

Alison says the two have great vibes but that Brie needs to do more if she wants to be the last person. She says that in Brie's place she would dig in and find out where Alison's head is. Brie asks the couple what she should do. When she asks if they'd split 100%, one says they would have to think about it. Jimmy checks in with both women. Alison notes Brie hasn't said she wouldn't steal. Brie then tells the camera, "I'm a competitor," and that she's about to make Alison sure she can trust her.

She does it by revealing a tattoo that says "promise" and promising she won't take the money. Alison says Brie is the first stranger to promise she won't steal, and that picking her would feel like a guaranteed win. In private, Brie jokes the tattoo "might have to go."

The night before the decision, Alison breaks down. She says it feels unfair that she can only pick one person when she truly trusts many of them, and that everyone's stories seem valid and the choice will affect people's lives. The couple tell her there is no wrong choice and that it comes down to gut feeling.

Day 25: The Button and the Payout Ladder

On day 25, Jimmy jokingly suggests the decision is that day, then says she has five days to decide. Everyone is blindfolded and brought to the back of the grocery store, which is why Juan can be there while still in his own challenge. Jimmy explains she can press a button to start sending people home, or take up to five more days to question them. Alison presses it before he finishes.

That forces him to reveal the rule he was saving: all five strangers have already locked in their split-or-steal decisions. Eliminated contestants will receive increasing amounts: $10,000 for the first, $20,000 for the second, $30,000 for the third, and $40,000 for the fourth. Each decision is revealed as a green (split) or red (steal) light when Jimmy cuts that person's chain. Alison says it makes her feel better that everyone leaves with something.

The strangers make their final statements. Bryce says he didn't steal and that he and Alison promised each other. Skyler and Juan say no. Jason says he appreciates Alison trusting him. Jimmy points out she hasn't trusted him yet, and Alison says he was the one person she had doubts about. Jason says he didn't steal, and that he's a bad liar and didn't want to pretend early on. Brie says everyone's stories matter equally and it comes down to who Alison connected with most.

Eliminations One and Two: Two Red Lights

Alison says she'll go from least to most trustworthy. She eliminates Jason first, because he was the only one in the lineup who never flatly said he wouldn't take the money. Jason's light is red. He says he chose to steal, adding that he had said "unless things change," and that he came to win first, not second. Jimmy points out that if Jason had been the last one, he would have taken all $250,000 and Alison would have gotten nothing.

Next is Brie, for $20,000. Alison says she honestly thinks Brie stole, and that her biggest fear is sending Juan home and then seeing a red light. Brie admits she made promises but says "sometimes you gotta break the promise," and her light is red. Asked about the tattoo, she says it really stands for promises she makes to herself and her family, but she had to "make it sound a little more interesting." Other contestants say they saw it coming.

Elimination Three: Juan Steps Aside

With $30,000 next, Bryce makes his case. He says "promising and swearing doesn't mean anything" because "everybody just lies," that he did everything he could to earn her trust, that he won't beg, and that he'll be her friend either way. He says he chose green. He took her word, he says, and believes she took his, and "karma comes back tenfold." Alison calls it a powerful sentence and says her gut tells her he didn't steal, though what she's seen still makes her uneasy.

She then eliminates Juan. She believes he didn't steal and explains that the two of them had agreed on it. Juan told her any amount would be fine, and Jimmy notes he could still win the grocery store challenge. Alison describes it as an act from her and Juan to help the other two get more money. Jimmy says he doesn't know if he's ever seen someone sacrifice like this. Juan's light is green. Alison says that if she's right, the other two lights will be green as well.

The Final Cut: Bryce or Skyler

Over a day passes before Alison presses the button again, and Jimmy jokes that he has other videos to film. Alison says she'll feel better going home knowing she took time to decide. She says she honestly thinks both remaining people have green lights, which makes it harder.

As she weighs it, she replays Skyler's day-five outburst, "One step closer to 250K!", and then says, "Sorry, Bryce. I have to choose her," eliminating Bryce for $40,000. Before the reveal, she says he wouldn't be there if she thought his light was red, since she would have kept Juan instead. His light is red. Jimmy tells her she owes Juan an apology.

The Last Curtain

Jimmy describes Alison as having been in control the whole video: she chose each partner, who went home, and the order. If Skyler and the money are behind the curtain when it drops, they split. If not, Alison gets nothing. He notes it's possible every contestant except Juan chose to steal. Alison says she's nervous after Bryce but still feels Skyler split.

The curtain drops on Skyler and the money. Both women go home with $125,000 in cash. Jimmy closes with: "Sometimes strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

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