A Stuntman's $500,000 Run Through Seven Fire Traps

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Overview

The video asks one question: would someone risk burning alive for half a million dollars? Its subject is Eric, whom host Jimmy (MrBeast) introduces as a professional stuntman. Jimmy says the plan is to "push him to the max." Eric starts with $500,000 on the line and must get through seven fire-themed "death traps." Each trap can shrink the prize, grow it, or wipe it out. Eric's explanation for taking the risks comes out over the course of the challenge, and it shapes almost every choice he makes.

10 min read
0:14

Trap 1: Pulling Money From a Burning Building

The video opens with Eric inside a building that is on fire. The full $500,000 is behind him, split into 10 bags, and he has to carry them out while the room burns. The crew is frantic. Fire spreads around the door, someone shouts for Nolan to get the extinguisher, and a crew member warns that the house is about to collapse. At one point the money itself catches fire, and Eric's legs are set alight and have to be put out. He gets $250,000 out, half of the starting prize. The rest stays behind.

1:15

Trap 2: The Jump Over a Flaming Pond

Eric is led blindfolded onto a high platform above a pond of water that has been set on fire. Jimmy admits he did not know water could be lit until they filmed this. Three bags of cash hang in front of the platform. Each one is a possible new prize, and the bigger the amount, the farther the bag hangs from the platform. Eric has to run and jump for one. If he holds on, that bag's amount becomes his new prize pool. If he misses, he falls into the burning water.

Eric rejects the closest bag, which would have cut his prize by $100,000, as "too easy." Jimmy then removes the $250,000 option, which matched what he already had, and leaves only the $300,000 bag, about 10 feet out. Jimmy questions whether it is worth risking everything for an extra $50,000, and Eric admits he is second-guessing himself. Eric does a practice jump, and Jimmy says it was "nowhere near 10 feet." Eric still makes the real jump, catches the bag, holds on, and gets back. His prize becomes $300,000.

3:37

Trap 3: Calibrating a Human Cannon With Stunt Doubles

The third trap is a human-sized cannon. If Eric lands inside a yellow ring, he keeps his $300,000. If he lands in a separate ring of fire, Jimmy adds $50,000. If he misses both, he goes home with nothing. Eric says, "I'm a stunt guy. We're used to this kind of craziness."

To answer the obvious question of how to aim the thing, Jimmy gives Eric three stunt doubles to use as test dummies. Eric fires them one at a time and adjusts pitch, power, and direction. Jimmy explains the controls: a higher angle sends you farther, and the power works like a rubber band, so the farther the chair is pulled back, the farther you fly. If none of the three doubles hits the target, Jimmy says, Eric's own shot will be "up to complete chance."

Eric's stated plan is to find the setting for the safe $300,000 circle first and then work his way toward the fire. The first double, Orange, lands right in the middle of the yellow ring. For the second, Blue, Eric raises the power and lifts the angle slightly. Blue lands between the two rings, and Jimmy points out that the video would have been over if that had been Eric. For the last double, Red, Eric adds 10 to the power and leaves the angle alone. Red barely makes it into the fire ring. Eric then adds 5 more power, which he believes will put him in his "sweet spot."

Before Eric's own shot, Jimmy asks why he is pushing so hard for an extra $50,000. Eric says his dad's health has been "up and down" with cancer and other problems, and that he wants the money for his parents' retirement and health care. Jimmy says he would do the same for his mom. Eric fires with $300,000 riding on the shot and lands in the fire. His prize rises to $350,000.

8:28

Trap 4: Grappling Hook Versus a Falling Meteor

Eric is literally bagged and taken to the fourth trap. His money sits in a room full of real fireworks, and a meteor hangs above it that will be set on fire. He has five minutes to throw a grappling hook and drag as many bags as he can onto a truck bed. When the timer runs out, the meteor drops into the fireworks, and anything left behind explodes. Before starting, Jimmy adds another $50,000, so $400,000 is in the bags. Eric says he has never thrown a grappling hook. Jimmy stresses that he does not control the meteor, the fireworks are real, and the crew has to be behind blast shields when the timer ends.

Eric hooks a bag on his first throw, but the bags are heavy and slow to pull up. Burning material is dripping from the meteor, and the crew worries it could fall early. At the halfway point Eric has about $200,000 secured. Then things go badly. He keeps missing, a hook gets stuck and he has to switch to another, he steps on the line, and he loses more hooks. Jimmy tries to help with throws of his own and also misses. One throw bounces off wood lying on a bag. With just over a minute left, $150,000 is still in the room. Eric pulls in one more bag near the end, the fire burns through power cables, and everyone runs behind the shields. The meteor hits and the fireworks explode. Jimmy counts $100,000 as lost, which leaves Eric with $300,000.

13:16

Trap 5: Back in the Burning Room

Jimmy takes Eric back to the room from the opening, which Jimmy describes as the place where Eric lost $250,000. Eric says, "I hate this room." The room is set on fire again with Eric restrained inside. Jimmy will only cut him free if Eric says he likes Jimmy's new Jack Link's beef stick, so this trap doubles as a sponsor segment. Jimmy keeps asking more questions while the fire grows. Then he cuts Eric loose, and they carry the money out. Eric gets through with $300,000 intact. Jimmy calls this trap the easier one and warns that Eric will "probably" lose a lot of money in the next.

14:52

Trap 6: Chained to a Best Friend on a 50-Foot Tower

Before the challenge, Eric had named the person he would trust with his life and every dollar he has: his best friend, Pat. For trap six, Pat appears and the two are joined by a short chain, which Eric calls "not ideal." Together they must climb a 50-foot tower and collect six bags of money. An extra $50,000 waits at the top. Any bag they fail to grab is dropped and burned right away. If either of them falls at any point, the video ends and Eric loses everything.

They exchange "I love you, bro" and "I trust you" and start climbing. Pat calls out the moves: "Slow and easy," "I'm level, go." At one point Eric goes too fast while still holding a bag and Pat has to get his footing back. The platforms move, the bags are hard to unhook, and Eric has to ask for slack as the gaps widen higher up. Jimmy is impressed and says they are "crushing it." They get every bag, including the final $50,000, and reach the top, which brings Eric back to $350,000.

18:23

Trap 7: A Timed Obstacle Course of Fire

Jimmy calls the final trap the hardest in the video. It is an obstacle course with five stages, and Eric must finish in under 1 minute 5 seconds. Jimmy explains that number: four stuntmen ran the course beforehand, and their average time was 1:05. The planned stages are another cannon launch, jumps through rings of fire, swinging hammers, a swim under fire, and a run down a flaming hallway ending with a jump to grab the money before it drops and burns. Jimmy says this time there is no way to recover the money. Eric admits he has "a lot of hesitations" but says his stunt career has prepared him. His only question is whether he can have more time. Jimmy says no.

Safe zones are placed along the course, and the timer pauses whenever Eric stands on one. After the cannon launch and the swim to the first safe zone, he has 55 seconds left. He says he lost about 10 seconds and has a mouth full of water. At the rings of fire, Eric says he has walked into burning houses but never jumped through a fire ring. He makes the first ring, then falls into the water instead of going through, and Jimmy says this is exactly what he was worried about. Eric reaches the next safe zone with 42 seconds left and mentions a stubbed toe. Jimmy asks what the money would mean to him. Eric says it would change his life, that his parents' health and retirement are his "sole focus," and that they are why he is doing this.

The next stretch is a set of platforms that float on the water instead of being fixed down, which makes them unstable. Eric crosses them with 34 seconds left, though Jimmy doubts it will be enough. Then comes the swim under the flames. Eric gets goggles and says he wishes he were a stronger swimmer. Jimmy warns that the distance is long and that coming up for air would cost a lot of time. For a while the crew loses sight of Eric underwater. He comes up, grabs the rope, and stops the clock with 17 seconds left.

23:41

The Hall of Flames

For the last stage, Eric puts on a fireproof suit and gloves, since he will be running straight through fire. Jimmy says the suit will hold off the flames "for a bit." Eric points out that he has spent the whole day avoiding fire and now has to run into it. Jimmy remarks that Eric has seemed fearless all along, but that for the first time in the video he can tell Eric is actually scared of losing his money.

Eric leaves the safe zone, runs through the hall of flames, and grabs the money. He catches fire himself, and the crew shouts to put him out. Jimmy then announces that Eric has officially won $350,000.