MrBeast & Amazon Hit With Lawsuit By ‘Beast Games’ Contestants Alleging Sexual Harassment & Emotional Distress

A lawsuit against YouTube star MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and Amazon has been filed by five anonymous contestants in the Beast Games reality competition show over allegations of sexual harassment, infliction of emotional distress and unpaid wages from their time on the show.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that contestants were subjected to “unreasonable, unsafe, and unlawful employment conditions” on the show. 

The game show, reportedly budgeted at $100 million, featured contestants competing for a $5 million cash prize—the largest amount in television and streaming history. The series started with 2,000 contestants in July, but only 1,000 survived to the next round, which was filmed in Toronto last month. 

The lawsuit also alleges that production staff refused contestants’ requests for privacy and “access to the outside world.” Additionally, participants in the show claim that they were fed irregularly and not given proper hygienic products or medical care. 

“Several contestants ending up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions,” said attorneys for the anonymous contestants in a statement about the lawsuit. 

According to the attorneys representing the five plaintiffs, the lawsuit seeks to “establish a pattern of sexual harassment.”

In a statement, one female plaintiff in the claim said, “I expected to be challenged, but I didn’t think I would be treated like nothing—less than nothing. And as one of the women, I can say it absolutely felt like a hostile environment for us. We honestly could not have been respected less—as people, much less employees—if they tried.”

Portions of the lawsuit have been redacted to “limit public viewing in a good faith effort to comply with Defendants’ overbroad confidentiality provisions (which Plaintiffs allege are unenforceable), as well as to preserve the confidentiality and privacy interests of the Plaintiffs who wish to avoid opprobrium,” the claim states. 

The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of all affected Beast Games contestants. It requests that the defendants pay alleged unpaid wages and expenses and unspecified monetary damages.

Robert Pafundi, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, stated: “Participants entered into contracts, and they were promised compensation for their services. Their expectation of compensation, along with their being consistently under the control and supervision of the production staff, makes them employees under California law. As such, they were entitled to and denied certain protections. And when you add to that the extreme neglect, degradation, harassment and inhumane conditions — it’s quite simply a massive dereliction of duty, for which the defendants must and will now be held accountable.”

A release date for Beast Games on Prime Video has not been announced.