Author: G. Li, Megaphone Editor-in-chief

In the past month, a slew of different allegations have come out against Jimmy Donaldson, or MrBeast, the main instigator being the videos created by a Youtuber named DogPack404. His first video, “I Worked For MrBeast, He’s a Fraud” served as the catalyst for a tidal wave of allegations of varying credibility and seriousness against Donaldson to be brought to light. This article will cover the claims brought forward by DogPack404, or Dawson, in his first two videos, and will provide some analysis of the subject matter. Keep your eye out for future articles, which along with this one, will serve as a comprehensive guide to the MrBeast situation. 

“I Worked For MrBeast, He’s a Fraud”

Thumbnail from Dogpack404’s “I Worked For MrBeast, He’s a Fraud”

In this debut video by DogPack404, Dawson works from some of his weaker claims to stronger claims against MrBeast. He starts off by mentioning how MrBeast manipulates children into earning their loyalty MrBeast. For example, Dawson mentions Donaldson’s commonly used slogan, “subscribe for a cookie”, which Dawson alleges reinforces the idea that subscribing to MrBeast’s channel will make you eligible for incredible opportunities. Although it is pretty obvious that subscribing won’t get you a cookie, MrBeast also employs other tactics to get people to subscribe, such as often claiming that contestants in videos such as “Face Your Biggest Fear to Earn $800,000” or “I built Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” are randomly chosen subscribers who are competing to win incredible, life-changing prizes. He perpetuates the idea that if you, too subscribe, you are automatically made eligible for an opportunity such as the ones you watch on Youtube. However, in real life, the contestants in these videos are usually a friend of Donaldson’s, a friend of someone on his production staff, or in many cases, a hired actor. 

Dawson then brings up the fact that MrBeast “fakes his videos”. While many of the examples included were not of note, such as editing an explosion into one of his videos, there were a few claims that had some significance. One of these includes Mack, a MrBeast employee who sometimes appears in videos as a contestant. Having employees pretend to be contestants in videos you claim to include “random people” is deceptive, especially if these employees have an advantage over other contestants. In MrBeast’s “Last to Leave Circle Wins $500,000” video, Mack is the first to be eliminated, but still ends up with a fancy car as a prize. This transaction definitely makes it seem like MrBeast just wants to shower his friends with gifts instead of helping everyday people, as he claims to do. Additionally, Mack has been a fan-favorite with his constant appearance, and losing, in videos. This all accumulated to one of MrBeast’s videos, “World’s Deadliest Obstacle Course!”, which was presented to Mack as an opportunity to redeem himself. Throughout the video, the audience roots for Mack, the underdog, to finally win, and when he does, it becomes an emotional scene for viewers – it represented the idea that it was possible for the underdog to rise to the top. However, when it came out that not only was Mack a MrBeast employee, but that in this very video, the results were rigged for him, it instantly shattered the storyline and message of the entire video. 

Another falsehood of note brought up by Dawson references MrBeast’s  “Seven Days Stranded at Sea” video. In this video, MrBeast claims to stay in a tent overnight on a raft-like structure for seven days with his crew and no additional help. However, in the time lapse showing the transition from night to day, the group was not in their tent even through the rainstorm at night, which is highly illogical for them to do. DogPack404 uses this as evidence to claim that Donaldson and his crew spent the night on a yacht. It is disingenuous to claim to have done a challenge when that is untrue, especially since all crew members related to MrBeast, as well as Donaldson himself often make a point of telling their viewers that they “do not fake their vids.” Additionally, MrBeast ends up profiting hugely off of the lies they perpetuate. While this allegation is not a huge deal, and faking certain aspects of a video is not uncommon in the Youtube space, it still hit MrBeast’s credibility, leaving viewers wondering what MrBeast’s videos are really like off camera and before editing. 

Image from Dogpack404’s “I Worked For MrBeast, He’s a Fraud”, shows empty tent without any of the MrBeast crew inside even during a storm at night

The final video-faking allegation I would like to mention from DogPack404’s video is the “100 Boys vs 100 Girls for $500,000” MrBeast video, where the group with the most people left at the filming site at the end wins $500,000 It’s proven that many of the girls were Jimmy’s employees or friends, and because of this, many of these girls are eliminated at the start of the video. Throughout the video and according the claims of those who were in this video, it is evident that MrBeast and the production team attempted to even the playing field after this by giving advantages to the girls’ team. For example, they pay one of the boys to leave if they can solve a Rubix Cube but this opportunity isn’t offered to the girls. Him creating a disadvantage for one group, then trying to even the playing field by creating disadvantages for the other group is unfair, as his created disadvantages may not be equal in terms of their effect on each team.

Overall, while the claims about faking videos do not seem like a big deal, understanding the context behind MrBeast’s channel is necessary to realizing why viewers may be upset. MrBeast has built his channel on being genuine, doing challenges such as “counting to 1000”, and has created an image of being honest and faithful to his challenges. However, these recent accusations have brought to light ways in which MrBeast has been faking his videos, directly contradicting the image that his followers have subscribed to. Additionally, he often came onto apps such as X to deny any allegations of faking his videos, so the obvious evidence against him comes as a double-whammy towards viewers. 

Go to part 2 of this article to read more about the allegations in DogPack404’s first video.