Jimmy Donaldson is known to millions of people as Mr. Beast. “Millions” means 480 million. That’s the number of subscribers on his YouTube channel alone, and it’s still growing.
Earlier this year, his reality competition show “Beast Games” returned for a second season on Prime Video and reached No. 1 in the United States. This is just another milestone for him, who has wanted to create YouTube videos since he was a boy.
Although a third season is in production, his portfolio extends beyond producing videos and reality competition shows. Beast Industries, founded by Donaldson, is currently valued at $5 billion. And while he continues to produce YouTube videos, he’s open to another collaboration if it feels right.
With his eyes on the prize: an Emmy nomination in the Reality Competition Race or Host category, he details the process of coming back bigger and better for Season 2 of “Beast Game,” working with “Survivor,” and the secret to the perfect collaboration.
Season 1 of “Beast Game” drew 50 million viewers worldwide in its first 25 days. How did you approach season 2?
Season 1 didn’t resolve anything, so going from zero to one will take a lot of effort. Season 2 had a rough aesthetic and was able to focus on granularity. Since the number of contestants was small, we thought about how to develop them through the story.
This is also my second time building a city, and I was able to save money in certain locations so I could spend it on other things that I didn’t have room for in season 1. I’m really looking forward to Season 3 because it allows us to continue to build on the previous seasons and learn new things.
It’s a big challenge to survive until Season 1!
I’ve been making videos since I was 11 years old. We’ve been putting on big shows for the past eight years, and we’ve always made it bigger and better. We’ve always been improving things. That runs through the DNA of my production company. I don’t know if there’s a way, but that’s what we’re doing. We are trained to think, “How can we be better?” and then do it.
I loved the return of Season 1 winner Jeffrey. What was behind the decision to bring him back?
We’ve brought back 10 fan favorites from Season 1. I wanted people to get to know these contestants and focus on building their characters, and that takes time. Broadly speaking, the people you like are: Let them hang out. Maybe one of them will win, maybe not. You get to meet all the new people.
Jeffrey did pretty well. For a moment I thought he was going to win. What did you think?
At one point I thought he would win again.
What gave Tyler the edge?
He was really good friends with a lot of people. In the “Beast Game” many people form an alliance, but a second money is offered to eliminate someone, and the alliance instantly collapses. In his case, he, August, Jack, and the Osothers had a very strong alliance. They never really messed with each other, at least not until the end. If you can find 9 other people you trust to work with you without accepting bribes, that’s a huge accomplishment.
This season, you moved the show to Greenville, North Carolina. What was different about filming in this environment?
it’s our homeland. I’ve been here for over 10 years. We were able to create jobs for people living in cities. At one point, we were catering to over 1,500 people on set and building a city. So it was really nice to be able to give people that opportunity.
Episode 4 was a takeover of “Survivor.” How long has the construction been going on?
It’s not as long as you think – just a few months.
One of our lead producers started talking to[Survivor” executive producer and host]Jeff Probst and pitched the idea, and he called me. It seemed like it couldn’t be true until we started filming.
Corey Osborn/Prime
So many children look up to you and want to be you when they grow up. What do you mean when you hear that?
If you asked 100 random kids in America what they wanted to be, the majority would say either a YouTuber or a content creator. Statistically, it is currently the number one most coveted job for young people in America. Some people want to be me, some people want to be YouTubers. I don’t think you want to be me. I’m living my own dream as a YouTuber. You should want to be your version of it. You have to find what you like because it takes a long time to find an audience.
Why say yes when it comes to collaboration? It reminds me of Starbucks, which dropped at the same time as the new season.
It is very important that collaboration is as synergistic as possible. We knew that many contestants would love Starbucks. If you put a Starbucks in a city, people will naturally interact with it and want to drink coffee every day. And they did. I think everyone went on average 1.5 times a day. It was very organic. Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Beast Game” gave away more than $31 million in cash. So we have to work with brands to fund everything we do. Ideally, it’s as themed as your brand and as easy to integrate as possible.
You mentioned Season 3, but how far in advance have you been thinking about your next challenge?
If I could turn off the camera and do some never-give-it magic, I’d be able to tell you what 95% of Season 3 is about.
Could you please watch the “Beast Game” movie?
If Amazon goes down, I’ll come up with some crazy ideas.
