Critic Reviews
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We’re tempted to say SKIP IT, mainly because we hate that Beast Games takes advantage of people’s greed and/or desperation for drama. But the second episode shows that the game will start getting really fun as we get down to a manageable group of contestants, and a lot of that is thanks to the enthusiasm of MrBeast and his hoodie-wearing buddies.
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There is entertainment value in all of this, even if it’s the kind of entertainment that makes you feel kind of grimy while watching it. .... Many of the challenges aren’t that dissimilar from those you might see on Survivor or Wipeout. Most of them have darker psychological elements that force contestants to test the limits of their own selfishness, often turning the show into what feels like a high-stakes social experiment.
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True, there is something weirdly compelling about Beast Games, but it is compelling in the same way that picking a scab is. It exists solely to show us the worst of the human condition, as obnoxiously as possible.
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The insipid Mr Beast is joined by a rotating cast of flunkies – apparently regulars on his YouTube channel. There is little danger of them overshadowing their boss, however, as they get hardly any screen time. Nor do the contestants, who we meet in a dizzying blur of fast edits. The focus is almost entirely on Donaldson.
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It’s largely dull and without much of anything to get invested in, relying on constantly shouting at us about the stakes while frenetic editing slices everything to pieces. It’s about what you’d expect from an ever-hustling spectacle merchant like MrBeast, but that only makes it all the more exhausting to take in.