Early career (2012–2017)
Donaldson uploaded his first-ever YouTube video in February 2012, at the age of 13, under the handle "MrBeast6000"; his early content ranged from Let's Plays (mainly focused on Minecraft and Call of Duty:Black Ops 2),[18] videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers,[19] videos that offered tips to upcoming YouTube creators, and commentary on YouTube drama. During this early period of his channel, Donaldson himself made few appearances in his videos.[18]
As of July 2013, the subscriber count of his channel, then named "That-dude", was around 240.[20]
In 2015 and 2016, Donaldson began to gain popularity on the platform due to his "worst intros" series of videos, which rounded up and poked fun at YouTuber introductions he discovered on the site. By mid-2016, Donaldson had around 30,000 subscribers. In fall 2016, Donaldson dropped out of East Carolina University to pursue a full-time career as a YouTuber.[13][19] His mother did not approve of this, and made him move out of the family home.[21]
Rise to fame (2017–present)
In January 2017, Donaldson published an almost day-long video of himself counting to 100,000. The stunt took him 40 hours, with some parts sped up to "keep it under 24 hours."[22][better source needed] A subsequent video titled "Counting to 200,000 (Road to a Mil)" was uploaded the next month, although, according to Donaldson, it too, had to be sped up because the full fifty-five hours of counting exceeded YouTube's upload limit.[23] Donaldson also gained popularity during this period with stunts, such as attempting to break glass using a hundred megaphones, watching paint dry for an hour,[24] attempting to stay underwater for 24 hours (which ended up failing due to health issues), and an unsuccessful attempt to spin a fidget spinner for a day.[25] By 2018, Donaldson had given out $1 million through his outlandish stunts, which earned him the title of "YouTube's biggest philanthropist."[21]
During PewDiePie vs T-Series in 2018, a competition to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, Donaldson bought billboards, numerous ads and radio advertisements to help PewDiePie gain more subscribers than T-Series.[4] During Super Bowl LIII, he bought multiple seats for him and his team whose shirts spelled out, "Sub 2 PewDiePie."[26][27][better source needed]
In March 2019, Donaldson organized and filmed a real-life battle royale competition in Los Angeles with a prize of $200,000 (2 games were played, making game earnings of $100,000 for each game) in collaboration with Apex Legends.[28] The event and prize pool was sponsored by Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts.[29]
Donaldson was accused of using counterfeit money in a November 2019 video. He later explained that he used fake money to mitigate the potential safety and security risks caused by a rush of people clamouring to get the free money, and claimed that he exchanged the counterfeit bills for a real check for everyone afterwards.[21]
In April 2020, Donaldson created a rock, paper, scissors competition stream that featured 32 influencers and a grand prize of $250,000, which at the time became YouTube's most-watched live Original event with 662,000 concurrent viewers.[30] The event was ultimately won by Nadeshot.[31]
In October 2020, Donaldson created another influencer tournament featuring 24 competitors with a grand prize of $300,000. The tournament was ultimately won by the D'Amelio family, which caused controversy due to claims that they cheated.[32]
On January 1, 2021, Donaldson released the video "Youtube [sic] Rewind 2020, Thank God It's Over". He previously announced in November 2020 that he would be making a Rewind days after YouTube announced they would not be making one. In Donaldson's video, he explains that he had always believed that YouTubers "should get more say in Rewind," and with this in mind, he decided to call "hundreds of YouTubers." At the end of the video, Donaldson gives a shoutout to PewDiePie, citing him and his 2018 Rewind as the inspiration for Donaldson's Rewind (both Rewinds featuring the editors FlyingKitty, Dolan Dark, and Grandayy, and a song by Party in Backyard).[33]
In February 2021, Donaldson made a guest appearance on the Clubhouse app, causing it to crash.[34]
In March 2021, Donaldson signed a deal with Jellysmack which allows the company to exclusively manage distribution of his video content on Snapchat and Facebook.[35][36]
In November 2021, Donaldson uploaded a recreation of the survival drama streaming television series Squid Game in real life, in which 456 people competed for a $456,000 cash prize without the violence in the show.[37] The video drew more than 195.35 million views as of January 4, 2022, becoming Donaldson’s most viewed YouTube video and also making it one of the most-watched YouTube videos of 2021.[38]
In December 2021, Donaldson created a third influencer tournament featuring 15 competitors with a grand prize of $1,000,000.[A][39][40][41] The tournament took place in person at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood located in Los Angeles, California, and the challenge consisted of two rounds. The first round of the tournament featured 10 different challenges between 15 competitors, and the second round featured 10 competitors that won the challenges from the first round for an extreme hide-and-seek competition. The tournament was ultimately won by Zach King.[42]
Content and style
Donaldson's videos typically feature attention-grabbing stunts. He often makes videos where he donates large amounts of money to individuals, with many of these videos being sponsored by various companies. He also sometimes hosts competitions in games, such as Minecraft, for big money prizes which includes donating a house in one of his gaming videos.[24][43]
A typical video involves Donaldson giving away large sums of money,[44][45] such as giving $100,000 worth of items to homeless shelters in December 2018,[46] donating $32,000 to the Veterans Army Wounded Warrior Program, $70,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and $10,000 to a local animal shelter in Los Angeles.[47] His expensive YouTube videos are mostly funded and sponsored through large-scale brand deals that appear as in-video ads on his videos.[48][21] In 2021, Donaldson claimed that he runs his main channel at a loss.[49]
MrBeast has been credited with launching a new style of high-cost stunt videos on YouTube, where creators pull off elaborate challenges and large-scale sponsored giveaways.[21]
As his channel has grown Donaldson was able to hire four of his childhood friends – Chris Tyson, Chandler Hallow, Garrett Ronalds and Jake Franklin – to work for him and the channel, which has led to them being regularly shown in his videos.[21] Former cameraman Karl Jacobs was added into the rotating cast later, in late 2019 as Jake and Garrett left to pursue their own YouTube careers. Karl has become a successful YouTuber in his own right.
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