MrBeast blames terrible Beast Games conditions on the CrowdStrike outage

Contestants say food, water, prescription medicine and clean underwear were withheld — but the YouTuber is blaming external factors.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

Aug 2, 2024, 11:12 PM UTC

The CrowdStrike global IT outage that downed some 8.5 million Windows PCs, halting flights and affecting hospitals, banks and more, is now apparently also a scapegoat for the terrible conditions at the set of a reality game show competition put on by mega-popular YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, with $5 million on the line.

The New York Times is reporting that after 2,000 contestants arrived at Allegiant Stadium this July, they were barely fed and didn’t receive their prescription medication or clean underwear on time — despite providing it to the organizers themselves. (The 1,000 contestants who make it through can return for the Beast Games Amazon show, but this segment is for Donaldson’s YouTube channel.)

The Times’ story is filled with anecdotes from over a dozen contestants who say they were mistreated by organizers, like this:

One contestant said she had initially been denied the food she required to take her medication and had been told by staff members that she didn’t actually need to eat. After asking repeatedly, she was given half a banana.

But MrBeast isn’t apologizing, at least not yet. In fact, he’s not even quoted in the Times. Instead, the NYT received a text message from a spokesperson for MrBeast that blamed external factors, including CrowdStrike, instead of any poor planning on its part:

“In a text message, a spokesperson for MrBeast said the shoot “was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues.” The spokesperson said MrBeast had started a formal review and had “taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience.”

This is just the latest such event that lured fans to a location without enough logistical support, of course — I immediately flashed back to accusations around Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge, and of course there’s Fyre Festival.

It’s also not the first time in recent days that MrBeast has let an anonymous spokeperson handle bad press: he had one apologize for his younger self to the Associated Press earlier this week.