During the cubes challenge on Season 2 of Beast Games, player Jack McKenna (number 58) made a questionable move that some viewers are calling cheating. The incident has caused a lot of discussion about whether he broke the rules to avoid losing.
The second episode of MrBeast’s competition show on Prime Video switched things up right away. Unlike the first round with 1,000 players, this one started with 100 physically strong contestants and 100 intelligent players, to see which group would perform better.
While only one contestant will win the $5 million grand prize, there are still opportunities to earn significant money during the competition. For example, Ian Weber, known as Player 148, won a $1.8 million island along the way.
The recent Beast Games challenge trapped teams of three inside a large cube, with a catch: they couldn’t leave until someone on the team voluntarily quit. Jack, known for his strategic thinking, decided to outsmart his teammate to advance to the next round.
How Player 58 Jack McKenna won Beast Games Season 2 challenge
In Season 2, Episode 5 of Beast Games, Jack secretly changes the cards so that Sue (Player 91) will pick the lowest card. His plan succeeds, and Sue ultimately chooses to eliminate herself from the competition.
Jack, Sue, and Tyler—players 58, 91, and 167—have teamed up. Now, each team needs to decide how they’ll determine who gets eliminated and who advances to the next round.
They’re letting fate decide… or so it seems. Each player chooses a card turned face down and reveals it simultaneously – whoever has the lower number is out of the game.
Jack received a king, Tyler an eight, and Sue a six. This meant Sue had to handcuff herself to the cube, freeing her teammates to return to Beast City. They all paused for a heartfelt moment, and Sue, who had previously competed on Survivor, tearfully confessed she’d imagined reaching the final round.
When Jack and Tyler exited the cube, their teammates tried to reassure them. But, as revealed previously, Jack had quietly swapped the deck of cards beforehand.
After escaping, he explained to MrBeast that he immediately knew his best chance of getting out was to be smarter than the Survivor player who was also trapped with him.
I arranged a deck of cards from two to ace, and then I decided to put all the high-value cards at the front to get a sense of their location.
Sue suspected Jack was up to something and reshuffled the cards. However, Jack had already anticipated this and secretly prepared a second deck. While Sue was distracted counting the money, he quickly swapped the decks to give him and Tyler an advantage.
Jack explained to MrBeast that while he cares about Sue, his connection with Tyler was much deeper because they’ve known each other for a longer time, and he couldn’t jeopardize that relationship.
Tyler acknowledges he was aware of the first deck being compromised, but not the second. He credits his success to a fortunate pick and recognizes the skill of the person who was compromised, stating he wouldn’t have achieved his current position without them.
While hiding cards is cheating in most games, the rules of this challenge don’t limit how teams choose who to remove from the competition. However, his strategy has sparked disagreement among viewers.
Beast Games viewers debate where Jack made “fatal mistake”
The main question is whether Jack did the right or wrong thing, but many viewers believe his actions might cost him the win in Beast Games Season 2 – and it all hinges on who he trusted.
Someone on Reddit pointed out that Jack made a critical error that will likely cost him the win. It wasn’t his plan to manipulate and eliminate another contestant – that was actually a clever strategy.
Jack’s biggest error was sharing his plan with the Beast Crew and the strong man from their group. He would have been better off keeping it to himself. Here’s the reasoning behind that.
It won’t stay secret for long that Jack betrayed the woman in the pod. Once the other contestants find out, they’ll likely either dislike him or be afraid to team up with him, worried he’ll betray them as well.
Because of what happened, Jack is in serious danger of being eliminated if future rounds of the game are decided by popularity. Given this is Beast Games, that kind of elimination is very likely. Essentially, Jack has made a mistake that will probably prevent him from winning.
Exploiting others might offer quick wins, but consistently acting unfairly will ultimately damage your prospects. The experiences of the Habibi brothers serve as a clear example of this.
In Season 1, the Habibi brothers won a challenge by using unfair methods, but were then voted off the show. Many viewers think Jack might face a similar outcome – winning through questionable tactics only to be eliminated afterward.
Someone pointed out that it would have been impossible for Jack to cheat given the number of cameras, and suggested the producers might have intentionally pushed him to admit it, all for the sake of creating drama for the show.
Okay, so Jack might have won that fight, but trust me, he’s not winning this whole thing. He’s one of the last players who actually thinks strategically, and that’s gonna be a problem for him. Honestly, I’m not sad to see him go down.
Someone else agreed, saying it likely would have surfaced eventually, considering it was caught on camera. However, they weren’t sure if proactively revealing it and letting rumors spread was the right approach.
It seemed like he was upset because he felt like the only intelligent person who hadn’t been chosen to go to the island. It really damaged his confidence.
It seemed like he immediately confessed to what he’d done because he wanted to be sure people still thought he was clever.
People are divided over what Jack did. Some think it was a serious error in judgment, while others applaud his resourcefulness. One Instagram user commented that if anyone could get away with it, it wasn’t cheating, and another playfully said, “You can’t fault someone for being good at the game.”
Honestly, a lot of us were thinking the same thing – it’s all about being clever, not just physically strong, and that’s what Jack did! Another viewer pointed out that what he pulled off didn’t actually break any rules, which makes for really good TV, you know?
Who is Jack McKenna?
Jack, known as Player 58, is one of the players on the smart team in Beast Games Season 2. Before the show, he graduated from Christian Brothers Academy, a private Catholic high school in Albany, in 2023.
Jack shared with CBA that he initially applied for the Prime Video series not taking it seriously, almost as a joke. Surprisingly, just two months later, he was preparing to travel to Las Vegas for the show.
He described the show as an incredibly intense competition, even more extreme than anything you’ve probably seen on TV. He said there was a lot of buzz and anticipation even during the application phase.
Honestly, getting that acceptance email was a real wake-up call. It wasn’t just about dreaming anymore – I actually had to do it. There was no room for regrets or what-ifs. I had to step up and compete, and that was a little scary but super exciting!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jack McKenna (@jack.p.mckenna)
Jack explained that he often held back from trying new things because he feared failure. But this time, he decided to take a chance and see what he could achieve.
Knowing that almost 2,000 other people could have been in my position, I realized they wouldn’t have quit. That inspired me to push myself and give it my all.
He’s currently a junior at Purdue University studying electrical and computer engineering, as confirmed by both his Instagram profile and the university itself.
The sixth episode of Beast Games Season 2 will be available on Prime Video on January 28th. Before then, you can find out if Players 152 and 173 are still a team, learn why Player 21 left the competition, and see what else we have planned for our TV shows in 2026.
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2026-01-23 14:21