Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, stated he would have offered Alex Honnold a larger sum of money if the free climb of Taipei 101 had been filmed for his YouTube channel.
On January 24th, Alex Honnold successfully climbed the 1,700-foot Taipei 101 building alone, using only his hands and feet. The impressive climb, originally planned for January 23rd, was shown live on Netflix and watched by millions of people worldwide.
After completing the climb, Honnold mentioned he would have done it even without pay, but felt the amount he actually received from Netflix was quite low compared to what athletes earn for other live sports broadcasts on the platform.
Compared to professional sports, the amount is surprisingly low. For example, even lesser-known Major League Baseball players can sign contracts worth $170 million, as he explained to the New York Times.
MrBeast responds to reports of $500k pay for Alex Honnold’s climb
I’ve been seeing stuff online saying Alex Honnold made around half a million dollars for that climb, but he actually clarified things! He said he’s not getting paid to do the climb itself – he’s getting paid for the whole event, the spectacle of it all. Basically, he’s climbing for free, but the event organizers are paying him for the show.
If the climber had tried the challenge on YouTube, MrBeast would have offered a larger prize.
He jokingly commented that he would have offered the person more money if they had done the work on his own channel, responding to a post about how much they were reportedly paid.
I would have paid him more to do it on my channel lol
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) January 26, 2026
Fans immediately reacted, encouraging him to support Honnold’s next challenge. One commenter pointed out, “That building is only the 11th tallest in the world, leaving ten taller ones for him to attempt.”
“Let’s go. Get him another skyscraper,” added another.
Alex Honnold pointed out that the hardest part was getting permission to climb the building. But MrBeast has shown he’s able to secure access to places like this.
The YouTuber arranged to spend 100 hours filming at the Pyramids of Giza after reaching an agreement with the Egyptian government, and hoped to film content with Joe Rogan during his time there.
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2026-01-27 16:49