Where is Player 118 Nick now? Beast Games Season 2 star regrets taking $250k

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Nick Mariano, a player on Season 2 of Beast Games, has been talking about his experience on the Prime Video show. He says he regrets something about taking the $250,000 during the ‘Bury Me Alive’ challenge, but the reason might surprise you.

Nick did really well on the MrBeast show. He quickly became a strong contender after acing a puzzle in Game 6, and other contestants trusted him, ultimately earning him a spot as one of the top 10 finalists.

His choice to take $250,000 from a potential $1 million payout created conflict and led to his elimination just before the final episode of Beast Games Season 2, as we’ll explain soon.

Nick isn’t holding any grudges. With things calming down, he’s been thinking about the choices he made during the game and enjoying the attention he’s receiving now.

Where is Nick Mariano now?

Nick Mariano, who is originally from Troy, New York, is building on the momentum from his appearance on Beast Games Season 2. He’s actively posting on Instagram, where he currently has over 43,000 followers.

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A post shared by Nicky Mariano (@conanlycan)

He’s already looking ahead to his next venture. In a recent post, he expressed his gratitude to MrBeast and Beast Games, calling the experience the “most rewarding” of his life.

He shared how incredibly grateful he was for the experience, saying the memories from Beast Games Season 2 are among the best of his life. He also expressed his love for the friends he made during the games, believing their friendships will last forever.

We arrived at the world’s biggest TV show and formed an incredible alliance. Thank you to everyone who supported us!

He ended his post with a playful message, saying, “FLOOR 2 BABY, ask about us!” He then signed off, promising to connect with everyone soon and mentioning “118 out.”

The mention of “Floor 2” might not mean anything, but last month, Nick, along with players Jack (Player 58) and Auguste (Player 172), performed a skit that made fun of the problems with the card shuffle during the cube challenge.

The post also mentions Beast Games and MrBeast, and it tags two casting companies: MysticArt Pictures and The Casting Collective. Notably, The Casting Collective recently posted a casting call (from December 2025) for the next season of the game show, The Floor.

Is Nick going to be part of the show? It’s possible fans are overthinking a recent post, and “Floor 2” just refers to his character in the game. Importantly, Nick hasn’t officially said anything about it yet.

For now, he’s enjoying the glory of making it to the final 10 now that Beast Games Season 2 is out. 

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A post shared by Nicky Mariano (@conanlycan)

Before coming on the show, most people knew me as Conan Lycan, my wrestling persona. I’ve been wrestling since 2018, and I actually trained at The Black and Brave Wrestling Academy to get started. It’s been a wild ride ever since!

He wrestled for TNA previously, and his athletic background likely helped him become competitive enough to join the powerful team at Beast Games.

Player 118 reveals Beast Games Season 2 regret

During a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session, Nick admitted that if he could go back in time, he would have accepted the entire $1 million prize during the “Bury Me Alive” challenge. He explained he wouldn’t have just kept the money for himself; he would have used it to influence the outcome of the next challenge.

Okay, so in Season 2, Episode 7, things got intense. We, as the remaining players, had to choose a captain we could trust, and everyone mostly voted for Nick. Then, the really messed up part happened – the rest of us got buried alive! But, at least we had walkie-talkies to talk to people outside, which was…something.

Nick finally learns about the game’s twist – a new version of ‘Million Dollar Split or Steal’ for this season.

There’s a million dollars available, and players will take turns choosing how much they want. With ten players remaining, an even split would be $100,000 each, but they can take any amount they choose – it’s first come, first served.

As captain, Nick gets the first pick, and then decides who goes next. Instead of splitting the money equally, he takes $250,000 for himself, explaining that everyone needs to look out for their own interests sometimes.

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A post shared by Nicky Mariano (@conanlycan)

His choice caused a lot of discussion among those watching. Many felt that if he was going to act selfishly, he should have taken the entire prize money. By taking more than his fair portion, he’d already broken the trust he’d built with the other players.

Because they probably wouldn’t support him in future games, he was better off either taking the million dollars or settling for the $100,000.

Okay, so things got really interesting. We got down to the final ten, and then we had to decide who would make it to the next round – but there were only six spots! And get this – we could actually use some of the million-dollar prize pool to… well, basically bribe each other for votes. It was a total power play!

Nick wishes he’d handled the $250,000 differently. Looking back, he’d have preferred to take the full amount and used it to try and reach the final round.

During a recent Q&A, a fan asked Nick if, knowing what he does now, he’d still choose the $250,000 or a different amount. Nick responded that he believes taking the $1 million and then distributing it to players as votes in the next game would have been the best strategy.

Why Nick voted for Player 195 Brett

Nick explained that he had the final say in choosing the sixth finalist. He’d told Monika (Player 152) she’d get his vote, but he ended up choosing Brett (Player 195) instead, because Brett had a gold coin.

JC had given Monika a special gold coin that could double the prize money to $10 million. Throughout the show, MrBeast repeatedly tried to buy it back from her, but she refused every time.

Despite her initial reluctance, she ultimately agreed to participate in the Bury Me Alive challenge after receiving a $500,000 bribe. She kept this deal a secret from the other contestants, hoping to gain an advantage, but the others appeared to discover her plan.

Because of this, Nick chose to vote for Brett, figuring Monika was sure to win something anyway.

Someone on Reddit directly asked him if learning that Monika was selling the coin influenced his vote for Brett, and he confirmed that it did with a simple “Yes.”

Monika took questions from fans, and one asked if she’d exaggerated about having a coin to convince others to vote for her and make it to the final six.

The show didn’t depict you trying to use this to gain votes, it only showed August confronting you about not having it.

Monika explained that Auguste and Nick had already led everyone to believe she’d sold the coin. Since everyone thought it was gone, she figured there was no use in trying to prove them wrong by showing it.

Want to learn more about Beast Games? Discover who won Season 2 and why they haven’t claimed their $5 million prize. You can also find out if players 173 and 152 are still a couple, what MrBeast plans to improve for Season 3, and how Player 148 spent the $1.8 million they won for an island.

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2026-02-27 15:50