MrBeast addresses ‘concerns’ as “evil” $500,000 challenge goes viral for wrong reasons

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MrBeast is facing criticism for a recent YouTube video where a contestant was placed in a room filled with fire for a chance to win $500,000.

I’ve been following this creator for a while now, and he’s always been one to push things a bit with his videos – it doesn’t always go down well with everyone online, but that’s kind of his thing. His latest video is really something, though. He basically asks a contestant if they’d put their life on the line for $500,000, and it’s gotten everyone talking!

The first part of the 25-minute YouTube video is quickly becoming very popular, gaining millions of views across social media. Many people are criticizing the idea behind the video, while some are saying MrBeast is starting to resemble a villain from a horror movie.

Amid the controversy, MrBeast has addressed concerns in multiple comments after the fact.

MrBeast’s fiery $500,000 controversy explained

So, I was watching this crazy YouTube video posted on September 28th, 2025, and it starts with this wild question: “Would I risk getting burned alive for $500,000?” Seriously, that’s how it begins! It immediately got my attention.

The show features one contestant attempting to complete seven difficult challenges, which MrBeast called “Death Traps.” Each challenge involved fire in some way, whether it was jumping through fire or swimming through burning water.

Throughout the video, MrBeast points out that Eric, the contestant, is a professional stuntman. Eric confirms this, saying he’s accustomed to performing dangerous stunts as part of his job.

Eric volunteered for the dangerous challenges hoping to win the prize money and pay for his father’s cancer treatment.

Although Eric had a lot to lose, MrBeast and his team clearly prioritized his safety during the competition. For example, when Eric had to run through fire, he was fully protected with multiple layers of clothing and a special gel to prevent burns.

Although the situation was clearly risky, available video shows precautions were taken to prevent serious injury or death.

Despite the full video providing important background, most people on social media have only seen a short clip. This has led many to criticize MrBeast, accusing him of putting contestants in danger just for entertainment and profit.

MrBeast blasted for trapping man in room on fire

The video clip everyone is sharing shows the beginning of a challenge. Eric is tied to a chair in a burning room and needs to untie himself, then quickly grab bags of money and escape with them.

Reactions on X, previously known as Twitter, were strongly negative, with some people calling the YouTuber deeply harmful and demanding he be ostracized before anyone gets hurt and he benefits from the tragedy.

Some people described it as “dystopian,” playfully suggesting MrBeast’s challenges were similar to the deadly games in shows like Squid Game.

Meanwhile, on Reddit, users questioned how the video doesn’t go against YouTube’s Terms of Service.

MrBeast addresses fallout from ‘Risk Dying for $500,000’ video

After receiving a lot of online criticism, MrBeast quickly addressed the concerns. He started with a detailed comment on the YouTube video, emphasizing that safety is their top priority.

The comment explained that seven stunt performers initially tried out each of the challenges. For safety, a complete rescue team – including firefighters, EMTs, an ambulance, and a fire truck – was also present throughout the testing.

The show also had a dedicated pyrotechnics team managing the fires, and we had multiple ways to quickly put them out if anything went wrong. Thankfully, we never actually had to use any of those safety measures.

MrBeast continued the conversation on X (formerly Twitter) after a post gained a lot of attention, reaching over 59 million views so far.

This resulted in a controlled burn, and we took all necessary safety precautions. We had proper ventilation to manage the smoke and a kill switch to immediately stop any fires. The demonstration was thoroughly tested by experts, and, as mentioned, the person performing it is a trained and experienced stunt professional. Safety is my absolute top priority.

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) September 29, 2025

So, just to clear things up, we definitely built in ways to deal with the smoke – good ventilation, basically. And we had a kill switch to shut everything down if the fire got out of hand. We had experts test the whole setup thoroughly, and the guy you see in the video? He’s a pro stuntman, just like we said.

“I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine [sic],” MrBeast said.

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2025-09-29 08:50