The CrowdStrike global IT outage, which affected 8.5 million Windows PCs, halting flights and impacting hospitals and banks, is now being blamed for the poor conditions at MrBeast’s reality game show set, where $5 million was on the line.
The New York Times reports that when 2,000 contestants arrived at Allegiant Stadium in July, they were barely fed and didn’t receive their prescription medications or clean underwear on time, despite providing these items to the organizers. This segment, for MrBeast’s YouTube channel, was a prelude to the upcoming Beast Games Amazon show.
The Times article includes accounts from over a dozen contestants who reported mistreatment. One contestant mentioned being denied the food needed to take her medication and was given only half a banana after repeated requests.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has not apologized. Instead, a spokesperson blamed external factors, including CrowdStrike, for the issues. “The shoot was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues,” the spokesperson said, adding that MrBeast has started a formal review and is taking steps to learn from the experience.
This incident is reminiscent of other poorly managed events, such as Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge and the infamous Fyre Festival.
It’s also the second time recently that MrBeast has used an anonymous spokesperson to handle negative publicity, as he did with an apology to the Associated Press for inappropriate language he used as a teenager.
