A production company linked to Jimmy Donaldson, better known as YouTube megastar MrBeast, is facing a class-action lawsuit from people who say they were "shamelessly exploited" as contestants on his upcoming Amazon Prime show. In the lawsuit, which also names Amazon as a defendant, five plaintiffs describe "unreasonable, unsafe, and unlawful" conditions during the filming of Beast Games, NBC News reports. The suit states that the defendants endangered contestants' health by providing inadequate food and water and by "forcing them not to sleep and forcing them to participate in games that unreasonably risked physical and mental injury."
The lawsuit says the plaintiffs were coerced into signing "unconscionable contracts with illegal terms and illusory obligations," per the Hollywood Reporter. "The female contestants particularly and collectively suffered as a result of defendants' actions," the complaint says. "The Beast Game work environment systematically fostered a culture of misogyny and sexism." The suit is seeking to represent all contestants on the show. Beast Games is offering what is believed to be the biggest payout in TV history. Amazon said earlier this year that the show will feature 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million prize.
- The lawsuit says the production crew used a handbook called "How to Succeed in MrBeast Production." The suit says the handbook encouraged bad behavior, citing lines like, "It's okay for the boys to be childish" and "If talent wants to draw a d--- on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them. Really do everything you can to empower the boys when filming and help them make content. Help them be idiots."
- The lawsuit was filed days after Rolling Stone published an investigation that described "disorganized" and "wild" conditions during filming in Toronto. "It's a Fyre Fest kind of feeling," one former crew member told the magazine. "There's a reason why this level of production hasn't been attempted before, and it certainly should never have been attempted without people that know what they are doing."
- Last month, the New York Times reported that some contestants felt deceived when they learned that the contest would involve 2,000 people, not 1,000. They described unsafe and sometimes chaotic conditions at the Las Vegas stadium where the number of contestants was winnowed down to 1,000 after a series of challenges, the first of which involved teams of 400 people pulling ropes attached to 10,000-pound weights.
(More
MrBeast stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
