MrBeast accused of ‘missing the point’ again with latest dystopian game show idea

The world’s most subscribed-to YouTuber, MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson), attracted controversy back in 2021 when he decided to do a real-life version of the fictional contest in the South Korean dystopian series, Squid Game – minus the killing, obviously.

Show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk previously said in an interview with Variety that he “wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society”, and even told LADBible that people creating their own versions of the games “is very much in line” with said society depicted in the series.

It prompted some people at the time to claim Donaldson was “missing the point”.

And now, it seems the creator – who has more than 420 million subscribers – wants to adapt another popular, dystopian series into a game show for his YouTube channel.

Speaking to NBC News this week, Donaldson confirmed he was looking into doing his own take on the book-to-film franchise, The Hunger Games.

He said: “I don’t know where you’re getting your intel from, but yeah, obviously we won’t kill people.

“You must have talked to my team. I’ve been sitting on this idea where it would be fun to grab potentially 26 random people, put them on an island, and then not use real weapons, but maybe like laser tag or something like that, and the last remaining one wins a million dollars.

“I think that would absolutely crush, because yes, we recreated Squid Game, we also rebuilt Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. I have a chocolate company, and we gave away golden tickets, brought people out, people loved it.

“A lot of times we just bring these fictional ideas to life and people love seeing it so much.”

Written by Suzanne Collins and later adapted into a film series, The Hunger Games trilogy follows Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence in the films) participating in a deathmatch where the last person alive wins, for the entertainment of people living in the wealthy and affluent Capitol.

And with The Hunger Games having the Capitol, and Squid Game having the rich VIPs watching behind golden masks, the same criticism surrounding Donaldson’s take on the South Korean drama has re-emerged amid reports that he is working on adapting another popular dystopia into a game show for his YouTube channel.

One Twitter/X user wrote that there are “at least three books on why this is a bad idea”:

Another noted that the $1 million prize money could be sent to Gaza to help starving Palestinian children:

And third pointed out the “irony” of a millionaire wanting to present a real-life version of “a critique of turning suffering into a spectacle”:

With one user stating that this irony was “almost too much” for them to handle:

Donaldson has also been accused of “ignoring the actual message” behind dystopian media:

And ‘completely missing the point’:

MrBeast has been approached by indy100 for comment.

Why not read…

• MrBeast urges creators to join what he's teasing to be the 'biggest collab ever'
• Could an American version of Squid Game be coming soon?

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