- Mr Beast has shared candid comments about his TV show Beast Games
- Says he’s been advised not to discuss how much it cost
- Admits that it “was not a good financial decision” to make the show
We know he’s a generous guy but how much did Mr Beast spend on Beast Games?
During a recent appearance on entrepreneur Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Beast – real name James Stephen Donaldson – shared some candid comments about the making his recent TV series Beast Games.
Read more: Is Mr Beast buying TikTok? Here’s what we know
Airing on Prime Video in 2024, this reality series set 1000 players a series of challenges. The prize? A $5 million jackpot that eventually ballooned to closer to $10 million. That made it the largest cash prize in reality TV history.
The show was plagued by various setbacks and scandals during production and after its debut reviews weren’t great. As it stands, Beast Games only has a 20% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes although its audience rating sits much better at 88%.
Read more: What is the net worth of YouTuber Mr Beast?
However, when all’s said and done, the gamble may not have been worth it.
While the exact budget for Beast Games remains a mystery, Mr Beast told Bartlett that its price tag was in the hundreds of millions. He even admitted that it was probably “not a good financial decision” to make the series.
What did Mr Beast spend on Beast Games?
Speaking to Bartlett, the YouTuber explained that the show easily spent more than $50 million on the show’s first two episodes alone.
“We spent way too much money on it,” admitted the star. “I lost tens of millions of dollars on that show. I’m an idiot.”
Beast explained that they spent over $15million on just the first episode, building 1000 ten-foot towers, complete with their own bespoke software.
“It was arguably one of the largest sets ever built in history – that was just episode one.”
MrBeast says filming “Beast Games” was not a good financial decision as he lost MILLIONS of his own money by producing the show
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) February 23, 2025
the production cost was over easily over $100M and in the first 2 episodes the cost was over $50M 🤯 pic.twitter.com/njmZ50vNiR
He highlights that these costs don’t include the show’s hefty cash prizes, many of which came from Beast’s own pocket.
When asked how much the whole show cost, Beast says he’s “been advised not to say.” However, when asked if it was north of $100 million, he replied “yeah, of course.”
Beast added that he was “tens of millions” out of pocket having done the show. “It was not a good financial decision to make Beast Games. I lost money. I would have more money if I didn’t film it.”
Despite this blow, he insists that he doesn’t regret making it.
Did Mr Beast buy TikTok?
In addition to helming his own reality TV series, Beast has also showed an interest in becoming TikTok’s new owner – but has he actually bought the app?
The short answer is: no – at least, not yet.
Read more: Is TikTok actually getting banned?
Reports first emerged suggesting that Beast was interested in purchasing the social media app in late January when TikTok was forced to either sell to an American buyer or stop being featured on American app stores.
After briefly being pulled, TikTok re-emerged shortly afterwards when President Donald Trump granted it a 75-day extension. As it stands, TikTok is currently still searching for a new American owner but so far, that hasn’t proved to be Mr Beast.
