Las Vegas staff say MrBeast should be 'blacklisted,' cite OSHA, medics set for failure

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Despite the scope of his YouTube videos, Las Vegas production worker Rick said it was obvious that the MrBeast team had never attempted anything on this scale — a production Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson deemed to be the largest reality TV show ever.

Rick described the "Beast Games" production as “beyond embarrassing” and would not be surprised if MrBeast’s team was blacklisted from the industry.

Production staff and medics, many of whom were Las Vegas-based, told News 3 that they have worked on various productions in and outside of Nevada. Across their years and decades of experience, they have contributed to box-office hits with big-name celebrities, large-scale reality TV shows, and other YouTube productions. As locals, they would often recognize each other from previous projects.

They all shared a similar sentiment about the MrBeast "Beast Games"affiliated production they worked on.

“It was by far the most unprofessional production I've ever been a part of,” said Rick, a contestant wrangler who coordinated the contestants during the production. “And I think the biggest part of that was the communication was terrible.”

Donaldson has the most subscribed channel on YouTube, with more than 317 million subscribers, and is collaborating with Amazon Prime Video to produce “the biggest competition in game show history.” Thousands arrived in Las Vegas to participate in what the production company describes as “the inaugural MrBeast video for the upcoming reality competition series which is the Olympic Games for the Video Game generation.”

News 3 spoke with nearly two dozen people involved in the Beast Games production, many under the condition of anonymity due to non-disclosure agreements, to learn more about how poor management of local production staff led to the chaos, disorganization and safety issues revealed in a previous News 3 investigation. Some sources agreed to share their accounts under aliases to protect their identities.

The Las Vegas production, which documents state was for YouTube, was a planned “episode zero” of Beast Games featuring 2,000 contestants fighting for a chance to be among the 1,000 contestants to advance to the main Amazon Prime Video competition.

During the competition, primarily filmed between July 18 and 21, contestants were required to stay in the Allegiant Stadium field and were provided sleeping bags to rest in during the day. About a dozen portable restrooms were set up on the field to accommodate the 2,000 contestants who were limited to the field’s confines.

“We had a guy come up to us with his sleeping bag, and his sleeping bag was covered in excrement,” said contestant wrangler Kara on the third day of the competition. The contestant had slept near one of the portable restrooms on the stadium field, she continued.

“So that porta potty obviously overflowed,” said Kara, who only saw the portable restrooms emptied once throughout the production.

According to Kara, a MrBeast producer ordered a contestant wrangler to clean the mess and threatened termination when the worker expressed reluctance.

The worker was not provided equipment or training on handling human waste, said Kara, who spoke with the “extremely upset” worker afterward. After searching the stadium for protective equipment, she said they found gloves without the producer's guidance.

After that incident, Kara said the MrBeast producer was reprimanded for their actions.

“That's a major OSHA violation,” said Kara. “You don't ask people to clean porta potties like that.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for cleaning waste require employers to provide protective equipment and training for the employee. Before cleanup, employers must perform a job hazard analysis and document the process to determine exposure risk and the level of protection needed to carry out the task safely. Employers must also ensure the employee knows the risks and how to access the protective equipment.

Medics

“A lot of stuff changed from what they told us the first day, and that happened constantly throughout the entire production,” said Rick, who, among others, had initially believed the production was directly affiliated with Amazon Prime Video.

Production worker Jack said that higher-level managerial positions, like producers, were primarily held by people in MrBeast’s camp. Local production talent filled the majority of contestant wrangler and talent coordinator positions.

Contestants were not allowed to bring any belongings into the stadium. Thus, spare undergarments and nearly all medication were collected and planned to be redistributed during filming, production workers told News 3. However, contestants reported issues in accessing their medication during filming.

Production medics, Medics on the Go, was tasked with handling medications, and a community ambulance team, provided by Allegiant Stadium, was to respond to medical issues.

“This is something completely new,” said medic Mona, who worked the 24-hour pharmacy station at Allegiant Stadium. She and other industry professionals said it was unusual for a production to confiscate and attempt to monitor medication intake to this degree.

According to Mona, Medics on the Go was stationed at the Luxor and Rio before the filming, where most contestants lodged, to collect medication.

“We had no idea that [some contestants] were at other casinos,” said Mona, explaining how some contestant’s medication may have been lost.

Some contestants not situated in the Rio or Luxor communicated to the pharmaceutical team that production staff had collected their belongings and promised to deliver them to the “appropriate department,” said Mona. “Their stuff was supposed to be turned into us and never was.”

When asked about how medication may have been denied or time-restricted at the beginning, medic April said, “I don't know why. I did find out the guys in black didn't know all the rules and wouldn’t let them come [to the pharmacy].” April said the team regularly had to remind staff that contestants needed to be allowed 24/7 access to the pharmacy station.

Mona said it was unlikely the medic team lost medication as they kept a meticulous inventory of the medication and other items brought directly to them, logging the items and their quantity in a list.

“It turned out to be more than just medications because technically, when we first originally got our list, we were only supposed to have [the medication of about] 736 people,” said Mona, who also experienced attempts from contestants, informed by production staff, to store lotion, Bibles, protein powder, clothes, makeup and food. “We were only supposed to do pharmacy, and it turned out to be a little more.”

Mona assisted in inventorying a medication count that was about double what they were originally slated for.

“There was no communication. Everything was on the fly,” said Mona. “We didn't have a real understanding of what they expected, or even if they knew what they were expecting. I don't think that it was planned out because all the information was not given.”

Contestant wrangler Hannah explains that in a normal production, workers receive a call sheet that informs them of the production’s schedule, the names and contacts of their coworkers and other important information.

However, no call sheets were provided, and plans often changed, said Hannah, who felt the team was constantly reacting to complications. Hannah was responsible for guiding and coordinating contestants. Some coordinators and medics, not all, reported to News 3 that they received a bare-bones call sheet but described them as unusual or delayed.

“I felt so unprofessional,” said Hannah, who often could not answer questions or direct the contestants she was meant to guide. “I should have had more protocols to help me [do my job].”

What little schedules were provided were often changed or delayed by hours due to the whims of MrBeast and his team, said Kara. For example, just two days before the principal shooting, Kara said the producers decided to invert the schedule and film the games at night instead of the day.

“They had to shoot at night because nobody thought about the fact that you can't control the light at Allegiant during the day,” said Kara. The MrBeast team had wanted greater control over the light for filming purposes, she explained.

According to Mona, the lack of schedules was intentional. During a production meeting, MrBeast producers informed the medics that Donaldson does not believe in schedules.

The producers with MrBeast said, “‘[MrBeast] does it when he feels like he's ready’,” recounted Mona. “And that's why our schedule kept changing.”

Contestants Sally, Rose and Emily said they were provided regular but frugal meals. The first meal upon arriving at Allegiant Stadium consisted of a 1/4 cup of oatmeal, 1-2 cucumber slices, two baby carrots, a cherry tomato, a boiled egg and 2-3 celery sticks, said Rose.

“MrBeast was not feeding them, or he wasn’t feeding them enough,” said Mona, whose team kept snacks for those who needed food alongside their medication. “So people would come to bombard us for snacks we have to figure out something because they can’t keep coming to eat up all our snacks.”

Sally recalled an incident when a man asked production staff for food to eat with his medication. The worker yelled and threatened the man with elimination if he continued to pester her, she said.

“I AGREE that during the period of time for which I am participating in the above production, I will continue to take any medications or follow any course of treatment currently or prospectively prescribed to me by my doctors or that if I decide to change my medications or course of treatment, I will do so at the direction of my doctors.” – An excerpt from contestant diligence packets

“One contestant had a seizure; they just left him there,” said Hannah, describing one of the seizure incidents. Medical attention wasn’t brought to them until nearly an hour later, she said.

The community ambulance medical team handled that medical incident. However, Mona said that the community medical team could not be reached in many cases, and Medics on the Go had to fill in those responsibilities.

Based on her previous collaboration and conversations with them, April and Mona said the community medics were not given the information to stock and equip themselves for the 2,000 contestants nor on what to expect during the filming.

“I remember the first day someone was like, ‘I need a medic,’” said contestant wrangler Rick of a different incident. Rick and other wranglers wandered the stadium until they found an Allegiant Stadium worker who could phone the community ambulance medical team. Medic stations had shifted locations a few times during production, he said.

“No one told us anything about what to do in that situation,” said Rick. “We went up to a security guard for the stadium and was like, ‘Hey, is one of your guy's medics here?’”

When asked if they knew the protocols to approach a medical incident when filming started, five out of five production workers said they did not know. When filming began, four out of five said they did not realize there were two medic teams, one for pharmacy and another for incidents. The one worker who knew the distinction was not informed of that fact but surmised it after stumbling into Medics on the Go and the community ambulance team separately.

MrBeast producers had forbidden medics from being stationed inside the set—even during challenges—because they did not want to ruin the atmosphere, said April. Employees on the set wore black suits and black masks, resembling figures in Squid Games, a South Korean drama that Donaldson has previously drawn inspiration from.

During the first evening of competition, April said the medics grew concerned as they noticed people were not coming to collect their medication at their doctor's advised times. Medics on the Go was also not getting answers from the producers and were not allowed access to the field she continued.

In response, some medics took initiative and borrowed black costumes to gain access to the stadium field, said April. The medics made announcements to inform contestants and staff that the pharmacy was open 24/7.

According to April, Medics on the Go followed every guideline from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Nevada State Pharmacy Board. Furthermore, Medics on the Go provided pill pouches to some contestants. She said the team had informed the MrBeast producers that some contestants, depending on their condition, would need their inhalers, EpiPens, and medication by their side at all times.

Unprepared

“I've never done a production that was so unprepared,” said Kara. “No systems in place for anything. [Impossible] to get an answer out of anyone.”

Staff members shared stories of disorganization in supplying water to staff and contestants, transporting contestants to the venue, organizing contestants, attempting to bring outside food and beverage into the Luxor, picking up construction equipment without protection, arranging hospital visits and more.

After 500-some contestants were eliminated in the first round, contestant wranglers were tasked with returning collected undergarments to their owners, said Kara. However, they were not provided with a list of whose belongings needed to be pulled.

It felt as if the MrBeast producers assumed, through osmosis, contestant wranglers would magically know who was eliminated in the challenge, said Kara. After multiple requests, a list was provided the following evening, she said.

Undergarments were collected so contestants, who were not allowed to bring any belongings onto the field, could have spares over the principal shooting.

“When we found out that we were going to have to deal with this and there was no system in place, it was a nightmare,” said Kara, who spent 12 hours organizing the undergarments the day after they were supposed to begin distribution.

A producer, alongside an entourage of people in the black costumes, discovered Kara’s team struggling with underwear and assisted in the organization, said Kara.

“They came over with an attitude at first, like, I don't know what you expect us to do,” said Kara, adding that the producer seemed as confused as they were. “We were told to do something without any instructions on how to do it.”

They collected the undergarments but did not think about how they would be distributed, organized or where they would be stored, she explained. Undergarments were found stored in two different locations, and others were not found until after production was finished, said Kara. According to April, staff were still finding lost bags containing contestant belongings after the filming concluded and were organizing efforts to mail them to their owners.

“There were just so many things that I was looking at thinking to myself, ‘Wow, there's an easier way to do this,’’ said Kara. However, that would have required forethought and preparation from the producers, she continued.

Allegiant Stadium worker Rei said she heard management express disinterest in future collaboration with MrBeast because of their disrespect.

They were using spaces and props they were told not to, breaking items and leaving a mess to be cleaned, said Rei."

With mixed messaging from the talent coordinators, MrBeast producers, and the medics, Hannah said contestant wranglers had to improvise much of their work.

“I never understood why they never knew what to do,” said Hannah of her direct coordinator. “We were always left in the blind.”

When asking producers for details of the transposed filming times, April recalls her team having to explain that they needed information to intake and dispense medication to contestants properly.

“‘That's a secret,’’ April recalled them telling her initially.

“I can confidently tell you they knew the information. They intentionally withheld it from the wranglers,” said Jack, describing producer responses laced with verbal irony, suggesting they had the information.

All News 3 interviews with local contestant wranglers, coordinators, and medics mentioned complaints of poor communication from producers and being provided insufficient information to do their jobs effectively. While it is not unusual to make efforts to mitigate leaks and spoilers, production staff told News 3 that the secrecy at the Las Vegas production was excessive.

In addition, Rick said staff were not aptly provided with a means of communication or information on where to go with questions.

In a normal production, you would know exactly where to go and when, be provided with contacts for the different departments, and have a clear understanding of your assignment, said Rick. However, he continued, that was not the case in the MrBeast production.

“I'm just walking around the giant Allegiant Stadium trying to help where I can,” said Rick, who, alongside other wranglers, would show up for their shifts confused and without direction. “So it was just kind of show up and help put out fires where you can.”

Rick said that many local production workers quit during the production because of the working conditions for staff and contestants.

“It sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen,” said Jack weeks before the class-action lawsuit against Beast Games. “Not letting somebody have food, water, their medication, which of course is heavily affected by diet as well.”

One advantage Beast Games seemed to have was funding, said Rick. Money is tightly regulated in productions, which is why strict filming schedules exist. Beast Games seem to have an open checkbook, he continued. Rick recalls an incident where they purchased 1200-some burritos but had to leave more than two-thirds for waste.

Donaldson said the scale and production costs for the Amazon-partnered Beast Games far surpass the production costs for his YouTube videos, which he estimated to cost an average of $3.5 million. North Carolina production company Off One’s Base LLC, designated in documents as the producers of the YouTube prelude, stated a total budget of more than $14 million for the YouTube video in their Nevada Transferable Tax Credit Application.

Donaldson, who makes between $600 to $700 million a year, said that money was “not a constraint” for the game show.

“It all looks super legit, super expensive,” said Rick of the production equipment and set. “No one was worrying about budget on this. I’ve definitely been on other gigs where the word budget comes up [often], and it never came up on this one.”

This was made apparent to Rick when he found himself staring at piles of sleeping bags in an Allegiant conference room. The production had wrapped, and worried that the sleeping bags could be wastefully trashed like the burritos, some contestant wranglers took it upon themselves to run carloads of sleeping bags to local shelters, said Rick. It is a possible donation (not unusual for leftover film equipment) was the plan originally, he said, but no one ever brought it up to the team.

According to a 2024 Clark County census, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county increased 36% since 2022 to nearly 8,000 people.

Concerns

According to April, contestants admitted to lying on their medical forms to enter the competition. Contestants and staff shared stories of contestants stealing from each other for personal gain or competitive advantages. In one incident, April said medics had to replace a woman’s medication because other contestants had taken her sleeping bag and the medication she left inside.

But what surprised her most was the age range of the contestants, said April. If they had known their ages beforehand, Medics on the Go would not have approved them for the competition, she said.

Earlier in July, Medics on the Go collaborated with doctors stationed nationwide, eliminating applicants based on their medical records who they felt could be at risk during the competition. At the time, April said Medics on the Go was not privy to age information. April said pharmacy medics learned of the contestant’s age when they first visited the pharmacy and shared their identification wristbands.

Recalling one healthy 82-year-old lady, April said, “She got banged up and scratched up when it comes to money, people are ruthless.”

Production workers and contestants described challenges, which included tug-of-war and sprinting for money cases, as physical events that catered to young, athletic men.

“These people were hurting each other. It was like a football game without protection,” said Hannah, who recalled watching contestants participate in a challenge from the bleachers. “You can hear their bones cracking and them falling from up there.”

Hannah noticed the younger contestants enjoyed themselves but expressed concerns for older contestants during the challenges and wondered why they were allowed to participate. “I remember seeing two older ladies, in their 60s, playing the game. And I'm like, these games are not made for elderly people,” she said.

Contestant Emily said she initially believed challenges would include cognitive and skill-based challenges. Production company Off One’s Base LLC wrote in a synopsis sent to the Nevada Film Office that challenges would involve “brains, brawn, and character.”

In response to the previous News 3 investigation and our ongoing Beast Games coverage, a spokesperson for MrBeast provided the following statement to News 3:

“The MrBeast promotional video shoot, which included over 2,000 participants, was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues, which we reviewed, and we are grateful that virtually all of those invited to Toronto enthusiastically accepted our invitation.

We communicated directly with 97 percent of the 2,000 people who attended to ask for feedback, and took the necessary steps to ensure that we learned from this experience and continue to comply with standard industry rules and regulations – we were excited to welcome hundreds of men and women to the world’s largest game show in history.”

While the July 19 CrowdStrike outage affected the production team’s ability to coordinate hotels and flights home, Rick said that, to the contestants' understanding, it was not relevant to the other logistical issues of the production.

When asked if their communication for feedback extended to local production staff, the representative said they could not comment.

Best known for his “stunt philanthropy,” MrBeast produces large-scale YouTube videos with a theme of rewarding contestants, affiliates and nonprofits with large sums of reward money and resources. The MrBeast YouTube channel has grossed nearly 60 billion video views since its creation in 2012.

During one video, a man was asked to face a series of fear-based challenges with the potential to win $800,000. In a collaborative effort, MrBeast headlined #TeamSeas, helping raise money, resources, and awareness for an initiative that removed 34 million pounds of trash from beaches, rivers, and oceans.

“Our infusion of such a large amount of money over such a short period of time should be a highly significant event to the summer economy of Las Vegas,” explained Off One’s Base LLC to the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development and Nevada Film Office, describing their investments into Nevada staff, rooms and service through their production.

A class-action lawsuit was filed in California against MrBeast affiliated production companies following the aftermath of the game show. Five former Beast Games contestants allege they were coerced into illegal work conditions that negatively impacted their physical and emotional health.

“One primary area of claims is their misclassification. They were not treated as employees,” said attorney Courtney Stuart-Alban, representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit alongside three other attorneys.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants knowingly misclassified the contestants, in part, to avoid paying them wages and to obtain a tax credit for $2,252,523 from the State of Nevada. The lawsuit also alleges, among other things, the game show meals were unreasonable, providing insufficient calories, and fostered a hostile work environment for female contestants.

“Production defendants created working conditions that jeopardized the safety of workers, including by not providing sufficient food or drink, taking away their access to not having adequate medical staff on-site and not providing reasonable medical care, forcing them not to sleep, and forcing them to participate in games that unreasonably risked physical and mental injury.” – An excerpt from the class action lawsuit

“Let me throw money in their faces and see what they'll do for that. That's what this game was,” said Hannah. “Contestants should have been tested physically and mentally before playing his game.”

Prior to the lawsuit, Rose described contestants during challenges as animals that could not control themselves.

“I saw people get hurt. I was so scared,” said Rose. Several contestants and staff said they witnessed injuries and physical assault while on set.

"No physical violence, threats of physical violence, intimidation, or harassment will be tolerated." – An excerpt from contestant diligence packets

“You have contestants beating up fellow contestants,” said Sally. “It's being allowed. You are claiming that you're not going to allow it, but then you do.”

Still, Rose said she was grateful for the opportunity and that production issues did not eclipse her game show experience. Sally and Emily, however, described their experience as degrading.

“The staff that actually seemed to care about us were local,” said Sally. “They didn't have information for us because MrBeast staff was not communicating with them either.”

According to staff and contestants, the production did finish filming a video that involved the immense logistical hurdles of 2,000 contestants and hundreds of staff. Industry professionals were amazed at the scale but expressed concern that it was Donaldson’s first attempt at a film production.

“That sounds like chaos to me. That seems like unabated chaos. And I did the wedding for [The Twilight Saga’s] Bella and Edward,” said Andi Isaacs, a UNLV film professor with decades of film experience, describing the unprecedented scale of the Beast Games production. “That sounds chaotic and, yes, room for fault.”

“You put 2,000 people in an arena and ask them to interact, things are going to happen,” said Brian, a production manager who did not work on the set. “What matters is did you make all possible efforts to mitigate against it? And how do you react when things go wrong?”

In addition to the ongoing class-action lawsuit and Beast Games, Donaldson has experienced backlash for other controversies in recent months. The YouTube star admitted to using racial slurs in his early teens, is subject to claims of poor working conditions and documented his separation with former collaborator Ava Kris Tyson, who is accused of grooming a minor. In the past, Donaldson’s brand has been involved in other class-action lawsuits in his other business ventures.

According to data collected by News 3 on Sept. 23, 2024, Donaldson has seen a dramatic decrease in his YouTube videos’ like-to-dislike ratio, a metric used to gauge video performance, since the Las Vegas production. Of the 16 videos published this year, 13 were published prior to the Las Vegas production and received an average like-to-dislike ratio of 98.5%. However, the three videos published afterward averaged a like-to-dislike ratio of 55.1%.

April believes Amazon Prime Video placed too much trust in the YouTuber without real production experience. April said that Donaldson’s flippant attitude and inexperience posed a real danger.

“This guy thinks he is playing a game, you know? And I looked him up,” said April, who has first responder and hospital experience. “I found out he’s like all of 26. This kid has never seen danger. He thinks this is a game. This is people's lives he’s playing with.”

“I wish somebody would have told MrBeast that there are rules and we have to have them. This is why he wouldn’t go union,” said April, who supports union and non-union productions. “I'm telling you, had it been union this production would never happen.”

The 1,000 finalists from the Las Vegas production moved on to compete in the official Amazon Prime Video Beast Games game show in Toronto.