NEW YORK -- MrBeast is accused of creating "unsafe" employment conditions, including sexual harassment, and misrepresenting contestants' odds at winning his new Amazon reality show's $5 million grand prize in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by five unnamed participants. The filing alleges that the multimillion-dollar company behind YouTube's most popular channel failed to provide minimum wages, overtime pay, uninterrupted meal breaks and rest time for competitors - whose "work on the show was the entertainment product" sold by MrBeast. A spokesperson for MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, told The Associated Press in an email that he had no comment on the new lawsuit.
Donaldson's "Beast Games" was touted as the "biggest reality competition." It was supposed to put the North Carolina content creator in front of audiences beyond the YouTube platform where his record 316 million subscribers routinely watch his whimsical challenges that often carry lavish gifts of direct cash. But its initial Las Vegas shoot began facing criticism before it even wrapped.
Donaldson's companies cast 2,000 people in an initial tryout this July where half could advance to the actual show's filming in Toronto. Contestants only learned upon their arrival that the Las Vegas pool surpassed 1,000 competitors, according to the lawsuit, which significantly reducing their chances of victory. The lawsuit argues the "false advertising" violated California business laws that prohibit sweepstakes operators fro.