From the groundbreaking mind of MrBeast comes a new, record-breaking competition series. A staggering 1,000 players compete in nail-biting, physical, mental, and social challenges, for a chance to win a whopping $5 million dollar cash prize. Week by week, players will use their strength and wit to stay in the game, with the hope of being the multi-million-dollar winner.
Mr Beast certainly knows how to put on a show but scaling up from YouTube to a streaming platform like Amazon is certainly a challenge for any YouTuber. Amazon arguably has a much different demographic (to a degree) and certainly appeals to different tastes in terms of the content it delivers so how would a YouTube-style format (amped up to 11) work on the streaming platform?
The answer to that question is, rather well actually and even more so, I enjoyed writing this Beast Games review! 
In what plays out like a standard Mr Beast video on steroids I found the format of the game to instantly rival that of the upcoming Squid Game that is set to debut on their competitor platform Netflix, a coincidence? I think not.
Get the biggest YouTube star in the world to challenge members of the public to win big cash prizes and nobody gets killed in the process. Winner! For those who don’t want the contestants to live beyond the game then hop on over to Netflix this Boxing Day, you little sadists you!
Amazon Prime
The game kicks off in style as the public taking part are already faced with the dilemma of exiting the game early to share (if more than one quits) a 1 million dollar prize pot and surprisingly, people chose that option.
These people rocked up at a game show where there was only one winner out of a thousand people and thought, you know what, I don’t like those odds and walked away with a nice 5 figure sum each. Not a bad day’s work is it?
With lots of tricks and surprises up Jimmy’s sleeve, I found the opening episode of Beast Games to be rather engaging and whilst I’m not entirely invested in who wins I can appreciate the format of the show and how time and time again this YouTuber turned generational star has actively changed peoples lives.
Funnily enough, where Beast Games thrives is not the star of the show but in the stories of those competing. People with families, bills to pay, children to look after, and debt to get out of. Numerous stories of people from all walks of life all with one goal in mind, that 5 million dollars.
It’s great to hear these stories and whilst only one person can win at the end of the day they all feel like winners getting onto a show as big as this on a platform like Amazon. It must have been a cool thing to be a part of regardless of the prize on offer.
Expect plenty of ‘HOLY S**T’ moments as the first one floored me, the same can’t be said for those eliminated from the competition.
 
Beast Games is ruthless as this opening round of eliminations is all determined by trusting those around you, a room full of strangers who probably only just met that very same day. Ruthless, great for us as the viewers but devastating for those contestants who haven’t shown their skills and have had their fate decided by a stranger.
“I don’t want Lamborghini, I want Tesla” screams one contestant completely unaware that there is no Tesla on offer in this instance. 
The one thing that I do worry about, that became evident in Episode 2 was viewer longevity. YouTube videos are edited in such a way to extend viewer patience and by the end of that video, the viewer is rewarded with the grand finale / payoff. We don’t have that here.
I am curious as to how the viewing figures will pan out because Episode 2 did slightly drag compared to the first and whilst still engaging there was a definite loss of interest at points as this is essentially a VERY long YouTube video when fully stitched together. Streaming audiences are very different to YouTube audiences in viewing duration and style of content consumed. That is my only concern as the episodes continue. 

Beast Games on Amazon Prime video is utterly bonkers but utterly brilliant at the same time, I’m still holding out hope that he builds a theme park one day so we can VLOG it! Insert a shameless plug to our spin-off theme park and attractions website HERE.
Hats off to you Jimmy! I look forward to all future episodes of this mad series! I take PayPal if you ever read this review.
Worth a try eh? 
Please note that this article will be embellished upon as the series progresses with only two episodes available at the time of this original review.

Our Rating

Summary
Beast Games is utterly bonkers but utterly brilliant at the same time. It’s captivating and raw and the contestants are the real stars of the show. Highly watchable content that steps up a tried and tested Mr Beast formula and perfectly delivers it in streaming platform format with real class, hilarity and quality.