The Bizarre World of MrBeast
If you’re old enough to do your own taxes, you’ve likely never heard of MrBeast. But with 158 million subscribers, YouTube sensation Jimmy Donaldson — aka MrBeast — has revolutionized his little corner of the internet, creating a cadre of stunts and endurance challenges, much to the delight of his rapidly-growing audience.
MrBeast, now 25, was raised in the sleepy town of Greenville, NC. While still a teenager, he began posting videos of himself on-line. Those first reels were relatively tame. In one clip, he attempts to count aloud to 100,000. In another, he spends 50 hours in solitary confinement. But something about his quirky experiments struck a nerve, particularly with YouTube’s younger demographic. It wasn’t long before he dropped out of college and hired a handful of his childhood friends to help design more extreme competitions. Now, flush with advertising cash, his gauntlets offer significant prize money.
His philanthropic efforts are now legendary, and in part, responsible for his selection as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2023. But it took the magic of Hollywood to alert me to the soaring popularity of MrBeast. And the conduit, much to my surprise, would be my wife.
Following our recent move to Los Angeles, Beth decided to try her hand at acting. She had no prior experience or connections. She just went to…
