MrBeast Cites CrowdStrike Disruption for Beast Games' Difficulties

The global CrowdStrike IT outage—which disrupted 8.5 million Windows PCs, flights, hospitals, and banks—has now become a point of contention in a reality game show controversy involving popular YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson). The outage is being cited as a factor in the poor conditions experienced by contestants at MrBeast’s recent event, which featured a $5 million prize.

According to The New York Times, approximately 2,000 contestants who gathered at Allegiant Stadium in July faced severe issues, including inadequate food, delays in receiving prescription medication, and lack of clean underwear—even though they had provided their own supplies. The Beast Games segment, intended for MrBeast’s YouTube channel, has been criticized for its handling of logistics and contestant care.

Contestants shared troubling accounts of mistreatment, such as one individual who was told she didn't need to eat before being given only half a banana. Despite these issues, MrBeast has not publicly apologized. Instead, a spokesperson attributed the problems to the CrowdStrike outage, extreme weather, and other unforeseen logistical challenges. The spokesperson mentioned that MrBeast is conducting a formal review to address the situation.

This incident echoes previous high-profile events with logistical failures, like Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge and the infamous Fyre Festival. It also marks another instance where MrBeast has used an anonymous spokesperson to manage negative press, following a recent apology related to his earlier behavior.