The MrBeast controversy era continues, with lunch packs and a lawsuit

The MrBeast brand, and its creator Jimmy Donaldson, has been embroiled in controversy throughout the summer, with the outrage coming from several angles. Donaldson, who runs the most subscribed-to channel on YouTube, remains under fire over previous allegations regarding his channel and his large-scale reality TV collaboration with Amazon, but the conversation has been complicated by a new lunch pack product aimed at children.

In August, media outlets reported on the filming of Beast Games, a massive game show in production with Amazon, which was taking place at the time in Las Vegas. Some contestants told local news and entertainment outlet Vital Vegas that they were not properly fed, unable to access their medication, and that the games were not moderated. 

Content creator Rosanna Pansino later shared statements from contestants wherein they allege injuries from the games, from dangers like falling through a trapdoor or being tackled by another contestant. Five contestants filed a lawsuit on Sept. 18 against Donaldson and the Beast Games production companies, citing “dangerous circumstances and conditions.”

As production on Beast Games moved from Las Vegas in August to Toronto in September, more employees, crew members, and contestants came forward with allegations. According to a report from Rolling Stone, crew members were not consistently paid, not fed during 16-hour shifts, and production continued even through flooding and submerged electronic equipment. 

The Beast Games controversy has grown out of unrelated claims about the MrBeast workplace. A former employee, using the handle Dogpack404, released a series of videos alleging that the MrBeast corporation was running illegal lotteries, exploited the channel’s audience of mostly children, and had knowingly employed a sex offender. The Dogpack404 videos included testimony from Jake Weddle, another former employee of the MrBeast corporation. 

Weddle spoke about participating in a MrBeast challenge that was never published, where he aimed to stay in solitary confinement for 100 days. Weddle said that the conditions of the challenge were damaging to his mental health, including the lights continually being on, an ice cream machine and hot tub that began to smell after days, and being pushed to complete smaller — but still demanding — challenges such as a barefoot marathon on a treadmill during his isolation. 

According to Weddle, after the Dogpack404 video went live with these allegations, Donaldson reached out and offered him the remainder of the prize pool from the original isolation challenge, approximately $190,000; Weddle accepted $50,000 to clear some medical debt.

The MrBeast brand has continued to expand despite the allegations, with Donaldson launching a new lunch package product with Logan Paul and Olajide “KSI” Olatunji. On Sept. 16, the content creators announced Lunchly, a competitor to Lunchables that includes Donaldson’s Feastables chocolate bar and the popular Prime sports drink championed by Paul and KSI.

Lunchly was roasted on social media by skeptics, who criticized the marketing and nutritional value of the lunch kit. One prominent YouTuber, DanTDM, posted on X about his personal discomfort with Lunchly, writing: “This is selling crap to kids who don’t know better than to trust the people who are selling it to them.”

While fellow co-founders Paul and Olatunji have been inflammatory in their response to the criticism, Donaldson posted a measured response to the nutritional concerns on X, writing: “Obviously eating fresh chicken and broccoli is healthier but if someone is going to eat a premade meal like this (which millions of people do. thru lunchables) then I think giving them a higher quality version at roughly the same price is a net good imo and why we launched Lunchly.”

Polygon reached out to Donaldson for comment, but did not receive a response in time for press.