Just when it looked like Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson could escape the grip of controversy, the popular YouTuber finds himself grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons once again. Having made a name for himself in the early days with his 'Let's Play' videos, MrBeast is known best for his extravagant videos where he builds chocolate factories, lives in an underground cave for a week, and even creates his own real-life version of Squid Game.
More recently, MrBeast has found himself embroiled in a series of lawsuits surrounding his Beast Games series on Amazon Prime Video, with allegations of mistreatment of contestants, sexual harassment, and one worker claiming they were nearly crushed to death.
Away from Donaldson trying to move on from the Beast Games fiasco and return to his usual content, he's also catching heat over a recent event where attendees were charged $1,000 for a ticket.
Giving us some serious Willy Wonka Experience vibes, it sounds like guests didn't realize what they were in for when they stumped up for the supposedly exclusive event held by the YouTube legend.
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Dubbed "The MrBeast Experience," this 'unforgettable' weekend promised a meet-and-greet, exclusive merch, a surprise guest winning a $10,000 voucher, and a three-night stay at the Resorts World Las Vegas hotel. Still, with the price of admission being $1,000, we'd expect something pretty special.
Speaking to 8 News Now, those who attended explained how it was different from the experience they expected. Disgruntled guest Theresa Metta told the outlet: "It should have been like mini-games, meet and greets, photo ops, special drinks, and things. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any of that."
Explaining her situation, Metta continued: "I was told to wait in my room for two days for a package to come, so I legit spent two days in my room for a package to come, and it was a box of chocolates."
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Elsewhere, that supposed 'mystery bag' of exclusive merch left a lot to be desired. Metta claimed it was just discounted stuff from the MrBeast store, saying: "It had kid’s shorts, an extra small shirt, a hat, and a medium shirt.
"If you go to Mrbeast.store to their merchandise right now, all this stuff is on clearance for $9. We were told we’d get exclusive merch. Obviously, that’s not the case."
Over on TikTok, there are several of the event's attendees showing off their mystery bags and disappointment about what's inside.
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Even though some were willing to pay the hotel's regular night fee of $79, a lot were asking for a full refund for their $1,000.
The icing on the cake is the fact that MrBeast himself didn't even show up. That hasn't stopped him from quickly trying to diffuse the situation, posting on X and writing: "This definitely isn’t the experience we hoped they’d deliver. My team’s already on it—I’d love to personally make it up to you and anyone else by inviting everybody affected to tour my actual studio! Can’t wait to meet you all and my team is reaching out to everyone :D"
Already being dubbed as YouTube's answer to the infamous Fyre Fest, it looks like Donaldson will again have to do some serious damage control.