Amazon, a Raleigh company tied to MrBeast, and a Raleigh-based production company are the three defendants named in a new class action lawsuit filed on behalf of contestants who competed, and allegedly suffered, during the filming of Amazon’s forthcoming reality competition “Beast Games.”
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles, levies more than a dozen complaints against the Beast Games production, including that contestants weren’t paid minimum wages, experienced emotional distress, didn’t receive adequate meal breaks, and arrived under false advertising.
“The contestants were fed sporadically and sparsely,” stated the lawsuit, which listed five specific contestants as plaintiffs. Earlier, the lawsuit claims the “defendant production companies and Amazon shamelessly exploited the labor.”
MrBeast is the professional alias of Jimmy Donaldson, a 26-year-old who lives and works in the Eastern North Carolina city of Greenville. His YouTube channel has 316 million subscribers , 42 million more than the world’s second-most popular channel. MrBeast videos feature lavish philanthropic giveaways and extreme competitions where winners walk away with boats, houses, private islands, and six-figure sums.