Five contestants of the reality competition show, Beast Games, have filed a lawsuit against YouTube star MrBeast and Amazon for sexual harassment, emotional distress, and business negligence.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five unnamed contestants in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, alleges the participants were subjected to “chronic mistreatment,” sexual harassment, failure to pay, and false advertising, according to a report by Variety.
The participants of Beast Games, a reality competition show ordered by Prime Video in which more than 1,000 contestants compete for a single $5 million cash prize, allege that a portion of the initial 1,000 participants on the show have not been paid.
The lawsuit demands Amazon and MrBeast’s company pay unpaid wages, expenses, as well as unspecified punitive monetary damages.
Amazon, MrBeast’s production company, and the production firm Off One’s Base LLC failed to pay minimum wages and overtime, failed to prevent sexual harassment, and created conditions that subjected contestants to “infliction of emotional distress,” the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit also accuses the entities of failing to provide contestants uninterrupted meal breaks or rest breaks, in addition to exposing participants to “dangerous circumstances and conditions as a condition of their employment.”
“Several contestants ending up hospitalized, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions,” attorneys for the five Beast Games contestants said.
The lawsuit claims contestants were deprived of medical care, food, sleep, and the basic hygiene necessities.
Additionally, some of the female contestants claim the show’s producers “failed to provide a safe and healthful place of employment to the particular and collective detriment of the female contestants, who suffered sexual harassment.”
In one example, an alleged handbook, titled, “How to Succeed in MrBeast Production,” stated, “If talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them… Really do everything you can to empower the boys when filming and help them make content. Help them be idiots.”
One female contestant said, “I wanted to join because I was a fan of MrBeast and his videos made me smile during the COVID-19 pandemic. I expected to be challenged, but I didn’t think I would be treated like nothing — less than nothing.”
“And as one of the women, I can say it absolutely felt like a hostile environment for us. We honestly could not have been respected less — as people, much less employees — if they tried,” the female plaintiff added.
Robert Pafundi, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said the show’s participants “were entitled to, and denied, certain protections,” adding, “when you add to that the extreme neglect, degradation, harassment and inhumane conditions — it’s quite simply a massive dereliction of duty, for which the defendants must and will now be held accountable.”
The lawsuit is reportedly seeking class-action status, and the five plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
