MrBeast has come under fire, pun intended, for his latest YouTube video in which, a man is trapped inside a room engulfed with flames for a $500,000 prize.
The biggest personality on the internet is often pushing boundaries with his content, not always pleasing everyone on social media in the process. This trend has continued with his latest upload wherein, a contestant is effectively asked if they’d risk their life for half a million dollars.
In particular, the first segment of the 25-minute YouTube upload is spreading like wildfire, with millions of impressions across various social media platforms. Many are bashing the very premise of the challenge, with others arguing MrBeast is bordering on morphing into a horror movie villain.
Amid the controversy, MrBeast has addressed concerns in multiple comments after the fact.
MrBeast’s fiery $500,000 controversy explained
A video published to YouTube on September 28, 2025 opens on the following premise: “Would you risk burning alive for half a million dollars?”
What ensues is a single contestant making their way through a series of seven challenges, which MrBeast labelled “Death Traps.” Each obstacle involved fire, to some degree, be it jumping through hoops of fire or swimming underneath water set ablaze.
Throughout the video, MrBeast reminds the audience that the contestant, Eric, is an experienced stuntman. The participant himself also adds he’s “very used to this kind of craziness” through his vocation.
Eric agreed to take part in the risky series of challenges in order to use the prize money to help his cancer-stricken father.
While the personal stakes were clearly high, it’s clear to see MrBeast and his team took plenty of precautions to ensure Eric’s safety throughout the competition. For instance, the final task was to run through a few meters of fire. Here, we can see Eric is covered in multiple layers of protective clothing, not to mention fire-retardant gel on his skin to prevent serious damage.
While it’s all obviously inherently dangerous, it’s evident in the publicly released footage how steps were taken to avoid life-threatening harm.
Regardless, millions across social media have mostly been exposed to a single clip taken from the video without that context. As a result, many are bashing MrBeast once again for having contestants risk their well-being for the sake of financial gain.
MrBeast blasted for trapping man in room on fire
For the most part, the clip gaining traction is from the start of the video. Eric is tied to a chair in a room on fire. He has to free himself from the rope before grabbing bags of cash and getting them safely out of the room.
Comments on X (formerly Twitter) ranged from labelling the YouTuber as “f***ing evil,” to arguing he needs to be ‘cancelled’ “before someone actually dies and he profits off of it.”
Others called it “dystopian,” joking that MrBeast isn’t far off from the fictional murders seen in the likes of Squid Game.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, users questioned how the video doesn’t go against YouTube’s Terms of Service.
MrBeast addresses fallout from ‘Risk Dying for $500,000’ video
Given the attention, most of it negative, MrBeast soon responded to complaints online. First came a lengthy comment under the YouTube video itself, assuring they take “safety extremely seriously.”
According to the comment, all seven challenges were first tested by “multiple stuntmen.” Furthermore, a full rescue team of firefighters and EMTs, with an ambulance and firetruck at the ready, was on site in the case of an emergency.
“We also had a pyro team controlling the fires and multiple fire suppression methods on every challenge to ensure we could essentially turn off the fire if there was ever an issue,” the post continued. “None of these systems were ever needed.”
MrBeast then followed up the next day on X in light of a viral post drawing over 59 million impressions by the time of writing.
“If you’re curious, obviously, we had ventilation for the smoke and a kill switch to cut off the fires. We had professionals test this extensively, and the guy in the video, as stated, is a professional stuntman.
“I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine [sic],” MrBeast said.
La Baby Defender sta arrivando: Land Rover continua a lavorare sul nuovo SUV più "piccolo"