Beast Games: I ranked every game in MrBeast’s Prime Video show - worst and best challenges

• Beast Games is airing on Prime Video weekly.
• Contestants take on bigger and bigger challenges in a bid to win $5m.
• But which are the most memorable - and what should have been left on the cutting room floor.

What happens when a YouTube star makes a TV show - Beast Games apparently. The Prime Video show sees 1,000 contestants compete in a series of challenges for the chance to win $5m and other prizes.

I recognise I am not the target audience for a MrBeast spin-off TV show, being in my 30s and having never watched any of his YouTube videos. But in binge watching the show, I found it to be a weird Frankenstein's monster-esque creation - featuring potentially interesting TV buried beneath a rapid fire pacing that seems designed for TikTok scrollers.

That is not to say my own attention span has not been rotted away by addiction to social media and the internet, in fact I looked at my phone twice while writing this sentence. But the pacing of the Prime Video show truly melted my mind.

The show’s heavily Squid Game inspired challenges are a very strange mixed bag - ranging from some quite clever and entertaining ones, to the downright shambolic. Here are the best and worst games in each episode (as of January 8).

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Episode one

The game before the games - 1/5

Before the competition started with MrBeast giving away a share of $1 million dollars to players who pressed a button to eliminate themselves. Meaning they left the show, but walked away with a guaranteed prize.

As the clock on the 10 minute timer ticked down, the panic started to set in (or at least the editing got more frantic) and 52 people hit the buzzer, leaving with just shy of $20,000 each. But because we didn’t even know the contestants names, there was no stakes or drama, it was just very loud and very frenetic.

Self-sacrifice - 1.25/5

The remaining players stood in rows, with MrBeast informing them that in order to continue in the game - one person would have to sacrifice themselves from the row, for the others to make it to the next round. However not every row would make it through.

There should have been tension to this game, but it was just over super quick and didn’t give time for the tension to build - there’s an entertaining idea here, but the pacing is just horrid.

Stack the Tower - 3/5

Players had 10 minutes to stack blocks into a tower on top of a starting red block, with the first 100 to fall over being eliminated. It proved to be the best of the early games by far - as the sudden falls of towers and the reaction of players adding a much needed human element to the show.

Although, if we had any connection at all to the contestants, it probably would have really elevated it. So far, all three challenges have felt more designed for short and snappy platforms like YouTube than a full length TV episode.

Bribes 2 1.5/5

In the need to cut the players down to 500 from more than 600, MrBeast once again offered brides. Players who accepted the bribe would eliminate their teams - with the money slowing getting up.

Once again could have been a tense moment, as the contestants had to decide whether to work together - or abandon their teammates for the money. But like the rest of the early show, it is all just paced so fast.

And the audience was not familiar with any of the players for it to make an impact. I left the first episode feeling disappointed - like I’d watched a pale imitation of the (already morally dubious) real life version of Squid Game on Netflix.

Screenshot from trailer for Beast Games. | Amazon MGM Studios

Episode two

To start the second episode, the contestants who had made it to Beast City drew tokens to find out which game they would be playing in the massive tower building. The tokens had hints for what to expect - and before the games began - they could swap with other players.

Hope you can catch - 3.5/ 5

Could you catch a ball for a chance at $5m? That was the premise of the Tower challenge in episode - as two teams faced off to see who could go the longest without dropping a red ball as they fell through holes in the ceiling.

This is the first game that I would have actually liked to have played - but it was over pretty quick, although the twist that the winning team had actually lost was a fun rug pull.

Less is More - 2/5

Another game of self-sacrifice, the second Tower challenge saw players split into two teams and the team with the most players left in the game would be eliminated. It continued the bizarre trend of people having to willingly give up that has run through many of the games.

The challenges still feel totally weightless - as we as an audience are not familiar with the players, so there are no emotional stakes for the viewers over whether a player leaves or stays. Although there was some fun with the shenanigans with both teams telling the other they weren’t going to eliminate anyone.

Still image from Beast Games | Amazon MGM Studios/ Beast Games

Get Read to Throw Down - 3/5

The third Tower challenge saw players having to throw balls into a cup - each successful attempt scored a point for their team. After all of the balls were thrown, the team with the most points survived - and the others were eliminated.

And the twist in which players could win $250,000 by throwing the ball into a separate cup, or go for the points to save their team made for some drama. But the back half lost steam as one team easily started to pull away.

Use Your Brain - 3.25/5

After making the last batch of players taking part in the Tower challenge stand on a series of tiles with different shapes on them, MrBeast revealed he was simply messing with them.

The real game was trivia - with groups of four competing against each other. Now I am a big fan of pub quizzes, so I did enjoy this - but it did skip through the questions quite quickly.

It would have been fun if the show gave the audience a chance to answer the questions. But by now, I shouldn’t have expected that.

Captain Bribe - 2/5

Yet another bribe game - it feels like the show is addicted to this kind of scenario. The players were split into four teams and had to pick a captain, who would then be offered bribes to eliminate their team - with the twist being they would remain in the game even if they accepted the bribe. It at least added a new spin on the already overly familiar bribe challenge.

But ending on a cliff-hanger did result in me making an audible sigh and role my eyes.

Episode three

Potato sack race - 1.5

Starting the episode with a ‘bit of fun’, the players sorted themselves into groups of three for the chance to win a fancier VIP accommodation in Beast City. There was barely any time for it to start before it was over, making it feel like a space filler - even if it does have consequences down the line.

Three in a box - 3.75/ 5

The winners of the potato sack race were granted immunity, for the rest of the three people teams they were handcuffed together and put into a box.

A five hour timer was set and they had to decide to eliminate one person in each cube. The players had a phone that could request anything that would help them make the decision - from playing cards to jenga, a horse and more.

It made for compelling TV to see the way players tried to decide who would leave - but perhaps if we had been more familiar with the contestants it could have been a proper watercooler moment. The reveal that two brothers were playing together just typified this, it is a moment of humanity and the show really needs more of this.

So while it might have been the best challenge so far, it still feels off - like a discount version of the marble episode from Squid Game season one. The bones of something really compelling are there, but the show’s hybridisation of

At least this challenge had more room to breathe and didn’t feel rushed, the way the first two episodes often did. It showed promise.

Episode four

The golden ticket - 4/5

To make it to the next stage of the competition, the players had to secure a space on a helicopter to Bear Island (the $1.8m island up for grabs). Each helicopter had six seats and there was a series of mini games to win their spot - from racing to find a golden ticket to dropping a ball at the right time.

Some of the mini games saw people eliminated from the game, while others had further chances to earn their spot on the island. It meant there was plenty of variety, but it still suffered from the overly rapid pace that has plagued the rest of the show - at least at first.

The third mini game, in which the players had to give coins to one player and they would get to decide who would join them on the helicopter was truly compelling TV. It finally started to feel like the players were starting to stand out of the crowd - and the weird cult vibes around player 991 (Jeremy) was properly memorable.

If the show had been like this from the start - letting the players become more than just numbers and instead show their personalities (good and bad), it would have been much stronger.

But it is two episodes in a row that didn’t feel like it was being played at 2.5x speed, so perhaps it is really starting to find a groove. It isn’t perfect, but it is getting better - and with the challenge for the island featuring a reduced cast - I have higher hopes for episode five.

Have you been watching Beast Games - what do you think of the show so far? Let me know: [email protected].