ALBAWABA - Popular YouTuber MrBeast recently faced backlash after sharing his latest set of stunts, which included trapping a man inside a burning house for a chance to win $500,000.
The challenge featured Eric, a stuntman who said in the video that he wants to win to give his parents a better retirement, since his father’s health has been deteriorating after suffering from cancer.
Titled "Would You Risk Dying For $500,000?" the 25-minute video consisted of a set of seven challenges, including getting launched out of a human cannon, jumping through rings of fire, and many more. However, one specific stunt caused outrage on social media due to its life-threatening nature.
MrBeast under fire for trapping man inside burning house
The video started with MrBeast and his friends tying Eric with ropes inside a burning home for a chance to get $500,000 before flames engulf it. Eric miraculously managed to get $250,000 just before flames covered the whole house.
In another challenge, Eric had to throw a grappling hook into a room full of fireworks to grab $300,000 in under five minutes before a massive fireball exploded. However, after completing it, Eric faced another challenge similar to the first burning house trap challenge.
The contestant was once again trapped by MrBeast inside a burning building and tied up with ropes, but the YouTuber let him go after jokingly pressuring him to say he liked his new beef jerky product.
Would You Risk Dying For $500,000? (MrBeast/ YouTube)
Just one day after posting on YouTube, the video garnered over 43 million views, which doesn't come as a surprise, as MrBeast is the most subscribed individual on the platform with over 441 million subscribers under his belt.
A social media user on X (formerly known as Twitter) likened MrBeast to Jigsaw, a fictional antagonist from the popular horror franchise, Saw. He wrote, "We watching this ***** turn into Jigsaw in real time."
Another viewer wrote, "Yikes… MrBeast really taking ‘high stakes’ to a whole new level," with another saying: "For the sake of entertainment I guess. I thought Idiocracy was the future, now realizing we’re already living it."
In response to the backlash, MrBeast issued a statement that read, "In case there’s any concern about the safety of the stuntman contestant, I just wanted to mention that we take safety extremely seriously. Every challenge was tested by multiple stuntmen, we have a full rescue team on standbywith firefighters, EMTs and divers equipped with an ambulance and fire truck."
He outlined further, "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. But our stunt coordinator did an amazing job as always, and none of these systems were ever needed. Just wanted to be transparent with you all since I saw some concern!"
