The second season of the blockbuster reality competition Beast Games has landed on Amazon Prime Video, but the show hosted by internet titan Jimmy 'MrBeast' Donaldson is facing a wave of criticism for being 'incredibly turgid' and 'mindless' television.
Controversy and Record-Breaking Success
The series, which offers a colossal $5 million grand prize, arrives amidst a backdrop of previous legal drama. The first season prompted a lawsuit from five anonymous contestants who alleged they were kept 'underfed and overtired' in an unsafe environment, claims vigorously denied by the production companies and Donaldson himself.
Despite these allegations of exploitation, the inaugural season proved a monumental hit for Amazon, becoming its most-watched unscripted series ever with a staggering 50 million viewers in its first month.
A Mashup of Squid Game and Love Island
Season two doubles down on the formula, described as a peculiar and vapid blend of 'Squid Game meets Love Island'. Set in the heavily floodlit 'Beast City', 200 contestants endure physically gruelling and convoluted challenges, from building towering foam block structures to complex dodgeball games.
Yet, the focus often shifts from the games themselves to teenage-style machinations and feuds. Contestants couple up, seek revenge for fallen allies, and engage in petty gossip, with one player, Luisitin, campaigning to eject a rival who he claims 'gaslit' his wife during the first series.
An Adolescent Worldview
This season introduces a divide, splitting players into 'Strong' and 'Smart' teams, a simplistic segregation that reinforces an immature dynamic. As challenges turn more physical, members of the 'Smart' team, despite their purported high IQs, begin to falter.
The show also follows reality TV tropes by shamelessly mining contestants' personal tragedies for emotional weight, highlighting backstories involving cancer treatments and rare diseases. However, critics argue this feels no more cloying than MrBeast's own well-publicised online philanthropy.
A Prodigeously Childish Affair
Ultimately, the review concludes that while the show's premise may seem cruel, its greater sin is being profoundly tedious. Donaldson's presentation, sporting a blazer over a hoodie, is seen as a metaphor for the series itself: an attempt to smarten up what remains a 'prodigiously childish' endeavour.
Far from the controversial spectacle his online antics might suggest, Beast Games season two is criticised as a 'vibeless' and 'incredibly turgid' spectacle, more reminiscent of a dismal schoolyard than gripping television, despite the life-changing cash prize at its centre.
Beast Games season two is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.
