Beast Games Lawsuit: Contestant Claims Against MrBeast and Amazon

The Beast Games lawsuit is a proposed class action filed in September 2024 by five former contestants on the Amazon Prime Video competition series, who allege that MrBeast’s production companies and Amazon misclassified them as non-employees, denied them wages and breaks required under California law, exposed them to unsafe conditions, and, in the case of female participants, permitted a culture of sexual harassment during filming.¹

Who Sued, and Where

The case is captioned Contestant 1 et al. v. MrB2024, LLC, Off One’s Base, LLC, and Amazon Alternative LLC, Case No. 24STCV24042, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. It names Jimmy Donaldson’s production company, Amazon’s entertainment subsidiary, and the independent production firm Off One’s Base as defendants.¹

The five named plaintiffs are identified only as Contestants 1 through 5. They filed on behalf of everyone who took part in the first season’s competitions during the summer of 2024, a proposed class of more than 2,000 people, with sub-groups for women bringing harassment claims, contestants denied reasonable accommodations, and contestants who say they were wrongfully eliminated. The plaintiffs are represented by Stuart Alban Law, Whang Law Firm, Singian Law, and Pafundi Law Firm.²

Filming for the season began in July 2024, when roughly 2,000 contestants gathered at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for an opening round that ran July 18 through 22. A second round of about 1,000 contestants was filmed in Toronto in August 2024.¹

What Contestants Say Happened on Set

Contestants lived, ate, and slept inside Allegiant Stadium during the Las Vegas shoot and were required to surrender personal food, clothing, and medication to production staff.³

Food was scarce. One account described a meal of a quarter cup of oatmeal, a couple of cucumber slices, two baby carrots, a cherry tomato, a boiled egg, and a few celery sticks.⁴ The complaint calls meals “sporadic and sparse,” supplemented mainly by MrBeast-branded chocolate bars.⁵

Contestants reported seizures, diabetic shock, and other injuries. Some say they were denied access to necessary medication, including insulin and heart medication, and were threatened with disqualification if they tried to retrieve it.⁴ Several were hospitalized.¹ The production reportedly offered to cover therapy costs, an offer the plaintiffs called insufficient.⁶

Night filming forced participants to try to sleep on the stadium turf during the day.³ At the Luxor hotel, where some contestants were housed, participants said they were locked in rooms for three to five hours without food, water, or key cards.⁴

Women on set alleged sexism and a lack of access to menstrual products. When contestants asked for them, production staff reportedly told them menstruation was “not a medical emergency.”³ The lawsuit alleges a broader “culture of misogyny and sexism” directed at female contestants. Specific details of the sexual harassment claims remain redacted in the public complaint to protect the plaintiffs’ privacy.¹

A representative for Donaldson attributed some of the problems to the CrowdStrike outage, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical issues.³

The Legal Claims

The complaint advances 14 causes of action under California law. Its central theory is that the defendants intentionally misclassified contestants as “participants” or “volunteers” when they were actually employees entitled to the full protection of state labor law.⁷ Lead attorney Robert Pafundi argued that because contestants signed contracts promising compensation and were under the “consistent control and supervision of the production staff,” they qualified as employees.⁸

The wage-and-hour claims include unpaid minimum wage and overtime, denial of uninterrupted meal and rest periods, failure to pay wages promptly on termination of services, failure to provide itemized wage statements, and failure to reimburse travel and other out-of-pocket expenses.¹⁰ The false advertising claim rests on the allegation that the production publicly said 1,000 people would compete for the $5 million prize when the actual pool was 2,000, effectively cutting contestants’ odds in half.⁵

The complaint also alleges the defendants used their misclassification scheme to secure a $2,252,523 tax credit from the State of Nevada, arguing the production would not have qualified had it disclosed actual labor costs to the Nevada Film Commission.⁷ Nevada’s Governor’s Office of Economic Development said it is “aware of the ongoing lawsuit” and “actively tracking developments.” The production has not yet received the credits because it has not completed the required third-party audit.¹¹

The suit seeks unpaid wages, expense reimbursement, and unspecified punitive damages.²

How MrBeast and Amazon Have Responded

Representatives for Amazon and Donaldson initially declined to comment.¹ Donaldson later addressed the allegations on X, saying he had “tons of behind-the-scenes” footage that would show “how blown out of proportion these claims were.”¹² He has also called the suit “bogus.”¹³ A separate statement from a representative said the production team had “taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience.”¹⁴

Where the Case Stands

The lawsuit remains active. As of mid-2026, the court has not ruled on class certification, the case has not settled, and it has not been dismissed.¹²

The litigation has not slowed the show. Amazon renewed Beast Games for two additional seasons at its upfront presentation in May 2025, and the second-season prize pool will increase to $15 million.¹⁵ Season 2 is set to premiere on January 7, 2027, with portions filmed in Saudi Arabia under a new format featuring 100 of “the planet’s strongest competitors” and 100 of “the world’s smartest minds.”¹²

A Separate Employee Suit, Not Part of This Case

The contestant class action is distinct from a separate lawsuit filed in April 2026 by Lorrayne Mavromatis, a former head of creative and head of Instagram at Beast Industries, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Mavromatis alleges sexual harassment, gender bias, and retaliation, saying she was demoted after filing an HR complaint and fired less than three weeks after returning from pregnancy-related leave. She also filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.¹⁶¹⁷ Beast Industries denied those allegations, calling the suit a “clout-chasing complaint” and stating that Mavromatis’s position was eliminated as part of a team reorganization. That case involves a former employee, not a contestant, and is proceeding on its own track.

1
Variety. MrBeast and Amazon Sued by Beast Games Contestants in Class Action
2
Beast Games Class Action. Contestant 1 et al. v. MrB2024, LLC Class Action
3
Mashable. MrBeast Dangerous Set Beast Games Allegations
4
News 3 Las Vegas. YouTube Experience, Film Inexperience: Stumbles in MrBeast Production in Las Vegas
5
CBC. Beast Games Lawsuit
6
Yahoo Entertainment. MrBeast’s Beast Games Renewed by Prime Video
7
Variety. Beast Games Class Action Complaint
8
Time. MrBeast Amazon Class Action Beast Games
9
10
Variety. Beast Games Class Action Complaint
Beyond wages, the suit brings claims for sexual harassment and failure to prevent it, negligent infliction of emotional distress, unfair business practices, and false advertising.9Variety. Beast Games Class Action Complaint
11
Nevada Current. Nevada Still Has Film Tax Credits and MrBeast Wants Another $2.5M Worth
12
Decider. MrBeast’s Beast Games Return Lawsuit Amazon
13
Time. Beast Industries
14
NBC News. Beast Games Set Issues, Growing Pains in YouTuber-Run Productions
15
Tubefilter. Amazon Prime Video Beast Games Two-Season Renewal
16
Variety. MrBeast Sued by Former Employee Alleging Sexual Harassment and Retaliation
17
WITN. MrBeast Employee Alleges Harassment, Fired After Maternity Leave in New Lawsuit