MrBeast has reached a new milestone on YouTube by surpassing 400 million subscribers. Celebrating the feat on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “400,000,000 subscribers! A decade ago, before I blew up, everyone in my life told me I was too obsessed and constantly told me that I’d never make it.”
The YouTuber added that his passion led him against the criticism. “Despite that, I was in love with making content and grinded every moment my eyes were open for seven years before anyone started watching. I literally told my mom I’d rather be homeless than do anything else.”
Grateful to the platform and his subscribers, he said, “The greatest gift in life is being able to wake up everyday with a purpose and thanks to YouTube and you guys, I have that. Thanks for 400M.”
No other channels on the platform are even close to the number. To put into perspective, Pewdiepie and T-Series – who had the popular online race to 100 million subscribers back in 2019, which the Indian music company won – are at 110 million and 295 million subscribers respectively.
In 2023, MrBeast expressed his desire to break T-Series’ record of subscribers – with MrBeast at 125 million subscribers and T-Series at 230 million then. He broke the record in 2024, becoming the most subscribed YouTuber on the platform.
MrBeast, born James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, joined YouTube in 2012 by posting gaming content and trying other formats. Flashforward to a 2017 video, he counted down to 100,000, which became his gateway to fame. The video currently has almost 32 million views.
Since then, the YouTuber became known for his extravagant challenges and large-scale giveaways. In 2024, he premiered his own version of Netflix’s Squid Game, called Beast Games on Amazon’s Prime Video. The 10-episode competition series featured 1,000 players and set a grand prize of $5,000,000.
Later, a lawsuit was filed against the content creator and his production company on behalf of five unnamed contestants, as per Variety. The lawsuit alleged that the show failed to provide basic necessities such as medical care, food, and sleep to the participants, adding that they were not paid minimum wage for their overtime involvement and were subjected to “dangerous circumstances and conditions.”
In response, MrBeast wrote on X, “We have tons of behind-the-scenes footage dropping when the series does to show how these claims were blown out of proportion. Just can’t release it now because it would spoil the games.”
The show scored a 5.7 rating on IMDb and a 20 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with viewers remarking that it exploited underprivileged participants for entertainment and missed the point of Squid Game.
