MrBeast

James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, businessman, and philanthropist. He is known for his fast-paced and high-production YouTube videos, where he often hosts elaborate challenges and donates large amounts of money. With over 380 million subscribers, he has the most subscribers on any YouTube channel and is the third-most-followed creator on TikTok, with over 115 million followers.
Donaldson was raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He began posting videos to YouTube in early 2012 under the handle MrBeast6000. His early content ranged from Let's Plays to "videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers". He went viral in 2017 after his "counting to 100,000" video earned tens of thousands of views in just a few days. His videos have become increasingly grand and extravagant. Once his channel took off, Donaldson hired some childhood friends to co-run the brand. Donaldson also runs the YouTube channels Beast Reacts (formerly BeastHacks), MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast 2 (formerly MrBeast Shorts), and the philanthropy channel Beast Philanthropy.
Donaldson is the founder of MrBeast Burger, Feastables, and a co-founder of Team Trees, a fundraiser for the Arbor Day Foundation that has raised over $24 million for its campaigns, and Lunchly, a food and snack brand similar to Lunchables. He also co-founded Team Seas, a fundraiser for Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup that has raised over $30 million. Donaldson won the Creator of the Year award four years in a row at the Streamy Awards in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023; he also won the Favorite Male Creator award three times at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. In 2023, Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. He ranked first on the Forbes list for the highest-paid YouTube creator in 2024 and has an estimated net worth of $550 million.
In September 2024, Donaldson was one of the subjects of a class action lawsuit that alleged widespread mistreatment, sexual harassment, and unpaid expenses and wages on his ongoing reality television series, Beast Games.
James Stephen Donaldson was born in Wichita, Kansas, on May 7, 1998. He was mainly raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He moved houses often and was under the care of au pairs because his parents worked long hours and served in the military. His parents divorced in 2007. In 2016, Donaldson graduated from Greenville Christian Academy, a private evangelical Christian high school in the area. He briefly attended East Carolina University before dropping out. While at Greenville Christian, Donaldson played baseball as an outfielder for several years. After dropping out of college, Donaldson and his friends attempted to analyze and understand YouTube's recommendation algorithm to create viral videos. Donaldson recalled regarding this period, "There's a five-year point in my life where I was just relentlessly, unhealthily obsessed with studying virality, studying the YouTube algorithm. I woke up. I would Uber Eats food. And then I would sit on my computer all day just studying shit nonstop with [other YouTubers]."
Donaldson uploaded his first YouTube video in February 2012, at 13, under the channel name "MrBeast6000". His early content included Let's Plays focusing on Minecraft and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers, videos that offered tips to upcoming YouTube creators, and commentary on YouTube drama. Donaldson appeared infrequently in these videos.
In 2015 and 2016, Donaldson gained popularity with his "Worst Intros on YouTube" series poking fun at YouTube video introductions. By mid-2016, Donaldson had around 30,000 subscribers. Donaldson dropped out of college in late 2016 to pursue a full-time career as a YouTuber. His mother disapproved of his decision and forced him to leave the family home.
As his channel grew, Donaldson hired four childhood friends—Ava Kris Tyson, Chandler Hallow, Garrett Ronalds, and Jake Franklin—to contribute to his channel. Franklin left the crew in 2020. Afterward, Karl Jacobs, previously a cameraman, was promoted to take his place.
In January 2017, Donaldson published an almost day-long video of himself counting to 100,000, which became his breakthrough viral video. The ordeal took him 40 hours, with some parts sped up to "keep it under 24 hours". Donaldson gained popularity during this period with stunts, such as attempting to break glass using a hundred megaphones, watching paint dry for an hour, staying underwater for 24 hours, which ended up failing due to health issues, and an unsuccessful attempt to spin a fidget spinner for a day. By 2018, Donaldson had given out $1 million through his stunts, earning him the title "YouTube's biggest philanthropist".
During the PewDiePie vs. T-Series rivalry in 2018, a competition to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, Donaldson bought billboards and numerous television and radio advertisements to help PewDiePie gain more subscribers than T-Series. During Super Bowl LIII, he purchased multiple seats for himself and his team, whose shirts spelled out "Sub 2 PewDiePie".
In March 2019, Donaldson organized and filmed a real-life battle royale competition in Los Angeles with prizes totaling $200,000 (two games were played, each awarding $100,000) in collaboration with Apex Legends. Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts sponsored the event and prize pool.
Donaldson was accused of using counterfeit money in his "I Opened A FREE BANK" video, published on November 23, 2019. He later explained that he used fake money to avoid participant safety concerns and that participants received real checks after the shoot.
In April 2020, Donaldson created a rock, paper, scissors competition stream that featured 32 influencers and a grand prize of $250,000, which, at the time, became YouTube's most-watched live Original event with 662,000 concurrent viewers. Professional esports player Nadeshot won the event. In October 2020, Donaldson hosted another influencer tournament. This time, it was trivia, featuring 24 competitors with a grand prize of $300,000. The tournament's winners were siblings Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, which caused controversy due to claims that they cheated.
On January 1, 2021, Donaldson released the "Youtube Rewind 2020, Thank God It's Over" video. In Donaldson's video, he explains that he had always believed that YouTubers "should get more say in Rewind", and with this in mind, he decided to call "hundreds of YouTubers". At the end of the video, Donaldson gives a shout-out to PewDiePie, citing him and his 2018 Rewind as the inspiration for Donaldson's Rewind. Donaldson signed a Facebook and Snapchat content distribution deal with Jellysmack a month later.
During a Clubhouse room in February 2021, Donaldson removed entrepreneur Farokh Sarmad after he allegedly said he could not pronounce his name, a move that Sarmad later said was racist. Sarmad's claims were questioned and denied by other Clubhouse users, who were present at the call and argued against Sarmad's claims, claiming that Donaldson removed him and others to make room for women to be more inclusive.
In November 2021, Donaldson uploaded "$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!", a recreation of the survival drama streaming television series Squid Game in real life. The video had 456 people compete for a $456,000 cash prize. It was one of the most-watched YouTube videos of 2021, receiving over 130 million views within a week. A review of the video in Vice argued that it "badly misunderstood the anti-capitalist message of Squid Game". Despite this, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has reacted positively to the recreations and parodies of the series.
In December 2021, Donaldson created a third influencer tournament featuring 15 competitors with a grand prize of $1 million. In January 2022, Forbes ranked Donaldson as YouTube's highest-earning creator, earning an estimated $54 million in 2021. Forbes stated that his income in 2021 would have placed him 40th in the 2020 Forbes Celebrity 100, earning as much money as Vin Diesel and Lewis Hamilton did in 2020.
On July 28, 2022, Donaldson surpassed 100 million subscribers on his main channel, making him the fifth channel and the second individual YouTuber to achieve the milestone. On November 17, 2022, Donaldson achieved the Guinness World Record of "Most Subscribers for an Individual Male on YouTube" with his MrBeast channel at 112 million subscribers. The previous record holder, PewDiePie, had held the record as the most subscribed YouTuber for almost ten years. Donaldson achieved one billion video views over 30 days on his main YouTube channel in November 2022. On October 15, 2023, Donaldson surpassed 200 million subscribers. His YouTube Shorts video "Would You Fly to Paris for a Baguette?" is the most-watched video on his main YouTube channel, having more than 1.3 billion views and 50 million likes as of January 2024.
On June 2, 2024, Donaldson surpassed India-based music label and film production company T-Series for the title of the most subscribed channel on YouTube, at 267 million. On July 10, 2024, Donaldson became the first YouTuber to surpass 300 million subscribers. On July 13, 2024, Donaldson uploaded his 300 million subscribers special, "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000". The video featured guest appearances from Howie Mandel, Miranda Cosgrove, and Joey Chestnut. This video reached 71 million views in the first 24 hours, becoming Donaldson's most-viewed video within its first 24 hours.
In his early career, Donaldson's content usually consisted of Let's Plays, "best and worst" videos, and YouTube commentary. Donaldson's present-day videos are categorized into three genres: stunt videos, where Donaldson or other participants perform challenges that are interesting, challenging, or dangerous; "junklord" videos, where Donaldson uses a large quantity of a particular product unusually or spends an extravagant amount on it; and giveaway videos, where Donaldson gives away large amounts of money or extravagant prizes to people, usually including a competitive aspect. Giveaway videos are considered a distinctive feature of Donaldson's content.
Donaldson's videos leverage YouTube's recommendation algorithm to go viral, mainly by maximizing click-through rate and viewer retention. He prioritizes creating effective topics, titles, and thumbnails to maximize the click-through rate. In an interview with Lex Fridman, he stated that for him to make a viral video, it needed to be "original, creative, something people really need to see, ideally never been done before". He designed his titles to attract attention by promising outrageous stunts and using specific keywords like "24-hours" and "challenge". His thumbnails are easily understandable, clearly focused, and brightly colored. To maximize viewer retention, Donaldson paces the videos to have viewers engaged throughout. His videos typically span 10–30 minutes. He hooks viewers by explaining the premise in under half a minute at the start of the video and promises a "finale" to engage viewers until the end.
Donaldson's funding for these videos mainly comes from sponsorships, as well as Google's AdSense program. In 2022, Donaldson was reported to spend about $1 million on each video. Donaldson uses his reaction and gaming channel to help finance his main channel, as their videos are relatively cheap to produce and make a substantial amount of money. The Verge noted that his revenue is self-perpetuating: "The more viral he becomes, the more brands want to work with him, and the bigger his own AdSense earnings get. He can then entice viewers with even bigger giveaway videos. It's a never ending cycle." In an interview with Rolling Stone, he stated, "I could be doing cheaper videos, [...] But I just don't want to. I want to push the boundaries to go bigger, bigger." Donaldson earns passive income through merchandise, MrBeast Burger, and Feastables.
As of 2023, Donaldson employs over 250 people, from writers to editors to producers. Many employees include people familiar with Donaldson, such as friends and family members.
In June 2020, Donaldson, in collaboration with Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF, released a one-time multiplayer mobile game titled Finger on the App. In the game, players touch their phone screen, and the last person to remove their finger from the screen wins $25,000. In the end, four people won $20,000 each after keeping their finger on the application for over 70 hours. The game was reportedly so successful that a sequel titled Finger on the App 2 was planned to initially launch in December 2020 initially. The game was postponed to February, then further delayed to March 2021 due to a flood of downloads, causing the game to crash and requiring its developers to upgrade their servers. This time, the game featured a grand prize of $100,000. The winner kept their finger on the phone screen for around 51 hours. The second-place finisher also received a prize of $20,000.
Will Hyde, a producer for the MrBeast channel, announced in a November 2020 article with The Wake Weekly that Donaldson would launch a virtual restaurant called MrBeast Burger in December 2020. Hyde said his team worked with Virtual Dining Concepts while developing the restaurant concept. He said MrBeast Burger will sell franchise rights to serve the burgers to restaurants across the U.S., and customers can order the burgers via online delivery services. The restaurant has since expanded to include over 2,000 locations internationally. On September 4, 2022, the first physical restaurant opened in the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In January 2022, Donaldson announced the creation of a new snack company called Feastables, which started with the launching of its brand of chocolate bars called MrBeast Bar. At launch, they offered three flavors of bars: original, almond, and quinoa crunch. The launch corresponded with a sweepstakes with over $1 million in prizes, including $10,000 prize winners who could receive a chance to compete for a chocolate factory in a future video, emulating Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The video, released in June 2022, contained a series of elimination challenges where the winner won the choice of the chocolate factory or a $500,000 cash prize. Michelin Star chef Gordon Ramsay was featured as a judge in the final challenge of the video and ultimately decided who won the cash prize. Feastables reportedly made $10 million in its first few months of operation.
On March 3, 2023, Donaldson asked fans on Twitter to "clean up the presentation" of Feastables displays on store shelves and suggested that they obscure competing products. Feastables offered fans entry into a $5,000 raffle if they provided proof of their assistance. The tweets drew criticism and accusations that Feastables exploited fans for unpaid labor.
On October 2, 2023, Feastables partnered with the Charlotte Hornets to include MrBeast's insignia on their jerseys for the 2023–24 NBA season. However, the partnership has since ended.
In February 2024, Feastables rebranded their chocolates, including a new shape and formula.
In September 2024, Donaldson announced the Lunchly brand of snack kits. The brand, marketed as a healthier alternative to Lunchables, was founded as a joint venture with fellow YouTubers Olajide "KSI" Olatunji and Logan Paul.
At launch, each box included Prime and Feastables chocolate bars, existing products offered by the creators, along with three varieties of turkey with cheese and crackers, nachos with salsa and cheese, or pizza.
Lunchly faced substantial criticism on various social media platforms from individuals who questioned the lunch kit's marketing tactics and nutritional quality. Notably, YouTuber DanTDM expressed his disapproval of Lunchly by posting on his X (formerly Twitter) profile, "This is selling crap to kids who don't know better than to trust the people who are selling it to them." There also have been reports of mold being found within the product.
Donaldson is an investor in the tech startup Backbone, which produces the Backbone One, a controller accessory for smartphones, and the Backbone app, a content creation and social tools app for its users.
In March 2021, Donaldson partnered with the Creative Juice financial network to introduce Juice Funds, a $2 million investment fund for content creators.
In April 2021, Donaldson became a long-term investor and partner of financial technology company Current. The same month, Donaldson received backlash after fans lost significant amounts of money in a cryptocurrency scheme that Donaldson had invested in and promoted.
In November 2022, Donaldson partnered with East Carolina University to create a course centered around YouTube content creation.
In May 2023, Donaldson was featured as a guest judge on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars show.
In 2023, a free ad-supported streaming television channel named Mr. Beast that shows only previously released MrBeast YouTube videos began airing on the Roku Channel service.
In March 2024, Donaldson and Amazon MGM Studios announced their plans to create a new reality competition series Beast Games, set to air exclusively on Prime Video. It was set to become the biggest reality competition series, with 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million cash prize—the biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming.
The show faced criticism after contestants complained that they had been denied food, water, medication, and beds during production. Several contestants were hospitalized during the first filming sessions, with over a dozen contestants claiming that various injuries had occurred while participating in the challenges and that many had been seen being removed from the arena on stretchers. A spokesperson of Donaldson would blame external factors such as the global computer systems outage caused by CrowdStrike's update to its software, "extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues".
Some former employees alleged that Donaldson nurtured a difficult work environment. In a May 2021 New York Times article, Matt Turner, an editor for Donaldson from February 2018 to September 2019, claimed that Donaldson berated him almost daily, including calling him a "retard". Turner reported that he was regularly not credited for his work. Reporting by Insider showed that Turner previously posted a video in 2018 explaining his allegations and, in October 2019, released a deleted Twitter thread that stated that he was "yelled at, bullied, called mentally retarded and replaceable by Donaldson every single day". Nate Anderson, another editor, quit after working for Donaldson for a week in 2018 over what he said were unreasonable demands and called Donaldson a perfectionist. After releasing a video describing his experience, Anderson reportedly received death threats from Donaldson's fans. Nine other employees who worked for Donaldson also stated that while he was sometimes generous, his demeanor would change when the cameras were off. Donaldson disputed these claims, saying: "We have high standards, but it's not a toxic work environment." Donaldson also claimed that he gave Turner $10,000 and suggested a job at another company at the end of his contract.
On June 17, 2023, Donaldson expressed wishes to shut down MrBeast Burger due to quality issues, saying he regrets signing "a bad deal" with Virtual Dining Concepts, LLC, but said the company "won't let me stop even though it's terrible for my brand". On July 31, 2023, Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts in federal court to end their partnership, alleging that the company damaged Donaldson's reputation by prioritizing the expansion of the MrBeast Burger brand over food quality. Donaldson also claimed he received no payment from the partnership. Virtual Dining Concepts disputed the claims, stating Donaldson had grown his reputation due to the MrBeast Burger brand, and accused Donaldson of attempting a new deal for personal gain and resorting to "bullying" when rejected.
One week later, on August 7, Virtual Dining Concepts and its subsidiary, Celebrity Virtual Dining, LLC, filed a counter-suit against Donaldson and his company Beast Investments for allegedly breaching agreements, failing to honor his contractual obligations, as well as intentional tortious interference, with damages exceeding $100 million. Donaldson later dropped his lawsuit to refile the case in a state court. As of January 2025, the lawsuit is still ongoing.
On July 24, 2024, Donaldson removed Ava Kris Tyson, one of the original cast members, from the MrBeast brand following allegations against Tyson of sexual misconduct with multiple minors and of pressuring a former employee to perform sexual acts. Tyson responded by putting out her own statement, saying she willingly stepped away and that her decision to leave was mutual. Tyson defended herself, stating that she had never gone beyond making "bad edgy jokes".
One of the alleged victims, going by the name LavaGS online, initially responded to the allegations by denying that he had been groomed, referring to it as "massive lies and twisting the truth", and claimed that Tyson had only "made a few edgy jokes", reaffirming Tyson's own claims. He later rescinded the statement, said that the conversations were inappropriate for his age, and acknowledged that he was a minor who did not recognize the wrongdoing at the time. He then rescinded his previous rescission by stating, "It was incredibly difficult having my name thrown around in a public forum without being given the opportunity to share the truth. Thankfully the people doing the investigation actually did reach out and gave me the opportunity to tell the truth, which I very much appreciated. I was not groomed, these were false allegations made up by other people with my name thrown in them."
Donaldson released a statement saying he was hiring an independent investigator to look further into the matter. On November 1, 2024, the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan concluded the allegations against Tyson were baseless after conducting "39 interviews of current and former employees" and reviewing "over 4.5 million documents from mobile phones, emails, Telegrams, Discords, WhatsApps and Slack". The law firm reported, "The allegations were soundly rejected, including by alleged victims." These alleged victims have commented on the allegations as "massive lies", with one saying, "People used my name to make very serious allegations and claims without ever speaking to me."
On July 24, 2024, one of Donaldson's former employees, DogPack404, released a video on his YouTube channel accusing Donaldson of rigging contests, running illegal lotteries, faking his videos, faking signatures, and deceiving his fans.
In a second video, DogPack404 interviewed another former employee, Jake Weddle, who described poor working conditions, including not being allowed to sleep, which caused him to develop insomnia. The employee also stated that Donaldson hired Jake Franklin's brother-in-law, nicknamed "Delaware", despite knowing he was a registered sex offender who had been charged with assaulting an 11-year-old child. Franklin later claimed that he felt Delaware did "nothing wrong", in regards to the assault of the minor. DogPack404 also claimed that during the filming of one video, multiple women came forward with complaints about Donaldson's cameraman, who allegedly attempted to get them high on paint fumes and sexually assault them.
In September 2024, a class action lawsuit on behalf of five former contestants of Beast Games was filed against Donaldson, Amazon, and associated production companies in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleged that the Beast Games contestants experienced widespread mistreatment, sexual harassment, and unpaid expenses and wages. The lawsuit also alleged that these violations occurred to gain Nevada tax credits: "Plaintiffs and the Proposed Class [were forced] to enter into illegal contracts and provid[e] false information to the State of Nevada to obtain unearned tax credits."
On October 25, 2019, Donaldson and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober announced a collaborative fundraising challenge event on YouTube called #TeamTrees. This project aimed to raise $20 million for the Arbor Day Foundation by January 1, 2020, and plant trees "no later than December 2022". Every donation goes to the Arbor Day Foundation, which pledges to plant one tree for every dollar donated. Notable YouTubers such as Rhett & Link, Marshmello, iJustine, Marques Brownlee, The Slow Mo Guys, Ninja, Simone Giertz, Jacksepticeye, and Smarter Every Day brought attention to the project, and the foundation began planting trees in October 2019 in U.S. national parks.
On December 19 of that year, the fundraiser surpassed the $20 million goal. The project received large donations from corporate executives Jack Dorsey, Susan Wojcicki, Elon Musk, and Tobias Lütke, as well as companies such as Discovery, Verizon, and PopCap. Tobias Lütke, founder and CEO of Shopify, holds the record for the largest donation at 1,000,001 trees planted. As of March 2025, the original goal of 20 million trees has been far surpassed, with over 24.8 million trees planted.
On October 29, 2021, Donaldson and Rober organized another collaborative challenge event on YouTube titled #TeamSeas. This project aimed to raise $30 million for the Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup by January 1, 2022. The $30 million goal would fund the removal of 30 million pounds of plastic and other waste from oceans, rivers, and beaches. Donaldson and Rober enlisted thousands of content creators, including AzzyLand, DanTDM, TommyInnit, LinusTechTips, TierZoo, LEMMiNO, The Infographics Show, Hannah Stocking, Dhar Mann, and Marques Brownlee. They partnered with BEN and TubeBuddy's eight million global creators initiative to promote the fundraiser.
As of February 2025, the original $30 million goal has been surpassed, with more than $34 million raised.
On September 17, 2020, Donaldson created the YouTube channel Beast Philanthropy. In the channel's first video, Donaldson announced the charity and food bank and named Darren Margolias, who appeared previously as an executive director. According to the channel's description, it donates 100% of its advertising revenue, brand deals, and merchandise sales to charity.
Notable initiatives by Beast Philanthropy include giving away 10,000 turkeys to his hometown of Greenville, donating 20,000 shoes to children in Africa, building 100 wells in Africa for villages with limited access to clean water, and gifting $300,000 worth of technology to various schools.
Donaldson describes himself as an introvert and admits struggling to maintain a social life due to his intense focus on YouTube and work ethic. His mother, Sue, attributes his withdrawn lifestyle to their frequent relocations and his struggles with Crohn's disease.
Donaldson dated YouTuber Maddy Spidell from 2019 to 2022 and began dating gaming streamer Thea Booysen in 2022. On January 1, 2025, he announced his engagement to Booysen, which began on December 25, 2024.
In June 2023, after the OceanGate submersible Titan imploded in the Atlantic Ocean during a tourist expedition to the wreck of the Titanic, which killed all five passengers, Donaldson claimed that he had been invited on the expedition but had declined the offer.
Donaldson has stated that he is apolitical because he wants to avoid alienating his audience, which would interfere with his charity goal. On a podcast in September 2022, Donaldson commented that he would consider running for president of the United States "in like 20 years", adding that the U.S. is "due for younger presidents". On July 6, 2024, during the 2024 presidential election, Donaldson wrote on Twitter, "If we lower the age to run for president I'll jump in the race." Donaldson clarified in another Twitter post that he was reiterating his apolitical position.
In an April 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, Donaldson announced that he had left evangelical Christianity and identified as an agnostic theist. He revealed that he had once agreed with Christian opposition to homosexuality, influenced by his upbringing in the Bible Belt, where religion was "beat into [his] head every day". He recalled being told, "Gay people are the reason God's going to come and burn this Earth." He has since rejected those views and disavowed anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
In May 2018, The Atlantic published an article on Donaldson's history of using homophobic slurs. The article stated that Donaldson, while still a teenager, had a habit of referring to people as "fags" on Twitter and regularly treated being homosexual as a punchline and "gay" as an insult. Donaldson later removed the tweets, and in 2021, a spokesperson for Donaldson said that he had "grown up and matured into someone that doesn't speak like that".
After Ava Kris (then Chris) Tyson, Donaldson's childhood friend and employee, acknowledged in April 2023 that she was receiving feminizing hormone replacement therapy, Donaldson defended her against backlash she had received: "Yeah, this is getting absurd. Chris isn't my 'nightmare' he's my fucken [sic] friend and things are fine. All this transphobia is starting to piss me off." Tyson subsequently came out as a trans woman.
Since June 2, 2024, MrBeast has been the most subscribed channel on YouTube, surpassing T-Series. A February 2021 poll from Insider showed that 70% of respondents had a favorable view of him, compared to 12% who had an unfavorable view. His channel appeals strongly to younger viewers. Donaldson also builds a parasocial relationship with his viewers by "looking directly at the camera and talking to the audience" and displaying himself as "an exciting, relatable, authentic, down-to-earth person".
However, some critics have questioned Donaldson's motives and ethics. Users on social media accused Donaldson of exploiting poverty for views, deeming his content "charity porn". His philanthropy has been criticized for not addressing the root causes of systemic inequality. In response, Donaldson claimed that he does not profit from Beast Philanthropy or its videos and that all revenue goes towards charity. He also stressed the importance of the government's role in solving systemic issues.
According to Charissa Cheong of Insider, Donaldson becoming the most-subscribed YouTuber marks a shift in YouTube content away from traditional vlogging towards elaborate high-production videos that create a more "television-like experience". She wrote, "the future of YouTube content will likely look more 'experimental' now that Donaldson's high-stakes challenges are performing so well. Creators are going to keep trying to 'push the boundaries of what is possible' by trying new and 'extreme' formats and genres." Fellow YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober wrote that Donaldson is "constantly raising the bar for creators whether it's through re-creating Squid Game in real life or paying for the eye surgeries of 1,000 blind people". Donaldson has inspired many young YouTubers. His "extreme challenge videos" have influenced other YouTubers like Fidias and Airrack, who have made videos in a similar style.