MrBeast: If You Want To Be Liked, Don't Help People! I Lost Tens Of Millions On Beast Games... But I'm Worth $1 Billion!

Jimmy Donaldson (0:00)

There's a reason no one makes videos like me, because no one wants to live the life I live or be in my head. They would be miserable.

Steven Bartlett (0:05)

Are you happy?

Jimmy Donaldson (0:07)

Um... I... I'm gonna be honest. So far, more unhappy than happy.

Steven Bartlett (0:14)

Well, has it ever crossed your mind to quit YouTube as a whole?

Jimmy Donaldson (0:17)

Oh, yeah, of course.

Steven Bartlett (0:18)

Really?

Jimmy Donaldson (0:19)

Yeah.

Steven Bartlett (0:19)

Are you?

Jimmy Donaldson (0:20)

Oh, boy.

Steven Bartlett (0:25)

MrBeast! MrBeast!

Jimmy Donaldson (0:27)

MrBeast! He is the biggest YouTuber on the planet.

Steven Bartlett (0:30)

And he's building empires. I mean, is there anything this man can't do? Your business empire is much bigger than most people realize.

Jimmy Donaldson (0:36)

Yeah, I mean, I'm only 26, and we have the largest YouTube channel in the world. And Beast Games is gonna shatter some pretty crazy records. And we do nine figures of festivals. But a lot of that stems from being a very confused child that's not fitting in, that feels like a freak. Plus, I really wanted to take care of my mom, because when I was 11, we literally went bankrupt and lost everything. Luckily, it worked out. And it's because I'm really good at obsessing over one thing more than anyone else on the planet. Like, I lost tens of millions of dollars on Beast Games. But it's about making Season 1 as good as possible. And I just really love solving complex problems. Like, how many kids do you think are in child labor in West Africa? Just on Cocoa Farms. It's 1.5 million. And so with Feastables, we were trying to get over a million kids out of child labor. But the ironic part is, the more I help people, the more I get. Like, I've read over 5,000 messages telling me to kill myself. I mean, there's definitely times where I would cry.

But if my mental health was a priority, I wouldn't be as successful as I am. This is the price you have to pay.

Steven Bartlett (1:26)

But when is enough enough?

Jimmy Donaldson (1:27)

Honestly.

Steven Bartlett (1:31)

I find it incredibly fascinating that when we look at the back end of Spotify and Apple and our audio channels, the majority of people that watch this podcast haven't yet hit the follow button or the subscribe button. Wherever you're listening to this, I would like to make a deal with you. If you could do me a huge favour and hit that subscribe button, I will work tirelessly from now until forever to make the show better and better and better and better. I can't tell you how much it helps when you hit that subscribe button. The show gets bigger, which means we can expand the production, bring in all the guests you want to see, and continue to do in this thing we love. If you could do me that small favour and hit the follow button, wherever you're listening to this, that would mean the world to me. That is the only favour I will ever ask you. Thank you so much for your time. Back to this episode. Jimmy, we've really just only met and you are already, to me, a bit of a Rubik's Cube.

Jimmy Donaldson (2:19)

Okay.

Steven Bartlett (2:19)

In so many ways. And I've been trying to piece the pieces together to understand the uniqueness of you because you're so unbelievably unique. We just drove over here in the car and hearing you speak about the way that you view life and speaking to you yesterday on the phone, I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people and I've never ever met someone who has the perspective on life that you have. You are truly unique.

What do I need to understand about your earliest years to understand who you are?

Jimmy Donaldson (2:51)

Oh, boy. Yeah, my earliest years, I'm just stubborn, man. I just never give up. I mean, there was no world where I ever would have quit. I just, I mean, we're just jumping right into it. It's a great, no intro or anything. Just boom, that's how you hold people. When I was 11, I just said, I'm going to be a YouTuber, I'm going to die trying, and I meant it. And there was like, even if no one still watches my videos to this day, I would still be going. And so people hate it, but I'm just the most competitive, stubborn person you'll ever meet, and I just never give up.

Steven Bartlett (3:24)

And where did that come from?

Jimmy Donaldson (3:25)

I have no idea, to be honest. Honestly, it feels like it was just in my DNA and my bloodstream. My mom hated it growing up. We'd always argue and like, you know, she has this thing where like, once Jimmy sets his mind to something, he just never stops. And it would always piss her off because when it was YouTube and she wanted me to be studying or things like that. But I really don't know. It's just always been how I am. And I think a lot of people have these weird tendencies and they tend to like try to like unlearn them. And like, I had phases in my life where I was like, am I too extreme? Like, people are very intimidated by me because I just am so obsessed with work and I'm so all in and like, is this like unhealthy? Should I try to be more like a normal human? Especially when I was a teenager. It's a lot easier. It's funny when you're making lots of money.