Ben (1:44)

What about like buzz ball? Something classy, a smearing off ice.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (1:47)

No, mine, which I also just don't drink. I've only drank alcohol three times in my life. But, uh, my logic is just make it as little alcohol or like as little liquid as possible and just get it done with like a shot.

Josh (1:59)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's smart. These are 4.2%. You don't taste them at all. The goal is like low ABV sessionable. Better for you. But in the, like, you can drink.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:09)

It and then drive type.

Josh (2:10)

You could. You. You could.

Ben (2:11)

A Tesla.

Josh (2:12)

I can't say that. You can.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:14)

You can.

Ben (2:15)

You can.

Josh (2:15)

I. I can't.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:17)

You're saying that this is the perfect drink before driving.

Josh (2:20)

This is the perfect drink.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:23)

We're off to a great start. Spazzing off. It'll be a miracle if this makes the better with.

Ben (2:30)

With the afternoon grind.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:32)

The afternoon with your Sunday. With your Sunday stroll. Yes. Sprint Society brought to you by Toyota.

Josh (2:38)

Sprint Society is not only sponsored by drunk driving, but it's also sponsored by Josh, who has been sober for 17 years.

Ben (2:45)

Such a cliche child actor. Yeah, I'm such a burnout.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:48)

Yeah, I don't think.

Ben (2:49)

I feel like no one in your team could successfully be an alcoholic just because of how much you demand of their time.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (2:55)

Yeah, well, you also are who you're around and like I, I just like being around people who, you know, make me a better person. And if, if you, if I was surrounded with a bunch of people who drank, I would. The probability of my drinking, of me drinking goes up exponentially. So I just try to have people who around me who don't really have vices. I don't want, you know.

Ben (3:12)

Do you like, are you okay being altered in any way? Like a little weed? A little interested?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:17)

I don't like doing things that mess with my brain because I, I need my brain, you know, functional, if that makes sense.

Ben (3:22)

And is that. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but is that video games for you? Is that kind of like a way for you to quiet your mind and space out for a minute?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:30)

Yeah, really, for me it's video games and food. I struggle. Like, I like, I don't. Drugs, alcohol, none of that like really entices me. But food, that is my drug. Like it's, it's so hard not to eat.

Ben (3:42)

You're on the right podcast, baby.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:43)

Yeah.

Josh (3:44)

Have you ever been fat? Like, were you fat previously?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:46)

Oh, I was a fat walrus like two years ago.

Josh (3:49)

How walrus?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:50)

I was 40.

Josh (3:51)

You're talking to two former he.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:53)

I was 40% body fat. I was 240 pounds.

Josh (3:56)

I think I'm currently 40% body fat. That sounds nothing.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (3:59)

You're probably Jimmy.

Josh (4:00)

I'm the longest I've been in six years. I'm 238.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (4:03)

How tall are you?

Josh (4:05)

Six. Two. You wouldn't know it. I carried a lot in my hips.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (4:08)

Okay.

Josh (4:09)

I'm big. I'm big hips. I don't know. Big, big thighs. I have three traps. We call him C.C.

Ben (4:13)

Sabathia.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (4:14)

Wait, I don't get that. C.C. sebastian. He's a big.

Ben (4:16)

He's a very Rubin esque pitcher, formerly for the New York Yankees.

Josh (4:20)

Six, seven. Probably like £400.

Ben (4:22)

He didn't look like he should be that athletic.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (4:24)

Gotcha. Gotcha.

Ben (4:24)

Yeah, because you did through a bit of a fitness journey. So tell me, paint the picture, because I love. I love to eat bad food. 240. You're by yourself. You need to decompress. What are you ordering?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (4:34)

What's the door? I. I. The door dash for me is this local Ninja hibachi place. Chicken and rice has killer white sauce. White sauce alone is probably, like, 400 calories. You just drench the chicken and rice with white sauce. And then it got so bad, I'd start ordering two of them, which, like. Like one is, like, enough to feed, like, three kids. You know what I mean? Like, two grown adults. But then eventually, because I was just so fat, I was like, you know what? 2. And then that's when it went downhill and the weight just kept skyrocketing.

Josh (5:02)

And did you feel that pad Thai?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (5:04)

No, I felt great. It was so fucking good. That's the problem. Like, I don't feel bad after eat tons of food. I feel awesome. I feel energized. I feel alive, you know, I feel the best I ever feel after eating a shitload of food.

Josh (5:14)

Wow.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (5:15)

Yeah, that's good.

Josh (5:16)

I was always filled with remorse, regret. I did that with Thai food. I started ordering two pad Thais and two sides of peanut sauce. Ben, Ben, okay, that peanut.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (5:26)

Go on Ozempic.

Josh (5:27)

Okay, Go on Ozempic. Just quiet the food noise and get off. It was too much. But, yeah, that peanut sauce, so good.

Ben (5:33)

Maybe Feastables does a Ozempic collab.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (5:35)

Is it possible Ozempica food?

Josh (5:38)

They just. If anyone could figure that would be crazy. They just. They just launched a pill. I'm. I'm just saying.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (5:45)

No, but I want Ozempic in my food. Like, I want to sit down with two bowls of ninja Hibachi, and by the time I finish the first one, the Ozempic, and it kicks in and I don't eat the second one.

Ben (5:54)

Yes.

Josh (5:54)

I love it. Yeah, I love it.

Ben (5:56)

Is there anyone in your life because when you're, you know, as powerful and successful as you are, who tells you no? Like, who goes, Jimmy, Maybe not two hibachis.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (6:05)

Yeah, maybe.

Ben (6:05)

Maybe that's what.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (6:06)

I have the opposite problem. Most people, everyone in my life says no because I don't surround myself with the estimate. It's annoying because I'll every. I'll be like, nah, I think it's important. I should get, like, at least eight hours of sleep, so I'm not Grumpy. They'll be like, nope, you need to get up at this time. Who cares? And then just be like, nope, Too bad. I'm like, what? I'm your boss. I said I don't want to. They're like, well, this is you. What you want is be successful, and this makes you more successful. So you're getting up at 7am and I'd be like, okay, I guess. Like, so I. I mean, it's good 90% of the time and 10% of the time, it really does kind of piss me off because I'm like, my team is so focused on pushing me and making me the best version of me. And a lot sometimes I'm like, I just don't want to be the best version of me. I just want to watch anime right now. Leave me alone. But it's good.

Ben (6:50)

Yeah.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (6:50)

Yeah.

Josh (6:51)

How big is the team?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (6:52)

How big do you think my team is?

Josh (6:54)

Okay, just across all. We're talking all businesses.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (6:57)

Okay, go across all businesses. Yeah, full time across all businesses.

Josh (7:01)

I mean, feastables alone, I feel like you probably have like 600 employees.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (7:06)

Oh, close. Yeah, we're at five. All right, we're 550. Yeah. So close it on six.

Josh (7:10)

What am I, a genius? Pretty good, Ben. What a guess. Hitting me.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (7:13)

It's pretty good. He just scraped our LinkedIn right before the podcast. He's like, oh, how did I know? I don't know.

Josh (7:20)

But what is Feastables? Like 300?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (7:22)

No, Feastables is around 100, but most of it's a production company that's like 350, 400 people. Because these games and all the big shows we're doing, you know, because it's. Right now we're not, you know, we're working with Conan, so it's not like we are like actually running the manufacturing lines that. That make the bars, you know, so. Because since cacao prices are skyrocketing, so many chocolate lines are shutting down, so we're just picking up lines that are now vacant because, you know, sure, people aren't producing as many bars as they used to.

Ben (7:48)

Why do cacao prices rocket skyrocket?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (7:52)

I would be honest. I'm probably not the most qualified person to answer that, but I. There's a little bit of crop disease and yield was just not as fruitful. And so a lot of it was just people panicking and placing forward buys because they were worried they wouldn't be able to meet demand and supplies. But. But it's starting to come back down. But it's still Sitting like two and a half times its normal price. That's pretty crazy.

Josh (8:09)

So it's, isn't it amazing that what, five years ago you knew nothing about chocolate and today you know everything. Like I feel that way about sports society. I knew nothing about the beverage alcohol industry. Nothing. And now I know everything about this fucking horrible, archaic mafioso three tier system. Everything. I'm sure you're the exact.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (8:26)

I would love to hear you talk about beverage distribution.

Josh (8:29)

It's, it is. If you're serious, I can talk about it forever. There's three, there's three tiers, Jimmy. There's three tiers. I'm not just selling to the retailer. I have to sell to a distributor who sells to a retailer who sells to a customer.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (8:42)

Yeah. And which distributor are you using?

Josh (8:45)

We work with a patchwork, but Southern Glazers is the main one. They're.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (8:49)

So you work with a different distributor in each region?

Josh (8:51)

In, in each state. And sometimes it's two per state. So we have 60 and 40 states and we're only in. And we're a relatively small business. We're nationwide at Target. But besides that, it's not, not a huge business the beer guys are in. They have 350 distributors. All of them are completely siloed. All of them work off of different margins. It's just, it's.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (9:11)

Yeah, Beverage is, is brutal. I mean Beverage is essentially a logistics company. That's it. It is, yeah. Which is. I have a lot of friends like the prime guys and others who, who sell drinks and I'm like, oh, whereas with chocolate. Well, the, the hard part is for your viewers who might not know as much, like on a pallet, which is how you deliver a lot of your products. I mean, how much? You could probably fit theoretically 500 cans on a pallet, whereas I could fit 15,000 chocolate bars. Right. Or whatever because they're so much thinner and maybe that's a little high, maybe 10,000. So it's just like much easier, more effective to ship a chocolate as opposed to beverage. And so for us we just go through large distribution hubs like McLean. And so why, why can't you use McLean for example, just to like distribute to Walmart.

Josh (9:51)

So it's when it's alcohol. I was, I wasn't going to say like, not that Logan's business isn't very difficult. Non alcoholic beverage is 100 times easier than alcoholic beverage. They've tied this up because of prohibition laws where only alcohol beverage companies can buy and sell alcohol. And you can't you can't be both a owner, a supplier and a distributor. You can't be a retailer and an owner. None of these things can mix.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:20)

Is this the kind of stuff your audience is into? Am I, am I hijacking it?

Josh (10:24)

Yeah.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:24)

Oh, yeah.

Josh (10:25)

By the way, there's. I, I think they're into. I find this interesting. Josh will be the one to say this is not interesting.

Ben (10:30)

No, it's interesting. What else is interesting is my best friend Len works in logistics. And the best part of pallets is when the driver is a little hard on the turns, these pallets get damaged and refused. You know who gets the damaged pallet?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:43)

Oh, really?

Ben (10:44)

Oh my God. Little call me. He'll be like, I have 900 vitamin waters.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:49)

Really?

Ben (10:49)

Like when I don't think I need that much.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:53)

Yeah.

Ben (10:53)

So a couple of feastables get damaged in my wind up in my garage.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (10:56)

We, for our charity be plan speed. We. We get some stuff that way. We also, instead of damage pallets, we more get stuff where like, like if your product theoretically has a one year expiration date, a lot of retailers won't buy it if it's past like the 60% mark. So it's still like a perfectly good product, but if it still has like five months or four months, so it expires, they won't buy it. And so it's like. But this product doesn't go bad for another 150 days. Like, what the. So like in our case, our charity, we, we take a lot of that product that retailers are literally just like, we don't want. And then a lot of companies end up just throwing away and then we just distribute it to food banks and people in need because it's like, wow. Yeah. But again, which sounds obvious, but it's just essentially it's like a logistics company. It's just like charities will give it away. It's just like a lot of times, how do you get it from the warehouse to the charity? And it just requires a lot of effort and that kind of stuff. But so, yeah, it seems like there's just a lot of food, you know, damaged pallets, things about to. Lots of ways.

Ben (11:47)

My nickname, damaged palate. No. I do this thing called Feed the Streets where we actually go to like skid row in Los Angeles twice, twice a week. So Tuesday, Thursday morning, 7am and we hand out just coffee and donuts they love. It's great because you get your regulars and they start asking for like triple macchiato. Like this is just crappy drip coffee. But enjoy it. But we get a lot of, like, bakeries will give us their day old donuts, and they're great and it's perfect. And this way we get to feed a couple hundred people with stuff that they would already throw away.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (12:16)

Exactly.

Josh (12:16)

So it's huge. Yeah, that's the thing. You can't gift alcohol. You can't do anything fun with alcohol. It's just like. Like if you.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (12:23)

Or you can, you can. You just don't want to.

Josh (12:26)

No, you can't. I can't go to a homeless. I mean, I guess I could.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (12:29)

You don't want to.

Josh (12:30)

I don't want to.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (12:31)

Yeah.

Ben (12:31)

Get turned on. Look.

Josh (12:33)

15. San Pedro gets a little wild after chocolate Josh. Imagine walking up to a homeless guy, he's had a bad day, and he hand him a bag of fucking chocolate. Okay. You're Willy Wonka. It's unbelievable. This episode of the Good Guys podcast is brought to you by our friends at Quo. Folks, 2026 is the year your business stops acting like a game of telephone gone wrong. Scattered messages, missed calls, and who's handling this shouldn't be a daily ritual. A modern communication system is like giving your team a gps instead of a treasure map drawn by a toddler who wants that, everyone stays aligned, responds faster, and no opportunity disappears into the void. In that moment of clarity, you'll catch yourself saying, all right, let's Quo. And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. Q U O the smarter way to run your business. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2, with over 3,000 DOL reviews built for how modern teams work. That's why more than 90,000 businesses, from solo operators to growing teams, rely on Quo to stay connected, professional and consistently reachable. Quo works wherever you are, right from an app on your phone or computer and lets you keep your existing number, add new numbers or teammates in minutes, sync your CRM, and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales. Your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. No more missed messages or disconnected conversations. Everyone sees the full thread, making replies faster and customers feel genuinely cared for. Folks make this year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try quo for free. Plus 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.comgoodguys that's quo.comgoodguys q u o.com goodguys quo no missed calls, no missed customers. Hi, we're the sports bitches. And no, we're not actual bitches. Yes, we are. Like I'M for sure a bitch. Okay, fine, we are, but that doesn't define us. Yeah, we also love sports. We don't just love sports, we, like, love sports. Yeah, we're like sports sickos.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (14:40)

Sports addicted. Get these sports into my veins.

Josh (14:42)

You could call us a couple of sports perverts. Which was the other name for our podcast, Speak for Yourself. I'm Rachel Bonetta. I'm Sarah Tiana. I'm Megan Gailey. And we are the sports bitches. Listen to new episodes of the show every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.

Ben (15:05)

Talking about all the, you know, losing weight and going from £240 being on screen non stop.

Josh (15:10)

Right.

Ben (15:11)

You have a videographer with you every day. Do you, do you feel that vanity aspect? Do you see yourself sometimes and go like, oh, I feel like a little bloated there? How much are you thinking about that? Does that matter to you?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (15:22)

To be 100% honest, I've been on camera since I was 11. My entire life's on camera. I. Not really. I just, like, I'm on camera so much that it's just who I am. And I just, I don't know how to put it into words. It's just kind of. It's like asking you, like, would sometimes you struggle to breathe? Like you're like, I don't know. Yeah, maybe, I guess. But I. I don't know if that makes sense. It's just. No, I don't really think of it. I just live on camera.

Ben (15:44)

But you've had a glow up that's sort of like a. Was that conscious effort?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (15:48)

I definitely look way better now that I lost 40 pounds of fat. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, if your question, your question, though is like, do I, I like, notice these things or feel like bloated one day or not? No, I mean, the honest truth is I just like wake up and I film 28 days a month because, you know, we have multiple channels, we have multiple shows, and I'm just literally always filming. And I'm just so used to behind camera. I just don't even think about it, to be honest.

Josh (16:11)

Are we flying? Are we flying private?

Ben (16:12)

I'm not today. He's not later today. Tell him where you're going to later today.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (16:17)

About the flight to Dubai. After this, it, like a couple times here and there, but for the most part commercial. Because the thing is, like, you know, I. I try to set a good example for a lot of my employees. So actually, like the last couple once, I mean, I've flown southwest, I've flown south Spirit. I've flown, you know, like, because I fly with my team on videos and a lot of times our shoots, like, things move around last minute so they're the only ones that are available. So no, like, if I'm down to flying the back of a plane, then sometimes the team has to as well, you know, just. Yeah.

Josh (16:44)

Wow.

Ben (16:44)

Cut to row 13 on Spirit Airlines. And Jimmy walks by, he's like, yo, am I tripping?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (16:51)

They're so. Like, people post photos of me there too, but I. I wear like a coven mask and a hoodie and I like. I know air airport floors very well. I just like stare at them as I walk through.

Ben (17:02)

Do you raw dog a plane flight? Like, will you not do, like, will you just stare at like the monitor showing you like the distance?

Josh (17:09)

No.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (17:09)

Hell no. Hell no. It's planes. There's two purposes for planes. Anime and sleeping. Got it. Name anything else you do on a plane work.

Josh (17:18)

Like, it's. I.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (17:19)

You're fucking crazy. Who wants to work on a plane?

Josh (17:22)

I wanted to start a concept, Jimmy, called Airplane mode, where you literally go in. It's like a wework, but it's Airplane mode. It shuts off when you walk in. You have no service. You get dedicated work done for that six hour gear. That's what I do on a plane. I can't sleep. I can't sleep on planes. I don't know what it is. I work on planes.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (17:40)

Yeah, that's it. Well, it depends what time you're taking the flights. Like, you probably just don't fly a lot, like throughout the middle of the night.

Josh (17:47)

That's true in my case.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (17:49)

It's basically like, hey, when you land, you eventually start filming. So you either sleep now or you just don't sleep at all today. And then I'm like, okay, I'll just take melatonin. So I can't open my. Or close my eye or can't open my eyes. God damn it. But yeah, there's that in the. Was it. Oh. The other thing though is obviously WI fi sucks, but I think what Starlink becomes like, more widespread, then I think work will be way more fun on planes.

Josh (18:12)

It's so. Have you ever flown jsx? Do you know that airline?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (18:15)

I. I don't know, but I've flown on planes with Starlink and I'm like, oh my God.

Josh (18:18)

This is. It's like, it's like a regional, like semi private, but really like inexpensive for what it is. They have Starlink. I could. I could literally fall down a rabbit hole for three hours on TikTok. It's that level of WI fi. It's wild. I don't know why every. Why doesn't every airline use Starlink?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (18:36)

I say the same thing. Like, I once enough of them get it. I will only book flights exclusively on planes of Starlink. Like, I don't care. Like, oh, this has an extra one hour later. I don't give a fuck. They're Starling. Yeah, I'm on it.

Ben (18:48)

Biscoff. Who cares? Starlink, who cares? Biscoff.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (18:51)

I'll sit in the back of the plane if it gives me Starlink. Like, I really don't care. Starlink is amazing.

Josh (18:55)

Yeah.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (18:56)

Wow.

Josh (18:56)

It's amazing.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (18:57)

Yeah. I mean, probably most people listening to this haven't used it but like for reference, like when I filmed in Antarctica, the only way to get any signal is Starling. Right. When I film in the middle of Malawi or Zimbabwe or when we go to these countries to build wells or do projects. Like, you can have Internet just like you have here in the middle of. Where are we even? Are we in la?

Ben (19:16)

West Hollywood?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (19:17)

Sorry, I'm. I travel so much, I don't even know where I'm at. Fair enough. Like you'll have equivalent Internet of here. You can have in the middle of fucking Malawi, six hours away from the near city. Like, it's crazy. Starlink is like literally magic. It makes no sense and nobody talks.

Josh (19:33)

About it, nobody cares. It's just like Elon Musk is the worst. Like, how about he literally gave you WI fi in Antarctica.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (19:39)

Yeah. You want to know the even crazier part, which no one talks about? No one. No one. No one talks about is you can put a Starlink on the top of your car. So we had like this like four hour drive in the middle of Africa. Just. I mean, bro, you couldn't. Like your car breaks down, you're just dead. Like, there's no. The service doesn't exist here where we're talking about. We're going. Like there's. The roads don't exist. We're talking. You take a road to take a dirt road, to take a gravel road to take a grassroad to. Like it's not even a road. You're just like driving through a field type like villages and you just put the starlink on the top of the car. Perfect signal. The entire car ride.

Ben (20:13)

Do you feel a kindred spirit in Elon Musk in the way of like you kind of both look at things that are the status quo and say, why does it have to Be this way.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (20:22)

Yeah. I mean, I wish Elon would tweet less crazy things so it'd be a little easier to support him.

Ben (20:26)

Sure.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (20:27)

So you got to separate the two. But yeah, in terms of what he's accomplishing with SpaceX, I mean, there's no doubt that it's going to fundamentally progress humanity in unfathomable ways. I mean, in our lifetime, someone's going to go to Mars thanks to SpaceX. Like, I really do believe that. I mean, that's not guaranteed, but in my personal opinion, I think that will happen. What will definitely guarantee to happen is no matter where you are on the planet, you'll be able to have high speed Internet thanks to Starlink. I mean, so his businesses are fundamentally doing just insanely positive stuff.

Ben (20:53)

Have you guys chatted?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (20:55)

A couple of times. Not, not super in depth, but yeah, it's, it's like I liked it better when it was like five years ago. I could be like, yeah, I love Elon, he's amazing. And then people not bring up, well, one time he tweeted that he's gonna get Taylor Swift pregnant. I'm like, he did okay. I don't know. But anyways, his business are freaking awesome. He's changing the world for the better. So I, Yeah, it, you gotta like, I guess separate the two or people are gonna call you crazy things.

Josh (21:19)

Yeah, screw those people. I just, I don't know, like the how. How good. He's so good in so many really important ways. All right, so he says some weird stuff.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (21:30)

Yeah.

Josh (21:30)

Like I think outweighs the bad.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (21:32)

Yeah. Do you think a guy who's building rockets and taking us to Mars while, you know, getting us up off fossil fuels and putting chips and brains is going to be a normal dude? I mean, that's what he says. Yeah.

Ben (21:40)

Never was going to happen.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (21:41)

Yeah. Got to be a little crazy to attempt the things he attempted.

Ben (21:44)

Look, I know a lot of other eccentrics that aren't doing one tenth of what Elon's doing. Okay. There's a guy who hangs out near my 7 11, Roberto. He's a nice guy, but he's. I'm. I, I think one where I was thinking about this earlier, one way that Elon messed up that you clearly did not. I would imagine that both presidential administrations have asked to work with you in some respect.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (22:08)

Yeah.

Ben (22:08)

And you didn't do it right?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (22:10)

Well, yeah, we just don't do anything political just because we do so much where we help people in need. Yeah. And like it's like peaceful enthusiasm. The Second, I start taking aside politically is instantly going to be half as effective because then, you know, the other half of the. I was just not going to support it or help it. And we, we feed hundreds of thousands of people a year and you know, we just did a project. We're getting 2 million people clean drinking water and with festivals, we're getting a lot of kids out of legal child labor. And so it's just not worth it in my case, like if we actually want to have maximum impact.

Ben (22:39)

But yeah, yeah, it's so smart.

Josh (22:41)

I'm sure that the answer is just going to be that you don't care as you shouldn't care. But as somebody that has. Again, we have. I have such a modest platform in comparison to a Josh, in comparison to you. And every day I will get. Why aren't you talking about this? You have a responsibility to talk about this with your platform, blah, blah, blah. Like how do you just tune, do you just tune out all of that noise?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (23:03)

No, I didn't just tune it out. It's just we, we, we do have a responsibility to use our platforms for good, which is why we do. That's why we used our platform to raise $40 million to get 2 million people clean drinking water last year. And that's why we're using it to get kids out of illegal child labor through feastables. And we're, we're doing these things. But so, yeah, I just, I use my.

Josh (23:19)

Good on your terms, not good on their terms. Good on what you know is good.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (23:24)

If people are complaining and saying I should help people in ways different than how I'm helping them, they can.

Josh (23:28)

Yes.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (23:28)

But, yeah, so, yes. Which for the most part I think people get. So I honestly, I don't get that that much.

Ben (23:33)

How much of comments are you taking in?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (23:36)

Oh, way more than I should. I, Yeah, I love it way more than I should.

Ben (23:40)

But I'm imagining Jiminy, Jiminy Jimmy on the pot. You know, he's got five minutes to himself. He's like, team, leave me alone. And just.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (23:50)

Yeah, well, we just dropped Beast Game season two today. And I mean, like I, before I even came in here, I was. I had to get at least a quick 20 minute scroll on Twitter, read what everyone's saying about it, read the Beast game subreddit. I had to just hit all the beats, see what everyone's thinking. So it's, it's interesting though because I, I've read. So like, I probably spend whatever an hour, hour and a half a day reading comments or tweets. Or whatever about me and our content. I've probably read so, or I have read probably over a million millions at this point over the course of the last 15 years. And so I'm so like emotionless and stonewalled at this point. Like you could tweet at me like, jimmy, go kill yourself. I don't like I hate you. And I could read that and I would literally feel nothing because I've read so many things on both sides of like the spectrum of people who love me and people who hate me. You just get numb to it over time. And all you're looking for though is like, did 95% of people enjoy it? Did not like your video or did 95% of people, you know, what, what did they feel? Right. You don't want to, you never over index on their crazy local, you know, allyers. And, and that's kind of what you'll see, you know, is like as long as like 95 ish percent of people enjoyed what you put out or liked it, then you're good. But you're never going to make 100% happy.

Ben (25:00)

And then do sometimes comments stick out where it maybe confirms a suspicion you had like, ooh, this one little thing could be better in that comment. They saw it too.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (25:09)

Yeah, no, I mean, I could give you practical examples. After we dropped season one of these games, a lot of the reviews and a lot of comments are like, we don't like how much randomness there is. Like, we want the winner of the largest cash prize in history to win it because they like earned it, not because they flipped a coin and got lucky, not because, you know, rng and so, and we really took that to heart. And so in season two, he completely removed all randomness and we made it very skill based and I think it's much better for that. And so that, that was one thing, another thing I saw a lot like, I love watching other people react to our content and I just like, I look at their eyes, I look when they look away and we like mark it down. And I had people go through and study it all and they'd give me like graphs of it and like, you know, and a lot of people didn't like in season one how we had a thousand people. Because the whole point of like reality competition shows is to fall in love with the characters and get to know them. It's impossible when there's a thousand of them. And the only way you would do it is to ignore majority of them and just focus on a small subset of. But then if you're just focusing on a small subset, then just don't have that many people. It makes no sense, right? So that's why in season two we started with 200 people instead of a thousand. And the show's much better. And so like before I came here, like I was literally reading the subreddit and every single post is like, oh my God, there's no rmg. It feels so much better. There's less people. We know the contestants names. This is great. And I was like perfect. Like that's an example of like and taking a bunch of feedback and applying it, you know. And so yeah, it works really well.

Josh (26:26)

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Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (29:00)

That?

Josh (29:00)

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Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (29:56)

Yeah, I love math and I love analytics and I, that is, data just flows in my veins. And so what's, what's interesting is, you know, like we talked about before, I have hundreds of employees. I mean, we're spending, you know, if you include play costs, probably four or five million dollars per video on average on the main channel. And so when you put that much money behind it, you, you know, you can't have it fail. So you really got to know what performs well and blah, blah. But what's interesting though is the more you study data on YouTube, which if you listen to diary CEO, you probably heard me say it, the more the data shows that to do well, you just make good content. Right, and then what is good content? Well, good content is what the viewers actually want to watch. And then it's like you're not studying the algorithm. You're not studying you. You don't get views on YouTube by tricking the algorithm to promote it. It is way too sophisticated, way too refined. You get views on YouTube by giving the. I'm gonna let me tap hang up on my phone. Someone just called me 10 times in a row. No one's dying. I'm sure it's important, 99. It's probably someone be like, yo, I love Beast Game season two. Like. Or whatever.

Ben (30:52)

It's my mom. She got. She needs to get a hold of me, and she got your number.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (30:54)

Okay. Yeah, that would do the same.

Ben (30:57)

Jimmy, I need to talk to my son. My remote control won't work. I can't watch my programs. Jimmy, I'm a big fan.

Josh (31:05)

Sorry.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (31:06)

No, you're good. You mean I can't watch Beast Game season two? Season two.

Ben (31:09)

Beast Game season two on Prime.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (31:12)

Let's get a marker for how many.

Ben (31:13)

Times they say, hell yeah, we are great shills.

Josh (31:15)

We will shell it up huge.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (31:17)

Okay, I'll show the alcohol in return, I got you mono. Mono.

Josh (31:20)

Right.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (31:21)

But what was I even saying? We were talking about data driven. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So the data driven, the algorithm to make it videos that people want to watch. So then you. You don't study the YouTube algorithm. You just study what is that people enjoy. And then that's where. So it actually does come back to, though, like being very creative and making good content because that's what people want.

Josh (31:41)

But it's that added layer. Like, I don't know, like, we're. We're creative. We're all creative. It then takes. It's very rare that somebody has both brains. And that's what I think. Not to kiss your ass is what makes you so special.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (31:56)

You're almost there. There's three brains, right? You. You're nailing it. There's the data analytical side. There's a creative brain. But the third brain that is arguably the hardest is also the entrepreneurial business brain. And being able to scale up a large production company and build the largest sets in history and do all these things. And that's where, yes, most creators are one of the three. Very like, you can probably count on your hand, you know, creators that are two. And I'd say we're the only ones, which is why we're so big that do all three. Like, we actually function because, like, typically, as people Scale up and they hire more people. They lose all creativity, they lose all soul. Right? The way you run a large production company, you start to serialize and you format things, which destroys creativity, innovation, and then things get stale. And so it's like, very hard to run a large production company like ours while still keeping things fresh, while still taking risk and, you know, innovating and adapting was.

Ben (32:38)

I find it interesting, was part of the agreement early on with your buddies like Nolan and Chandler, when you just started, that they wouldn't have their own channels, that they would be working for you?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (32:51)

Well, early on, Chandler, when we first started, I mean, he was working for like, $10 an hour, and he was kind of like janitor, basically, like, mopping the floors and things like that. So, no, there wasn't an agreement that he would do any of that there. He was just literally a janitor. And then he popped in a video. Because we didn't have anyone and fans really liked him, we started putting him in more videos. And no, we. It's not like we had, like, formal paperwork or anything back there. It was just kind of like, oh, they like, you be in videos. And then same thing with Nolan. Me and Nolan became friends and we watched anime a lot and. And we talk about anime. And then I was like, yo, come be in videos. I need more people. Yeah, so definitely not how you would think the largest YouTube channel in the world kind of started. But, no, it was just literally like, oh, they like, you be in the videos.

Ben (33:35)

Well, because I remember, like, when I was filming with David Dobrik a lot, and it eventually became where obviously everyone had a channel and they all want. We all were sort of drafting off David, if we're being honest, right? Like, he would set the pace and then everyone's videos would do well subsequently. And understandably, as, you know, as the workload of being a massive YouTuber grew and grew and grew, he just had, like, less time for everyone else's video, understandably. And I think he was sort of at that crossroads of, like, well, I can pay them and they can become my employees or I can be in their YouTubes because they're in mine and they need to make money, too. It's a. I think you probably picked the smarter route.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (34:12)

Yeah, well, and they obviously have equity in the businesses, and so, you know, I think they'll end up making tons of money and. And I. And yeah, I think it's definitely better this way. Like, I think making content with me and owning part of the companies we're building, like Feastables and all the other stuff we're doing will end up netting them infinitely more than if they had made content on their own. And so, yeah, I'm excited. I think the next few years are gonna be crazy.

Ben (34:35)

Oh, my God, it's so much better than Chandler calling you, saying, hey, let's do a mukbang. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, no, thanks. Sorry.

Josh (34:42)

No. Is the goal to exit those businesses, like, you mentioned, your employees having equity in, like, a Feast Tools? Is the goal to sell it to a Hershey or Mars or whoever?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (34:51)

I mean, I wouldn't rule out selling one of the businesses. I mean, if it makes sense at some point in the future. But no, more than likely it'll be just because we have a Holdco that owns it all, and it would just be ipoing the Holdco that has all our content and all the CP and everything we're doing in it.

Josh (35:06)

And are you laser focused on feasibles, or is your brain thinking, okay, I'm tackling Coco, I'm tackling what's going on in Africa with the child labor. Like, is there, like another. All of these industries are built off of the backs. When you're at that scale of something like that, there's something comparative where people are getting rich because somebody is working for not enough money. Like, does your brain go towards what can I do next? Or you laser.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (35:32)

Well, there's a difference between getting rich because someone's not making enough money and then using illegal child labor. So I. I'd say it's a little different. You know, it's not like they're not like, it's not like they're paying a minimum wage. They're like, farmers make sure average less than a dollar a day in West Africa, and 46% of children in farming households work in illegal child labor. So it's. Yeah, but on the time of. On your question of time distribution. No, it's all of the above. Right. Because I. I also have to be super. We have kind of like three things, which is, like, the content, which is Beast Games. We have multiple YouTube channels. We doing animated content or working on, you know, we're working on a book with James Patterson, a bunch of other stuff. So building just the media into, you know, ideally one day, building the next, our own mini version of Disney, and doing it through social media as opposed to, you know, more traditional formats. Because, like, even, like, Beast Games, like, that's the number one viewed unscripted show ever. And I have so many other shows that I want to do that I think could be just as big and crush or not ever. Number one unscripted show for prime video. So I want to do more streaming shows. There are other YouTube channels I want to do. At some point, obviously other people are gonna have to take the host position because I can't do it all. But yeah, we gotta keep building out media, which obviously takes a shitload of time. And then cpg, we have Lunchly, which is, you know, a lot of pre made meals. They just, you know, I'm not allowed to name names, but if you were to look at the landscape, you'll notice that a lot of big competitors in pre made meals don't use real cheese. And they have to. They legally can't even call it cheese. They have to call it cheese. Product. Product. And so with our pre made meals stuff, we were like, whoa, what if we use real cheese? What if we use turkey that doesn't have nitrates and we just use clean ingredients? And so yeah, in cpg we have Lunchly. We what most people don't even realize. We also last year we had the number one selling action figure in America. So the Beast Labs Toy Crushes.

Ben (37:15)

But this is where we deviate.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (37:17)

And then Feastables. Yeah, we deviate.

Ben (37:18)

Jimmy. I like a cheese product. I like cheese adjacent.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (37:22)

I, I actually don't think it tastes a brick.

Ben (37:24)

You know, I like oils. I want it, I want hydrogenation.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (37:29)

I, I don't. You should try. I, I think real cheese tastes better than fake cheese. But maybe that's just me. Maybe you can call me weird, but I'd prefer my cheese to be cheese. But. And then yeah, so in cbg, it's Feastables, Lunchly and the, the toys, which Lunchly.

Josh (37:45)

Lunchly is so genius. I remember when that came out and it just like there are so many products like that. Like, why don't you make a. Not. You can't call it Dunkaroos, but like that's another one. Or like why wouldn't you bring back like nostalgic products like that that have just. I'm sure somebody still owns Dunkers, but you could buy Dunkaroos for.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (38:04)

I'm good. We have plenty going on there because Lunchly has lots of expansion to do over the next few years. And same with Feastables. And so yeah, that, that's enough for on the food CPG side and, and of businesses that we wholly own. But yeah, like, but. And then toys. Like weirdly enough, like how much do you think we sold in toys last year?

Ben (38:22)

Oh, I, I know this is a.

Josh (38:24)

This is a tough question.

Ben (38:25)

Let me do it. Let me do it. Let me do it. Let me do it. $190 million. Because I heard you say that your businesses are nine figure businesses before. So I didn't go billion, but you know, I don't want to understand.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (38:38)

Yeah, well, we're talking about just toys. I. It's higher than that number but is all I'll say. But yeah, so like cp. So those are the three vectors that make up cpg. And yeah, it's been going pretty crazy. And then the last one is just software stuff and that will make a lot more sense in six months. But the only hard part about doing physical products is we just have a very global audience. And one in 10 people on the planet have watched the Mr. Beast video in the last 90 days. We have, we've done 6 billion views, 800 million of which are unique individuals. So literally, factually, if you grab 10 random people on the planet, one of them statistically has watched one of our videos in the last 90 days. Mr. Beast videos, not even including B scans or anything else. And so it's. So the problem with like chocolate is it's hard to ship and lunch leading to refrigerator. And so we need to be working more with bits, not atoms, and doing things digitally because then instead of reaching a fraction of our audience, we could actually reach the entire thing because everyone has a phone. And so we've been working on that for a while, which I think it will all make a lot more sense at the end of 2026. So at the end of this year, I think people will be able to see like, oh, I see how this is like a really, really solid long term business. And then, then, yeah, maybe sometime in the near future we IPO so people can own part of the upside. It'll be fun.

Josh (39:46)

I love that. See, Josh? That's the difference. Yeah, that's it. This episode of the Good Guys podcast is brought to you by our friends at home Chef. Folks, I'm not gonna lie to you, I've been in a bit of a rut. You know, I'll post on social media our beautiful recipe that I made. Maybe I'll even post five days in a row and all of a sudden I'll go dark for seven days. And you know why? It's because I've been in a rut. I've been in a little bit of a rut when it comes to cooking. I don't know what to make. I keep ordering in. It' easier and then I remembered, holy crap, there's Home Chef, which is the best of both worlds, where I can literally pick something delicious. They shop for me and I can make it, folks. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and recipes. If you're feeling in a rut or if you just want to try something convenient, I'm telling you, Home Chef is it. Home Chef makes cooking simple, fresh food delivered, easy recipes to follow and meals that actually taste great. And now, with dishes co created alongside celebrity chefs like Ben Saver, Kid and Gordon Ramsay, you can enjoy restaurant quality meals at home. You'll find these recipes across Home Chef's culinary collection. Classic meal kits and express options, each designed to help you feel confident in your kitchen, whatever kind of day it is. Classic recipes with fresh ingredients, 30 minute meals, oven ready trays, or quick microwavable lunches. Home Chef has you covered. There's even a dedicated family menu for hassle free 4 to 6 serving dinners. How easy is that? For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50. We love a big code 5.0percent off and free shipping for your first box. Plus free dessert for life if you go to homechef.comgoodguys that's homechef.com goodguys for 55.0percent off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com goodguys must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. And boy, oh boy, do you want the dessert. This episode of the Good Guys podcast is brought to you by our friends at Element. Folks, Element helps anyone stay hydrated without the sugar and other dodgy ingredients found in popular electrolyte and sports drinks. I've been talking to you guys about Element for months, maybe even years. Element is my electrolyte of choice. It's the only electrolyte free of sugars and other dodgy ingredients. You don't want any of those things. We're trying to get hydrated. We're not trying to get bogged down by sugar. And let me tell you, as somebody who used to drink so much water without ever feeling any relief, are you ever just chugging water and all of a sudden you're still thirsty? You're like, what? What are you nuts? I just drank six bottles of water. Why am I thirsty? Because you're not thirsty. You're deficient in electrolytes. You are dehydrated, my friend. And the way that you get hydrated is not just by drinking water. It's by drinking water filled with electrolytes. And I highly recommend those electrolytes be element. Electrolyte deficiency or imbalance can cause headaches, cramps, fatigue, brain fog and weakness. You don't want any of that, okay? You don't want any of that junk. You want to be at your peak. You want to be peak performance level. You want to be marathon Ben. Okay, Marathon Ben. Every day. That comes from drinking water with Element. You could also probably put it in something other than water. I wouldn't recommend milk. That sounds unbelievably disgusting. That said, take a bottle of water, put in your element. It's absolutely fantastic. It's not only trusted by me. We're talking to us Olympians, professional athletes, special forces, health experts, business leaders. What more do you need to hear? Right now, Element is offering a free sample pack with any purchase. That's eight single serving packets, free with any Element order. This is a great way to try all eight flavors or share Element with a friend. Get yours@drinklement.com goodgu this deal is only available through my link. You must go tO-R-I-N k l M-N-T.com goodguys drinkelement.com goodguys I wish you were here, Ben.

Ben (43:27)

I'm in awe.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:28)

Why aren't you with us?

Ben (43:30)

I know.

Josh (43:30)

Yeah, I should have been. I'm in Florida. I should have just flown in. I have a seven month old baby.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:35)

Bring the baby.

Josh (43:36)

I know, I know. I really should have.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:38)

Probably should. I would have loved to have you at the premiere last night. It was fun.

Josh (43:41)

I would have loved. I would have loved to have been there.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:45)

We would have loved to hand out, you know, Spirit society. Spritz Sprit.

Josh (43:50)

Sp Society Sprit.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:51)

Oh, I read that as spirit. I'm stupid.

Josh (43:54)

No, no, you're not stupid, Jimmy.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (43:56)

Please tell me I'm not the only one to ever call it Spirit society.

Josh (43:59)

You're not. You're not.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:00)

Okay. Thank God. That makes me feel better.

Josh (44:01)

It's a good drinking warm out. Drinking warm alcohol might not be the best experience for somebody who doesn't like it.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:07)

That said, I was told you don't taste the alcohol.

Ben (44:10)

The official canned alcohol of maybe cheerleading Spirit Society.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:14)

Spirit Society. Okay, well, Jimmy, come on. Relapse with you. No. Get this away from me.

Ben (44:18)

I'm just kidding.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:19)

We don't.

Josh (44:20)

Jimmy is trying his first Spritz Society. He gave it a snip. He's looking at it.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:24)

I mean it does. He doesn't.

Josh (44:26)

Right.

Ben (44:26)

We don't know how old those boxes are, but I'm sure it's amazing.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:29)

Okay, I will say. Yeah. It does not burn like normal alcohol.

Ben (44:31)

No.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:32)

So that, that's basically all I'm judging it on. If my throat is not burning, which is nice.

Ben (44:36)

Jimmy, you are bad brother. Think about a podcast. What is this? Joe Rogan?

Josh (44:40)

Logan.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:41)

You are right, Joey. We'd be doing a.

Josh (44:43)

Somebody get the man some ice.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:44)

Yeah, yeah, you're right though. Warm alcohol, definitely.

Ben (44:48)

It's a choice.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:49)

It's a choice.

Josh (44:50)

You don't want warm apple. You don't even want a warm Diet Coke. Like warm beverages.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (44:55)

Yeah, you're right. Warm beverages in general.

Josh (44:57)

Yeah, I guess. Unless it's tea. Hot tea.

Ben (45:00)

So tell me about. I'm dying to know. Because, you know, I'm petty. I'm petty peckover petty. I love hearing the story you told on Diary of a CEO of how, how initially when you were pitching Beast Games. Oh yeah, there were streamers who were like, we've been burned by Internet people in the past.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:15)

Yep.

Ben (45:16)

And like you already are walking in there with hundreds of millions of subscribers.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:20)

150 million views per video uploaded. Yeah.

Ben (45:23)

And they were giving you a hard time.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:24)

Tell us. Oh yeah, yeah, I will.

Ben (45:26)

I mean name names. Let's keep a list.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:28)

Yeah, I mean I would love to name names, but the problem is, you know, as I do more shows, I'll have to work with them. And now that I've you messed up up.

Josh (45:37)

You want some of this?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:39)

We. I. But yes. Let's not give you in trouble. No, no. We. When we have Beast Games, Jim's like.

Josh (45:49)

How did you know when we, when.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (45:51)

We first started Beast Games, I mean it was a pretty crazy concept. It was. I'm going to build a, a city. I'm going to put a thousand people more than anyone else in history. I'm going to grab the largest cash prize in history history. I'm going to build some of the largest sets that have ever been built in entertainment history. We're going to set up more cameras in history. We're going to break 50 production world records, literally 50 things that have never happened in the history of entertainment of any movie show, anything ever filmed. We're going to do all of this and we're going to bundle it all up into a beautiful 10 episode show and it's going to be done by the end of the year. And yeah. And yeah, obviously every streamer is like, bro, you're crazy. Like, no, no, like why?

Ben (46:31)

Why no site?

Josh (46:32)

Why?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (46:33)

Yeah, that's right. I don't want to go as in depth. But, I mean, one of the bigger reasons, like, yeah, like, we've. What you said we. They've worked with other influencers and they got burned, and it wasn't as good. And I just kept telling him. I was like, guys, the influencer you just named has two employees. I have, like, 300 employees. Like, I'm a production company. I'm not in. Like, you guys just don't get it. And I'm, like, sitting there and I'm staring at, like, this head of Unscripted. Like, who. Why are you comparing me to them? Like, what do you mean? Like, yeah, you got burned. They make TikToks. They don't even make YouTube. Like, what do you think? We're not the same. You don't even know the difference. Have you even seen my videos before?

Josh (47:08)

And so because you're a production company, though, why wouldn't you, at that point have just produced it and sold it to them? Like, would that not have been. Or is that an option or.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (47:16)

No, it used a lot of money. Okay.

Josh (47:19)

Okay, there you go.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (47:21)

On season one, we spent way over 100 million.

Ben (47:23)

Yeah, but 100 is what Amazon gave you, or.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (47:26)

I don't. I'm not talking about what. No, I lost a ton of money on season one. Wow. I. Season.

Josh (47:30)

Did you lose money on season two or. We may finally made money?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (47:32)

Well, we're. They're still spending money on it, but, no, not. Not like season one. No. So it. Thank God. Season one is brutal. You cannot. I cannot afford to do what I did on season one.

Ben (47:43)

Jim's accountant just went, yeah, no, we.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (47:46)

We lost tens of millions of dollars on season one because I just, like, I didn't care. I. I just was like, I want to make the greatest season of unscripted television ever. And they're like, you know, you could do 700 people. I'm like, no. Thousand. We can make the cash prize $8 million. Not 10 million. Nope. $10 million. It is what it is. I just held the line and we made the biggest season to ever exist. And then the beauty. But the thing is, too, like, a lot of the. Not a lot, but some of the money we spent. Well, I guess a lot of money spent on season one one was just because we had never done it. No one's ever done it before. And there was a lot of efficiencies and ways we set up the thousand cameras that, you know, we could save a couple hundred grand here, we could save a couple hundred grand there. This control room, you could save a couple hundred Grand. These things add up and they're like, there's a, there's the worst rainstorm in Canada in like the last seven years that caused like a three day delay in like $1.5 million in damages there. There's like, you know, but all these things add up over 10 episodes that, like, you know, we just avoided in season two because now we got our reps in and stuff. So that was a big part of not losing money on season two is we just kind of did it. But no one knew what to expect because it's just such a large undertaking. Like, I've also like, I to. Because we built a new city in season two. The second time you build a city, you're a lot more efficient than the first time you build a city. So I like, I never constructed a city before. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just like, I want a 50 foot tall tower. It make two of the towers. I don't know, Josh.

Josh (49:07)

It's like setting up those stupid toys for infants. You ever try, you ever set up one of those chairs? The first time you set up one of those bouncers, it take. It took me 45 minutes. The second time, two minutes. Jimmy.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (49:19)

I, I, we have, we have towers for our cats. Same thing. First cat tower, like an hour. The next two, bro, I was like, done.

Ben (49:26)

Easy, easy.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (49:27)

No problem.

Josh (49:27)

Of course that goes there. Of course that goes there.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (49:30)

Well, like, like, an example of, like, problems we ran into in season one is like, we use so much scaffolding in our stuff sets that and like, the Olympics was around that time that, like, there was like, no scaffolding in the world. Like, we use more scaffolding than the Olympics. And like, other production companies were calling us and complaining because they, like, in their, like, 50 years of, of doing movies and stuff, they're like, no one's ever taken all the scaffolding in America. Like, what the. They're like, we need scaffolding. And I'm like, guys, I didn't intentionally, like, become the scaffolding mafia. I just, like, I just had like, these big sets and like, tell the scaffolding companies to make more scaffolding. I don't know what to tell you. And so we like, accidentally, like, took all the scaffolding in America to build because we, our sets were so large and, like, there was just none left. Like, it was more than the Olympics use. And like, and so, like, yeah, I was like, having to, like, apologize to other companies because I was like, messing up their shoots because they they're like, what do we do? I was like, I don't know. But you can have this in like four weeks. Like, those are like.

Josh (50:24)

Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Josh?

Ben (50:25)

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Scaffolding company.

Josh (50:27)

What scaffolding company?

Ben (50:29)

I mean, how did you just not go to New York? There's non stop SC scaffolding all the time in the city.

Josh (50:33)

Feels like there's more than enough scaffolding companies. Eddie and Josh. Scaffolding. You come to us. We could do pull ups like the.

Ben (50:40)

Dominican kids in New York. It'd be great.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (50:43)

Beast Games will be your number one client. I would love to.

Josh (50:46)

Here you go. We're in. Okay.

Ben (50:48)

Is there a moment either halfway, a quarter of the way through, three quarters of the way through. Do you have any stomach drop moments where you go, oh my God, is this going to work?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (50:57)

Oh, all the time. Yeah. I mean every.

Ben (50:59)

What was one moment in particular? Particular?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (51:01)

Well, in season two we did a collab with Survivor where like we literally went to Survivor island and Jeff probes hosted an episode of Beast Games and like, until I actually got there, I was like, he's not doing this. Yeah, like, why would he host an episode of Beast Games? Not only that, he, he was, they were gracious enough. They were amazing to work with. They, they let us use some of the Survivor team during the off days and they helped like set up the Beast Games on Survivor island and we use their camera crew so it really feels like survival. And like I was like, this is all a prank. Like, I'm gonna get there. And Jeff probably gonna be like, who are you? Leave, I don't care. But we got there and he was very nice. Very, like, he taught me a lot about hosting and like, you know, helped me perfect some things and, and he hosted the episode and it was like one of the greatest things I've ever filmed in my life. It was awesome.

Ben (51:45)

And then when once I, I love to hear this. So once it's a success, tell me about the cause. Tell me about the good cause that come. Come in. I mean, be it from, you know, the higher ups, the fancy people in Amazon and maybe just some of the higher ups in the world.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (52:00)

Yeah, I mean, that's where the thing is with season one. No one had any idea how well it would do. And so like, you know, we have this thing that is all these crazy world records. Everything just the CR take everything and just amp it up to 10,000 and we're about to drop it and it's like, it's anyone's guess how it's going to do because nothing like it ever existed in. So it was. It's like once we dropped it and it started hitting all the world records and breaking viewership numbers and, you know, over 100 million people have watched it now, which is pretty crazy because on a streaming service behind a paywall, you know, then it's like, yeah, it's. Those feel good because, you know, it's fun because they, they took a big bet on me because there's no guarantee you would do well. And so to be able to be like, hell yeah, it worked out, you know, and it's like, it feels great, you know?

Ben (52:42)

Do you cry? Do you ever have like moments where you're overwhelmed by how giant this all is?

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (52:47)

No, not really. Really? Cool. The second we finished season one, I was like, all right, let's go film season two.

Ben (52:51)

I cried at a commercial earlier. This is like, I. I gotta tune in my anti depress you.

Josh (52:58)

You're. You're crying at the premiere. Jenny's just.

Ben (53:00)

I. Dude, I did.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (53:01)

You did?

Ben (53:02)

I did.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (53:02)

Which scene?

Josh (53:03)

I.

Ben (53:03)

Well, I. First of all, I got to watch the first two episodes. It's spectacular. And by the way, there's this wonderful love storyline in the first two episodes that is like the great. I just can't wait for my wife.

Josh (53:14)

To say see it.

Ben (53:15)

But you know what more I. I get choked up watching my son Max, who's seven years old, who. You've been incredible too, like absolutely loving every minute of it. And I was speaking with the wonderful Marta on your team, like it truly is. I'm not just saying this something that my 3 year old, 7 year old and my wife and I in our 30s can enjoy.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (53:32)

Yes.

Ben (53:33)

And that is so rare.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (53:35)

Yes, so rare. Exactly. Well, and that's the thing with Beast Games. The co viewing viewership, which is like the act was on season one, it was like 2.1. So on average, if a TV was playing it, there's over two people watching it, which is like unheard of for a show. And so it was like if when I. You. You know how you have that feature on Instagram where you can see when people tag you in a story and you can like flip through stories. So I'll flip through the Beast Games account and it's just never ending. Photos of families around the couch and it'll be like, sometimes it's like a grandpa, the. Then their kids like the mom and dad and then like three little munchkins and they're all Watching it and it's like a thing they get together. Other. And a lot of my friends, though, like Casey Neistat, he called me.

Josh (54:12)

Yeah.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (54:13)

During the season one drop. And it was dropping every Thursday. And then like Monday morning he called me and he's like, just listen. And he walked in his daughter's room and his daughter went, is Beast Games out? Let's watch Beast Games. And he's like, no. And then he called me the next day and she's like, is it Thursday? Is it Beast Games? And then every Thursday they would watch it together and it. So it was like we got like, I don't want to over exaggerate. Like, I personally saw dozens of letters, but I know we got hundreds because the team read them of letters from, like, moms and dads being like, this is the first time I've been able to really connect and bond with my kid in a while. And, like, I didn't have to fake it because normally I have to, like, act like I like the show, but it's like, I actually like the show and it was cool. And me and my son get together every, you know, Thursday and we watch it and. And it's like, been a good bonding experience to, you know, actually connect to my kid. And so, like, that's kind of what we're going for. And that's why I'm like, you know, sometimes like a contestant will swear and I'm like, really adamant with the editors. I'm like, let's do our best not to leave that in. Like, let's keep it family friendly because. Because it really is a family show. And I want them to be able to trust that, you know, nothing inappropriate is going to pop up for their seven year old. Smart. Yeah.

Ben (55:12)

But what would Mr. Beast After Dark look like? Like a Patreon Mr. Oh, I would.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (55:17)

Let's brush them. I would rush Mr. Beast.

Ben (55:19)

Like, you're a little cursor.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (55:21)

Oh, yeah, I know.

Josh (55:22)

I have.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (55:22)

I need to stop. The problem is when I do podcasts because I do swear a little bit and then, like, it throws people off because I don't swear my videos.

Ben (55:29)

You're allowed.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (55:30)

Yeah, no, I. It's a bad habit. And there's. There's. There's no benefit to having those words in your vocabulary. Like, there's literally zero benefit whatsoever. It's just a lazy way to communicate. But, yeah, Beast After Dark. Oh, we could do some crazy stuff. Like, if. If it was like pure, unhinged, like, guaranteed this stuff would never hit me, like, PR wise, like I mean, I would be doing some, like, bureau Kart, like Mario Kart, but, like, every lap, you have to finish, like, a whole can. You know what I mean? Or, like, some stuff like that. Like, hell yeah. That would be crazy. Well, like, imagine that. I. I have some friends that play it. I don't drink, so I don't usually do it, but I'll just watch. So, though, before you finish the first lap, you have to finish a. A can of beer.

Ben (56:07)

No.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (56:08)

Yeah. And then you have to stop at the finish line, crack open the next one, and then you don't have to drink on the second lap. And they'll do, like, maps of five laps, and then on the third lap, you have to finish again, and you have to do the last two laps, and then they'll do a circuit where there's, like, multiple maps. And then it's just funny because, like, towards, like, the second race, I mean, they're just, like, slamming into the wall or, like, just doing stupid stuff.

Ben (56:27)

North Carolina knows how to party.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (56:29)

Yeah. It's, like, really funny. Or have you guys ever heard of a game called Jack in the Box? It's just, like a silly little party game where, like, questions will pop up, and then you all submit answers on your phone and. And then it'll show you. Yeah.

Josh (56:41)

Whiplash.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (56:42)

Yeah, exactly.

Josh (56:43)

Best.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (56:43)

Yes.

Josh (56:44)

So fun.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (56:45)

Bingo. Bingo. Yes. Yes. Whiplash is great. And so Whiplash after dark. You know, make everyone drink. Not make, but have everyone drink a bunch and then play Whiplash. Like, that would be hilarious.

Josh (56:56)

You need to. You need to buy Quiplash. I think of that Quiplash more than most. It is so underrated. It is the number one way you're talking about, like, ways to reach everybody across the globe. It's an app. They can download it. And, Josh, it's basically. It's like Mad Libs. It is so funny and so fun, and it is.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (57:17)

So invite friends over and play with them. You know, like, it's just literally, you just open up a webpage on your phone, and then you just put it on your tv. And then basically, basically, it'll have, like, a sentence, and then everyone submits answers, and then it's anonymous. And then you vote which answer is best in the sentence and it reveals it. And then, like, people would just say, like, crazy.

Josh (57:33)

It's group Mad Libs, and it is hysterical.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (57:35)

It's so funny.

Josh (57:36)

Especially if you're on, like, a group trip, and then you're. You have, like, an inside joke, and you're just beating the inside joke into.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (57:42)

The ground or you just put the most offensive things imaginable.

Josh (57:46)

Oh, yeah, this is.

Ben (57:47)

Yeah, this is Prime Extra Dark.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (57:49)

You should see me. Events.

Josh (57:50)

Group chat.

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) (57:58)

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