Jimmy Donaldson, or better known as Mr. Beast, is one of the most popular YouTubers of 2020. He is known for his outrageous stunts and heart of gold. Whether it’s planting 20 million trees or having his friends compete for a private island, Mr. Beast never fails to entertain his audience. With over forty million subscribers, Mr. Beast has almost quadrupled the size of his channel in the last year. This left me wondering how this native North Carolina kid became so popular. And how did he make his way to the top? 

In 2016, at the age of 18, Mr. Beast dropped out of college to try to make his way into social media. He had played around with YouTube years earlier with little success. But with more time to devote to his new career, Mr. Beast was able to establish himself as one of YouTube’s top stars pretty quickly.

After experimenting with gaming videos for a while, Mr. Beast finally made a video that resonated with people: Counting to 100,000. Strangely, this video received 21 million views. He followed up with a video of cutting a table in half using only a plastic knife with even more success. He seized the moment and continued with extravagant stunts and free giveaways that would soon be what he has become known for. 

He earned sponsors and took advantage of the money from his sponsors in a creative way. He started giving the money away to people in need. It started with giving a homeless person 10,000 dollars. In the next video, he broke up 10,000 dollars so that he could give 1,000 dollars each to different people in need. Eventually, he was able to lead up to giving away 100,000 dollars to his mom to help her pay off her mortgage. Again, the video went viral and views climbed well into the millions.  He now generates tens of millions of dollars in advertising sales from his social media. 

Freshman Elizabeth Monroe watches the YouTuber on occasion.

“You can tell he’s actually a really good person, because he lives middle class and has tried to grow as big as possible to raise a lot of money for food banks, planting 20 million trees, and just helping people who really need money in general,” Monroe said.  “He also makes good content. He’s naturally good at commentary, and he’s also funny. [His] videos are high quality, well planned, well-edited.”

Mr. Beast has reported each video on average takes many months of preparation and approximately four to five days of filming.  He has also been known to surround himself with his childhood friends in his videos and incorporates them into elaborate challenges and stunts.

“Mr Beast and his friends do a lot of crazy things, and it’s really entertaining,” senior Hunter Smith said. “And in the end, he usually gives everything he has away. I think that’s what makes it interesting and special.”

These days, Mr. Beast is looking to invest his money beyond YouTube. His newest venture, the Mr. Beast Burger has already taken off. The delivery-only restaurant rapidly ascended and became the number one trending video on YouTube in December, 2020. The online menu featured sandwiches inspired by his best friends, as well as the Mr. Beast burger which debuted at almost 300 locations nationwide. On the very first night, due to the popularity and the massive amount of orders, the restaurants were quickly sold out. 

Although Mr. Beast may be reaching out beyond YouTube, I cannot imagine a YouTube world without him. He has made such an impact that has inspired young YouTubers and fans all over the world. His generosity, compassion, and overall goofiness can not be matched. With 40.5 million subscribers, he is the most-viewed content creator on YouTube, and is the platform’s most charitable angel. 

Mr. Beast set his sights early on being a success on YouTube and never stopped experimenting which led to creative formats and new trends. The thing about Mr. Beast is that he actually does the things that he says he is going to do. No matter how big the idea is, he gets it all done in one video. He builds trust with his audience. Every video he puts out there is like an amazing new experience. He is real and authentic. Mr. Beast gives hope to anyone who has a dream and maybe wants to do something different in life.