A woman dressed in a striking blue tracksuit lies on the floor of a brightly lit room resembling an asylum. She is contorting her body into a pigeon pose, a common yoga stretch, when she turns to address the stranger she is now living with for the next 100 days.
“What are you going to do with this money?” she asks.
This unlikely duo, Suzie Taylor and Bailey Stanfield, have been living together for nearly three weeks, isolated from the rest of the world. Their only source of sustenance is canned food, and their only form of entertainment is a deck of cards they made themselves.
“I was probably going to use a large portion of it to pay off my house,” Bailey responds from his bed. He has created a makeshift canopy with a sheet to block out the constant bright lights from the room. On top of the canopy are stacks of dollar bills, and fifteen more briefcases filled with money surround him. However, he will only receive this money if he can endure this extreme living arrangement for a few more months.
“My ideal world would be to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie chimes in. “That would be life-changing for me.”
After successfully completing the challenge, Taylor and Stanfield are each awarded $185,000. However, this is just one example of a growing trend on social media – enduring harsh conditions in exchange for financial gain. It may seem like a twisted form of reality TV, but for many, it has become a new normal.
The mastermind behind this phenomenon is none other than MrBeast, the most well-known YouTuber in the world. MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, is famous for his extravagant stunts and challenges. His earlier videos included paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper or offering someone $100,000 to spend in just one hour. However, as his popularity grew, so did the intensity of his challenges. From surviving in a locked room with a stranger for three months to living in a grocery store, MrBeast constantly pushes his contestants to their physical and mental limits.
But the motivation for these contestants remains the same – the overwhelming burden of debt that many Americans face. Medical bills, student loans, mortgages, and credit card interest have left many feeling trapped and desperate for a way out.
One of MrBeast’s challengers, who took part in his video “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000,” broke down in tears when she was given a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she says through tears. “I’m going to use a lot of this money to pay my bills.”
Similarly, Alex, the man who lived in a grocery store for 45 days, plans to use his winnings to pay off his debt, buy a house, and start a college fund for his two children. This pattern is not uncommon among MrBeast’s challengers, as many see participating in these extreme stunts as their only hope for financial freedom.
The current situation is eerily similar to the premise of the popular Netflix series “Squid Game.” In the show, contestants in extreme debt agree to participate in a life-or-death competition for the chance to win millions of dollars while a wealthy audience watches for entertainment. And, in a strange twist of fate, MrBeast even created his own version of this concept, where 456 people battled for a prize of $456,000. The success of “Squid Game” has led Netflix to create its own high-stakes reality competition show.
Of course, the difference between MrBeast’s videos and “Squid Game” is that participants are not in real danger. However, the harsh reality is that in a country where student debt has nearly tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion and 41% of adults have some form of medical debt, these extreme challenges may seem like the only way out. The American Dream used to be the idea that hard work could lead to financial success, but now, for some, it is the hope of being chosen for a chance to win enough money to eradicate their debt.
Suzie Taylor, one of the two winners who received $185,000 for living in a bare room with a stranger for 100 days, plans to use this newfound exposure to kickstart her career as a content creator. With 78 million YouTube views (and counting) of her enduring the psychological and physical challenges for cash, Taylor is using her winnings to launch her own online career. In a clever nod to MrBeast’s early videos, she creates a video titled “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast,” where she gives back to the community in her own way. She buys a child a hoverboard, gives money to the homeless, and treats a group of people to ice cream at a crowded dessert shop. In doing so, she follows in the footsteps of MrBeast and his philanthropic beginnings.
Taylor’s strategy is paying off, with her number of subscribers skyrocketing since her video with MrBeast was posted. In just a few days, she has accumulated over 100,000 subscribers, a massive jump from her starting point of 300 just a few months ago. If she can keep her subscribers engaged beyond her “fifteen minutes of fame,” Taylor will not only have won $185,000, but she will have also jumpstarted a whole new career for herself – a true American Dream in the modern age.
