LectureMaster
Gold Member
Beast Games Review - IGN
Beast Games is a reality show that tries and fails to translate the style of MrBeast’s popular YouTube videos to a longer-form reality show.
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Beast Games IGN Review: 2/10
- Thread starter LectureMaster
- Start date
HoodWinked
Member
this pretty much persuaded me to take a look cause if they think it sucks then it must be good.
Watch Beast Games - Season 1 | Prime Video
I gathered 1,000 people to fight for $5,000,000, the LARGEST cash prize in TV history! We’re also giving away a private island, Lamborghinis, and millions more in cash throughout the competition! Go watch to see the greatest show ever made!
www.amazon.com
xrnzaaas
Member
What's that got to do with anything? A youtuber made a reality show and that show is being reviewed. I haven't seen it and I don't plan to, but it would be understandable if it didn't work in a tv format. It's not like the journo is roasting this youtuber simply for how he's running his youtube channel.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Let's get a balanced look. What the other side saying.
www.telegraph.co.uk
Pretty much the same. 1/5 from the Telegraph.
The focus is almost entirely on Donaldson. But all he can do is flash a personality-free grin and bang on about how much the competitors will trouser if they make it to the end. Good luck to them. Regardless of who wins, however, the big loser from Beast Games is surely Amazon, which has forked out $100 million on 10 hours of charmless nonsense.
Beast Games, review: $100 million worth of charmless YouTube nonsense
Mr Beast’s long-awaited Amazon Prime Video series is a deafening, joyless cash-dash
www.telegraph.co.uk
Pretty much the same. 1/5 from the Telegraph.
The focus is almost entirely on Donaldson. But all he can do is flash a personality-free grin and bang on about how much the competitors will trouser if they make it to the end. Good luck to them. Regardless of who wins, however, the big loser from Beast Games is surely Amazon, which has forked out $100 million on 10 hours of charmless nonsense.
Bert Big Balls
Gold Member
Lol. That's surprising. Guy's a fucking douchebag.
GymWolf
Member
Dude has some of the most punchable face ever with that fake smirk he does
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I found it surprising that Amazon blew 100 million on this.
Heimdall_Xtreme
Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
Mr beast... IGN...Beast Games Review - IGN
Beast Games is a reality show that tries and fails to translate the style of MrBeast’s popular YouTube videos to a longer-form reality show.www.ign.com
I see these words and automatically stop reading it.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
I thought he was cancelled? Yet he has a show?
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
I am watching the 1st episode and it's nonsense because people get eliminated without their input and nothing they can do.
It's not skill based at all. if they could at least go to other contestants and punch them in the face to get them from pressing the bribe button.
This structure kinda sucks. Player should have any input
It's not skill based at all. if they could at least go to other contestants and punch them in the face to get them from pressing the bribe button.
This structure kinda sucks. Player should have any input
Pegasus Actual
Gold Member
Everything Mister Beast does involves some kind of Prisoner's Dilemma and arbitrary rule changes. I kind of agree with you, but I think his viewers enjoy the chaos. Plus since he's starting with so many people, maybe it's not so bad. After all, on a more "fair" show those extra 900+ people don't make it through the application process, which probably isn't inherently fair either.
The only recent game show I've watched at all is a little bit of the The Floor... which has ripoff Who Wants to Be a Millionaire music.. but the prize is only 250k for winning the whole season, and someone wins 20k an episode. That's just sad. And the gameplay is pretty stupid as well. Two people take turns identifying a picture. At least this has real prizes.
Yeah, clearly only a 2 of 10 because of "controversies", and sure enough, now that I'm reading the review, of course there is reference to "concerning allegations" that he has yet to "disprove". I also like how he acts as if this is somehow beneath regular reality TV, which has always been trash. Though having Asmongold co-hosting in the corner of the video does elevate it
Lukaku's First Touch
Member
I hate it and also like it. I hate all the crying contestanrs and their bullshit sob stories but I like the backstabbing temptations. I would've taken the 1 million for sure if I was the team leader.
Grildon Tundy
Member
Duchenne (genuine) smile on the left; non-Duchenne on the right.
Mr Beast should work on finding his inner joy because his non-Duchenne smile is off-putting.
March Climber
Member
In short, a famous Tyra Banks quote:
Duchenne (genuine) smile on the left; non-Duchenne on the right.
Mr Beast should work on finding his inner joy because his non-Duchenne smile is off-putting.
Cyberpunkd
Member
Considering his YT sub count - a lot of people. It's the perfect personification of modern mediocrity. Even Kim K gave us some got shagging in return for all the billions we allowed her to make.
newtypepilot
Member
who are the biggeer idiots? the 948 contestants who didnt' take the money, or amazon that greenlit this?
This show looks expensive to produce. All the cameras, all the crew, all the outdoor locations, and all the set pieces required for the spectacles.
This show looks expensive to produce. All the cameras, all the crew, all the outdoor locations, and all the set pieces required for the spectacles.
NecrosaroIII
Ultimate DQ Fan
All of the above.
mitch1971
Member
Lord of the rings: rings of power says hi.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Lord of the Rings is a franchise that needs 100mil or more to do it justice. Amazon just failed to do it justice.
100mil on an extended Mr Beast video? I think Amazon must be money laundering.
Grildon Tundy
Member
I haven't watched the whole show, but I've seen a few clips. I'm curious about something...
Are some (all?) of these staged/faked/scripted? If so, do audiences know it's scripted but play along anyway? It not being genuine takes a lot of the appeal away for me. I want to see how people behave in high-stakes, surreal situations.
One clip I saw seemed very staged/scripted. It was the one where the team of three had to throw something into a trash can(?), and the last one to make it in was out. The guy who got booted decided to take everyone down with him so nobody got anything, and the reaction from the other guy seemed like flat, wooden acting. Like no genuine anger or disappointment. As genuine as Mr Beast's smile.
Are some (all?) of these staged/faked/scripted? If so, do audiences know it's scripted but play along anyway? It not being genuine takes a lot of the appeal away for me. I want to see how people behave in high-stakes, surreal situations.
One clip I saw seemed very staged/scripted. It was the one where the team of three had to throw something into a trash can(?), and the last one to make it in was out. The guy who got booted decided to take everyone down with him so nobody got anything, and the reaction from the other guy seemed like flat, wooden acting. Like no genuine anger or disappointment. As genuine as Mr Beast's smile.
Fbh
Member
Idk, depending on how many views and new subscribers they get I can still see it being worth it for amazon.
You don't team up with Mr Beast to get good reviews, you do so to get views and hopefully attract a younger audience. The 10-18 years olds this is targeted at don't give a crap what score IGN or The Guardian gave it
Pegasus Actual
Gold Member
Hard to say, Mr Beast has been accused of staging things... in my limited experience it's more that he just arbitrarily and overtly messes with the rules in a way that isn't fair. Reality TV in general is full of bullshit, probably more now than it ever has.
I'd probably react in a similar way to that guy... so I don't know. And yes Mr Beast's smile is not very genuine... I think it adds to the ambience here... like there's something wrong with him and if he could legally get away with it he'd literally kill off contestants in service of his content.
Anyway I thought the third episode was really good. And this shit was objectively funny:
Actually, going back to that 'staged' situation, I think I learned something:
Teams that decided it on a game of skill were far more hesitant to abide by the results compared to those who did games of chance.
This is a far better investment than that turd. The prize pool and production costs are pretty high.
diffusionx
Gold Member
there is a Mr Whose The Boss video on what they spent on it. It was not cheap.
Amazon spent much more than $100MM on their tv show.
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IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I know RoP cost more than 100mil, but according to the Times review they spent 100mil on this Mr Beast show.
TDiddyLive
Member
Those people were idiots with a hero complex. You’re telling me I get a million dollars, stay in the game, AND eliminate a quarter of my competition? How many times you want me to slap that button?
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I think the show gives an insight into how YouTube celebrity doesn't translate to mainstream tv skills. Mr Beast is terrible at interacting with contestants. For the past however many years he's been working with a fairly consistent recurrent crew of "friends" (no idea) and with relatively little onscreen interaction with other people outside that circle.
On this, I don't think he has the presentation skills and confidence to cover improvised conversations and follow up questions with contestants. He doesn't have the warmth that a TV host commonly has.
On top of this, there's the debt the show owes Squid Game, the lack of originality does make one question if Amazon ought to be paying a license fee.
It's reality TV, so your mileage may vary and despite the cost of the show (I gather the $100m figure is thought to be on the conservatives side) the show seems relatively low rent - with ball catching and throwing having got a decent amount of screen time so far.
For Amazon, hooking kids into their platforms and building a database on their preferences so they can market to someone for their entire lives is the aim and while the budget may seem high, to Amazon it is a small enough number to warrant the experiment.
Despite those issues, I'm still surprised to see how aggressively negative the reviews have been. I don't think it's bad TV, certainly not as bad as the reviews would suggest which place the show somewhere near the worst shows of all time. I'm not sure it's got legs at this point or if I'd be interested in a second series but I expect I'll make it through the ten episodes in this series.
On this, I don't think he has the presentation skills and confidence to cover improvised conversations and follow up questions with contestants. He doesn't have the warmth that a TV host commonly has.
On top of this, there's the debt the show owes Squid Game, the lack of originality does make one question if Amazon ought to be paying a license fee.
It's reality TV, so your mileage may vary and despite the cost of the show (I gather the $100m figure is thought to be on the conservatives side) the show seems relatively low rent - with ball catching and throwing having got a decent amount of screen time so far.
For Amazon, hooking kids into their platforms and building a database on their preferences so they can market to someone for their entire lives is the aim and while the budget may seem high, to Amazon it is a small enough number to warrant the experiment.
Despite those issues, I'm still surprised to see how aggressively negative the reviews have been. I don't think it's bad TV, certainly not as bad as the reviews would suggest which place the show somewhere near the worst shows of all time. I'm not sure it's got legs at this point or if I'd be interested in a second series but I expect I'll make it through the ten episodes in this series.
It's because it's perceived as "late stage capitalism", aka the rich making fun of the poor - forcing them to cry, dangling millions of dollars in front of their faces, luxury suites for one night, etc.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I think I would take the Million too.
But, being given the prize and still being allowed to stay in is largely irrelevant. With that action you guarantee that other contestants will see you as not trustworthy, and that would seem to be important based on other elements of the show we've seen. You'd be first out as soon as another contestant had some sort of decision to make about you staying in.
I also think there's likely various psychological things at work, from the outside it's quite easy to lead with the idea that you're in there to do a job - get rich and fuck everyone else who's trying to stop you. But in reality, I think human nature generally would lean towards making friendships and alliances, tacit or overt, and reality TV has repeatedly shown that people feel that they get lost in the reality they're living in. The show doesn't seem to document how long contestants spend together between events - is it hours? days? What do they do? We've seen a bit of footage of people walking around the "city" and playing chess, but aside from that I'm not sure if people not wanting to be the one to stop a friend from being able to get a family member out of poverty or whatever would be a factor.
I also think there's likely so much footage that has been shot but never used. Perhaps someone says something particularly heart wrenching to another contestant on camera and they don't want to be seen to know about that and still take the money. I am slightly surprised that
the two brothers who manipulated another contestant into sacrificing themself for them were happy to confess that it was a calculated move
I suspect there's probably a radically different show you could make with the footage they've gathered. More emphasis on the contestant stories and less on the money, but I'm not sure the intended audience would respond, which is probably why the show keeps things simple.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
Yes, that's one of the big issues with Squid Game / Beast Games. That Beast Games appropriates the surface layer, but none of the meaning. I get that, but you could level that accusation at a number of game shows through decades of TV. This isn't the first time life changing money has been offered to contestants, after all.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I think the first few episodes of this have been pretty good, but the most recent one
was dire. If the rest of the series is about the same, the viewing figures will crater.
on the island
Pegasus Actual
Gold Member
The special forces thing was a dud. The ship thing was a dud. And too much cuckoldry. Island was a bad lineup.
Lil Yachty not being able to hold his laughter was comedy gold though
Lil Yachty not being able to hold his laughter was comedy gold though
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I know I'm not in the demographic, but I have no idea if he's actually generally well known or if he was chosen as a guest who'd get mostly zero recognition. That whole bit just seemed amateurish to me, I couldn't even really detect if there was a joke there that I didn't get!
Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
I actually didn't know who he was until a couple of months ago, and even then it was through an Asmon video going on about some shitty lunch thing for kids, that looks like packaged death
Yeah, ten seconds was my limit of that bloke.
342 million subs on YouTube?
I'll just chalk it up to another thing in modern life I don't get.
Ozzy Onya A2Z
Member
I find it weird watching the show how nearly all the contestants seem to think it's a team game. The team aspects are just a guise for testing and twists across the show.
Literally watched 4 "leaders" not take a million greenbacks guaranteed cash for the sake of fake valour and integrity on a show that will ultimately only have one main winner regardless of teamwork.
They joined a game show to win 5 Mil solo, yet hold on to some semblance of comradery or some shit. Wild.
Daughter and wife enjoy it, I'm watching out of morbid curiosity. Terrible host but fun nonetheless.
Literally watched 4 "leaders" not take a million greenbacks guaranteed cash for the sake of fake valour and integrity on a show that will ultimately only have one main winner regardless of teamwork.
They joined a game show to win 5 Mil solo, yet hold on to some semblance of comradery or some shit. Wild.
Daughter and wife enjoy it, I'm watching out of morbid curiosity. Terrible host but fun nonetheless.
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