Beast Games: Smart vs. Strong Thoughts
Hello! I am back again as the Law Weekly’s new restaurant critic—not reviewing a restaurant. While I did eat a significant amount of food over spring break, I was not paying enough attention to write an article—I was too busy stuffing my face and thinking about which dessert to order (peanut butter pie, if you were curious). What I did do was binge the entire new season of Beast Games. I have thoughts, so here we go.
If you’re not familiar, Beast Games is one of the largest competition game shows on TV, with a whopping $5 million cash prize. It is run by popular YouTuber and entrepreneur Jimmy Donaldson, commonly known as “Mr. Beast.” This season started with 200 contestants, 100 “smart” and 100 “strong.” The players compete in various “games,” some psychological, some strategy, some physical, and some memory. Each game eliminates a group of players until there is only one left standing. During the competition, the contestants stay in the makeshift “BeastCity,” complete with a gym, basketball court, bunk beds, and a 24-hour Starbucks.
!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!! Please do not read further if you have not watched this season yet. I do not want to discourage anyone from watching because it’s so good, and you should watch it yourself.
Okay, now for the fun stuff. There were a few interesting twists this season compared to last. First, there was a Beast Games x Survivor crossover! The Beast Games contestants travelled all the way to Fiji and met Jeff Probst on the iconic Survivor island. They competed in Survivor-type challenges and ended with a final tribal council where the contestants voted for one of them to receive a $1.8 million private island in Panama.
This might be a hot take, but I enjoyed the crossover. Beast Games and Survivor are both social experiments that test how people will interact in social settings when money is on the line. I thought they did a good job combining the two shows—the mental and physical strength of Survivor and the fast-paced and significant money stakes of Beast Games.
Second, for the final two episodes, the cast and crew headed to Saudi Arabia. They were greeted at the airport with an entourage of Lamborghinis to transport them to a competition center. Unlike the Survivor crossover, I thought this addition was a little weird and unnecessary. None of the games had anything to do with the country, and the location was never mentioned again after the Lamborghini thing. As a view, it just felt like another way to exhibit how wealthy Mr. Beast is, and for Saudi Arabia to show that it is “hip” and cool and rich.
As for the actual gameplay, my two biggest qualms were with Monika and Nick. I thought I liked Nick for a second, but once he started crying to his family about how he gave up the $1 million in the button game, I knew the rest of the contestants were cooked in the money grab. I thought he had a chance of winning the whole thing—good leverage and social game—but he ruined his chances by taking way more than his fair share. Like Auguste said, it makes no sense to forgo potentially $5 million for just $150k.
I had a similar issue with Monika. She was playing well up until she lied about selling the magic coin. It definitely made sense for her to sell it, but lying about it ruined her chances of winning the $5 million. If she had told the truth and played up the fact that she didn’t take anything from the money grab, leaving more for everyone else, she could have clawed her way to the final. But lying about being a hero was obviously going to bite her in the butt, and it sort of did.
Overall, this season had its quirks, but it was entertaining enough for me to binge in two days, so that says something. Let me know what you think when you watch it!
