MrBeast has made a name for himself across social media for giving away thousands, if not millions of dollars to the subjects of his countless videos, but fans of his have been left out of pocket and outraged after attending a shockingly disappointing $1,000 meet-up event.
Becoming the most subscribed to YouTuber certainly earns you plenty of dedicated fans along the way, and Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson has managed to acquire more than enough that are willing to fork up over $1,000 in order to attend what was advertised as an 'immersive' and 'unforgettable' meet-up event.
Unforgettable is certainly an apt description for many of the attendees, but not for the reason you might expect, as they were instead left confused and angered after it was revealed what they'd actually paid for, and many had gone as far to brand Donaldson a 'scammer'.
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As reported by 8 News Now, a group of attendees had each paid $1,000 to attend a three-day experience at the Resorts World Las Vegas hotel from April 13 to April 15.
Upon arrival, guests were informed by the hotel's front desk that they should wait in their room for a 'mystery arrival', which many took to mean that MrBeast himself would shortly be coming to greet them - after all, $1,000 is a hefty price to pay if you're not going to meet the man in question.
However, some guests waited in their room from anywhere between 24 hours and two days for this mysterious arrival to occur, only to find out that it was simply just a bag of goodies instead of the YouTube megastar.
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"It had kid's shorts, an extra small shirt, a hat, and a medium shirt," one guest revealed to 8 Now News in relation to the contents of this mystery box, adding that "if you go to mrbeast.store to their merchandise right now, all this stuff is on clearance for $9. We were told we'd get exclusive merch. Obviously that's not the case."
While some might argue that it's unrealistic to expect MrBeast to upend his busy schedule - which he himself has argued would make the 'average person miserable' - all to attend one fan event in Las Vegas, the price of entry and lack of clarity certainly gives the attendees more than enough to complain about.
Some fans were expecting various mini-games in the style of Donaldson's Amazon Prime show Beast Games or other special MrBeast related events, so to be landed with a goodie bag worth the fraction of your ticket is certainly a slap in the face, and rightfully left the attendees furious.
"If Jimmy is part of this, I hope he feels good for scamming a whole bunch of adults and their children," declared one angry ticket buyer, and it's certainly not a good look for the YouTuber regardless of his association.
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It's not the first time that MrBeast has become embroiled in controversy either, as his team faced numerous accusations of mistreatment during the filming of Beast Games, alongside allegations of his involvement in a 'crypto scam' that similarly lost many of his fans money.
Other attendees have corroborated reports of the experience on Reddit, with one comment on the r/vegas subreddit explaining their time at the event:
"Nothing happened for the first two days, [...] nobody at RW had a clue what was going on. It feels like the employees were only told about the mystery bag, but nobody at the restaurants knew about the 'activations' or any schedule of events (which there weren't any).
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"It was advertised as an 'immersive experience' but aside from the gift bag and a channel on the TV showing the MrBeast logo when you turned it on, it was a flop. They offered us a $50 pool credit on day three (which we didn’t bring swimsuits so we didn’t use) and a $50 credit to their sports bar tonight, which is 21+ and we have a kid with us so that was out too. Ended up just leaving this morning."
Others have also speculated an intriguing reason behind many attendees reason for waiting reluctantly in their room for this 'mystery surprise', as Donaldson is known for doing challenges where the last person to leave an area or stop doing something wins an extraordinary amount of money.
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"In their defense, MrBeast is known for his crazy challenges," explains another comment on the r/vegas subreddit. "I could see someone believing they are in a MrBeast 'last one to leave your room wins' challenge. Still dumb, but not 'I'll just listen' dumb."
Unfortunately, none of the contestants walked away with a major cash prize or the chance to meet MrBeast, and instead just departed several thousand dollars poorer with a weekend wasted.
However, there is a silver lining to the situation, as Donaldson has finally responded to one frustrated attendee on X with a glimmer of hope.
"Hey! This definitely isn't the experience we hoped they'd deliver," wrote MrBeast in a reply, revealing that it was an event he was partnered with. "My team's already on it - I'd love to personally make it up to you and anyone else by inviting everybody affected to tour my actual studio! Can't wait to meet you all and my team is reaching out to everyone :D"
That's certainly an unlikely yet welcome end to what was definitely a horror show for everyone that bought tickets to the event, and they've perhaps got more than they paid for now when it comes to an authentic MrBeast experience.