MrBeast’s $5 Million Gamble: The High-Stakes Decision with Tyler Lucas

In Episode 9 of Season 2 of Beast Games, the familiar cliffhanger sets the stage for the finale, spotlighting Nick from Team Strong. His pivotal decision in Episode 8 catalyzed trust issues and strategic cash grabs, shaping the final rounds. Now, Nick faces a crucial choice as he secures the last spot in the top six for the finale. He employs a classic decision-making line: “I’ve tried to play with integrity”—cue the season’s buzzword—“and fill my pockets while I was ahead. I still care about everybody here, but my decision is made…”

This season has seemingly forged a new reality TV power couple in Monika and Jim. Their romance, however, must continue beyond the confines of Beast City. Despite Jim accepting Monika’s bribe and his swagger reaching new heights during his “Operation Sugarmama” strategy, Nick opts to cast his top-six vote for Brett. This decision advances Brett, a fellow Team Stronger ally sporting a handlebar mustache, into the final group. Consequently, Nick, Monika, Jim, and Kady are eliminated, while Brett joins Tyler, Auguste, Jack, Cory, and Hannah in the finale. 

Earlier in the season, we were puzzled by the show’s decision to move its final episodes to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, without further mention. This was until MrBeast’s temporary theme park came into focus. In the Season 2 finale, Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, narrates an unusual retrospective segment, describing the show as “a simulation in an alternate world.” This segment merges a blend of AI and animation, featuring a crystal ball with finalists depicted in Wizard of Oz-style miniatures, and combines faceless Beast Gamers from challenge demos with summaries of real player journeys. While it’s high-concept, it feels disjointed and poorly integrated, reflecting the awkward transitions seen throughout Season 2. With the series already renewed for a third season, there’s a need for better integration of these elements to enhance the gameplay experience. It’s a mix of cool and quirky that needs refinement. 

 THE LITTLE KICKS

As the game narrows from six to four players, the stakes hinge on a game of kicking volleyballs. Players aim to shatter hearts across a chasm with accurate strikes, but the rounds quickly turn into a “choosing peace” strategy, with gentle kicks sending balls astray, far from causing any eliminations. Jack is ultimately eliminated, but the round highlights Tyler’s emerging strategy. Despite Auguste’s urging to target Hannah, Tyler instead eliminates his ally from the all-male alliance. Auguste leaves the game without cash, having spent his funds on Episode 9 bribes. Tyler justifies his decision, albeit coldly, by admitting, “I just don’t think I could’ve beat you.”

With four players remaining, Beast Games reintroduces the pole challenge. Had Monika still been in the game, she might have excelled once more at the airborne lotus. Instead, it’s Hannah, Brett, Cory, and Tyler who face the challenge of endurance or intellect, attempting to recall a sequence of 16 colored blocks. Brett courageously tackles the pattern and succeeds, needing just one assist from Cory. Hannah, showing grace and humor, is the next to be eliminated by Brett’s choice. “I feel so honored to be here with you four, and obviously I’m about to be dropped to my death, but I feel OK leaving with this combination,” she quips as she exits the game. 

THREE THE HARD WAY    

So it’s down to Brett, Cory, and Tyler, who MrBeast arranges at podiums, with their fists cuffed over buttons inside. Just like in Captain Bribe, a money counter will advance, and the first to hit the button will receive the money on the screen. But it’s still a hard choice: they gotta game when or even whether their opponents will hit it, and risk this gain against the potential of winning the five-million-dollar grand prize. 100k. 200k. 377. 410. Nobody’s even tempted, and the mood is light. 720,000. 900,000. One million dollars. “Congratulations! You are now a millionaire!” It’s Brett who hit the button, and he says winning a Season 2 total of $1,193,000 makes finishing third more than worth it. He is X’d as he greets his cash.

Tyler and Cory recognize the circular podium of briefcases Beast next brings out. This is the same challenge that concluded Season 1, when Jeff Allen won it all in the first round. And again, the mood is light, so light even Donaldson is surprised. It speaks to the social side of Beast Games that these final rounds have been cordial enough, even in the face of hard eliminations and ever more finite access to the five-mil pyramid. A player will hide MrBeast’s check in a case while the other is blindfolded, and they will do this round after round until the correct case is guessed. “Just tell me which one,” Tyler tells Cory, which is pretty funny. But they also lock in tough guy poker faces and trade one line back and forth. Three rounds. Four rounds. Five. “Open it and find out.”    

“That way he can’t read me.” Did these guys practice this at home? Their case logic? Because Cory deploys a strategy where he shuts his own eyes and places the check, so as to hide any tells from Tyler’s questions. When the final countdown becomes three cases, Tyler looks across the podium at his Beast City buddy. “I’m glad to playing a stressful game with this man,” he says, and chooses case #3 to honor the number of Cory’s kids. And…Boom! Tyler Lucas, #167 of Team Strong, is your big Beast Games Season 2 winner, with total earnings of 5.1 million. That’s in dollars, not Feastables. 

Did the Smart vs. Strong stuff really matter? Like so many other reality competitions, was being super good at the social side ultimately better? Maybe Tyler’s gaggle of cute kids showing up in Episode 7 was all the inspiration he required. Now that they’ve done 1,000 contestants and 200 special skills contestants, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson and his co-conspirators will have to concoct another hook for Season 3’s contestants. We’ll just have to see what happens when the next trapdoor opens. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.