MrBeast Addresses Backlash for Trapping Man in Burning Home for Money

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MrBeast is responding to fiery criticism over his latest stunt.

The YouTuber (whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson) addressed recent criticism after releasing a video on September 27th called “Would You Risk Dying For $500,000?” The video featured a man attempting to overcome a series of dangerous, fire-related challenges – which MrBeast called “death traps” – for the opportunity to win $500,000.

The player overcame several difficult obstacles, such as being trapped in a burning building, leaping through rings of fire, and being launched from a cannon.

MrBeast commented on the YouTube video, addressing any worries about the contestant’s safety: “We take safety extremely seriously.” He explained that every challenge was thoroughly tested by several professional stunt performers. Additionally, a full rescue team is present on set, including firefighters, EMTs, and divers, and they have a fully equipped ambulance and fire truck on standby.

He went on to explain, “We had a team dedicated to managing the fires, and we implemented several ways to quickly put them out during each challenge. This allowed us to shut down the fire immediately if any problems arose. Thankfully, our stunt coordinator did a fantastic job, as usual, and we didn’t need to use any of these safety systems.”

MrBeast explained he noticed some concern regarding the size of the flames in the video, and he wanted to be transparent with everyone. He added, “Just wanted to be transparent with you all.”

It’s true that some viewers were concerned about the incredibly difficult obstacle course the 27-year-old faced, and one person even described MrBeast as “psychopathic” for creating it.

One user on X (formerly Twitter) commented, saying, “As a firefighter, I can feel the heat just watching this video.” They continued, “MrBeast, that was the dumbest idea you and your team have ever come up with.”

Following the criticism, especially regarding the challenge where the participant needed to escape a burning house, MrBeast also posted on X, stating, “Just to clarify, we had systems in place to vent the smoke and a safety switch to immediately stop the fires.”

“We had professionals test this extensively and the guy in the video as stated is a professional stunt man,” he added. “I take safety more serious than you could ever imagine.”

For more controversies from content creators, read on.

While her YouTube character might sing, it was Colleen Ballinger dealing with serious issues in 2023. The internet star, famous for her deliberately clumsy Miranda Sings persona, was accused of grooming and having improper relationships with young fans.

In a June video that has since been removed, titled “why I left the colleen ballinger fandom
”, YouTuber KodeeRants shared screenshots of what they claimed were text messages between Colleen and her followers, suggesting the comedian had built relationships with underage fans that were harmful.

According to NBC News, the text group-called “Colleeny’s Weenies”-allegedly included Colleen asking her fans about their “favorite position.” NBC News couldn’t confirm if the screenshots were real.

Shortly after, content creator Adam McIntyre-who started a fan account for Miranda Sings when he was 10 years old-posted videos on his own YouTube channel, claiming Ballinger emotionally manipulated her fans.

Ballinger hasn’t directly addressed these claims, nor did she respond to a request for comment from TopMob News. However, on June 28, the mother of three responded to the accusations with a 10-minute song played on the ukulele, posted to her personal YouTube account. In the video, Ballinger compared the accusations to a damaging rumor mill, suggesting people were trying to “tie me to the tracks and harass me for my past.”

In July, the remaining shows on her Miranda Sings tour were canceled. She hasn’t posted anything on social media since.

Girl, watch your mouth. It all started when the Girl, Wash Your Face author posted about her house cleaner and it got increasingly dirty. 

In a clip of the since-deleted post resurfaced by Angie Treasure, Hollis referenced an April 2021 livestream where she spoke about a woman who “cleans the toilets,” noting that “someone commented and said, ‘You’re privileged AF’ and I was like, ‘You’re right. I’m super freaking privileged, but also I worked my ass off to have the money to have someone come twice a week and clean my toilets’ and I told her that. And then she said, ‘Well, you’re unrelatable.'”

Hollis’ response was to explain she had no interest in being relatable pointing out that icons and historical figures like Harriet Tubman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Marie Curie and Oprah Winfrey were “all unrelatable AF.” 

Exceptwhile selling millions of copies of her books is great, a revered abolitionist she is not. 

Days later, Hollis issued an Instagram apology, explaining, “I know I’ve caused tremendous pain in mentioning prominent women—including several women of color—whose struggles and achievements I can’t possibly understand.” Moreover, she continued, “I disregarded the people whose hard work doesn’t afford them financial security, often due to inherently racist and biased systems.”

Added the Girl, Stop Apologizing author, “The important thing for me to do now, something I should have already done, is honestly, be quiet and listen.”

In March 2020, the founder of the Something Navy clothing line and the original blog shared with her Instagram followers that she had tested positive for COVID-19, promising to isolate in her Manhattan apartment with her husband Brandon Charnas and their daughters Ruby and Esme. However, just eight days later, she and her entire household-including their nanny-left for the Hamptons.

This didn’t go over well with the public. Comments on her Instagram page became increasingly critical as she talked about going outside for “fresh air” instead of practicing social distancing.

When her husband cracked that only “hot” people were getting the virus, emotions boiled over.  

She followed up with a detailed apology, explaining several points-their nanny was also sick with the virus; they asked their building’s doormen to clear the lobby before leaving, avoided stopping for gas, and had groceries delivered; and their home in the Hamptons was on a quiet street-but the negative reaction continued.

Nordstrom, which had previously carried Charnas’ line, announced it wouldn’t renew their contract that ended in 2019. Charnas, who had a third daughter, Navy, in 2021, then decided to relaunch her brand directly to consumers, saying, “I wanted more control.” She is now again sharing her favorite items from Shopbop and partnering with A Pea in the Pod.

In an interview on The Glossy Podcast, she shared her biggest lesson learned: “People wanted me to be more understanding of what was happening in the world, and I should have been.”

Okay, so I’ve been *following* this whole thing with Emily Gellis Lande and nutritionist Zuckerbrot for ages, and it’s just…wild. Basically, back in 2020, Emily started sharing these stories – anonymous, mind you, not verified by TopMob News – from women who claimed the F-Factor Diet, you know, the high-fiber one from that New Yorker, seriously messed them up. Like, one woman said she spent over $20,000 and ended up with rashes, horrible cramps, and even
well, the most awful claim was a miscarriage. It was *huge* and even The New York Times wrote about it!

Then Zuckerbrot, she hired Lanny Davis, can you believe it? He used to be special council to Bill Clinton! She totally denied everything, said her plan *didn’t* cause disordered eating, and claimed that out of over 176,000 purchases of her stuff, she only got 50 health complaints. She even released a Certificate of Analysis to prove her products didn’t have heavy metals, and went on Today to defend everything. Honestly, she was *everywhere*.

But Zuckerbrot is *not* a fan of Emily, at all. She told the Times she thinks Emily actually believes she’s helping people, that my girl thinks Zuckerbrot’s lifestyle is poisoning everyone and giving them anorexia. But then she just dismisses her as
a fashion blogger! Can you *believe* the nerve?! She’s worked with Megyn Kelly, for goodness sake!

So now Zuckerbrot has filed *two* lawsuits against Emily, saying she started a smear campaign to destroy her brand. They’re still pending, and Emily denies everything, of course. I’m just completely obsessed with seeing how this all plays out!

In 2020, the world experienced a significant increase in awareness regarding racial issues. However, it was stylist-and Meghan Markle friend-Jessica Mulroney who personally faced a moment of reckoning. Lifestyle blogger Sasha Exeter detailed her experiences in a nearly 12-minute Instagram video, explaining that problems began when Mulroney reacted negatively to Exeter’s request for her followers to “use their voice for good and help combat the race war and what’s happening to the Black community.”

Exeter stated that Mulroney believed the message was directed at her and subsequently engaged in what Exeter described as “very problematic” behavior, including allegedly speaking negatively about Exeter to business contacts and “sending me a threat in writing.” While Mulroney initially apologized in a comment on Exeter’s video, she later sent a direct message that Exeter shared, in which Mulroney wrote, “Liable [sic] suit. Good luck.”

Mulroney did issue a public apology to her own followers, announcing her plan to amplify “Black voices by having them take over my account and share their experience,” but CTV subsequently canceled her reality show I Do, Redo.

Her husband, Ben Mulroney, addressed “the situation surrounding my wife, Jessica,” and stepped down from his position as co-host of CTV’s eTalk, expressing his hope that the new host would be “Black, Indigenous, or a person of color who can use this important platform to inspire, lead, and make change.” Despite the controversy, the mother of three did maintain her close friendship with Meghan, writing in a now-deleted post, “Meghan and I are family. She is the kindest friend.”

Known for popular videos like “I DUCT TAPED My Brothers $400,000 Dollar TRUCK!” and after being let go by Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, this Vine star turned YouTube creator reached a new level of fame in 2020.

On August 5th, the FBI searched his home in Calabasas, California. The bureau confirmed the search was connected to an incident on May 30th at a mall in Scottsdale, Arizona. Paul was broadcasting live from a Black Lives Matter protest that ended at Fashion Square Mall when police say he illegally entered the shopping center and stayed even after they told everyone to leave. (Paul responded on Twitter, stating that while he was filming the protest, “neither I nor anyone in our group was engaged in any looting or vandalism.”) 

Talk about why the FBI raided his home grew quickly, mirroring the size of his YouTube audience. Video from a local ABC station showed several firearms being taken into a police car. Paul explained in a video posted on August 12th (which he later deleted) that the search was “entirely related to the Arizona looting situation that happened. It’s an investigation.” He also said rumors linking the search to other issues were untrue and “absurd.”

No charges were filed, but Paul’s lawyer told TopMob News that they would “cooperate with the investigation.

After widespread reports of infidelity, The Try Guys-originally consisting of Ned, Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang-announced the content creator’s departure from the YouTube comedy group. Now, three years later, Ned has finally spoken publicly about what happened.

 

I was intentionally portraying myself as someone who happily talked about being a husband and having a sweet relationship,” he told People. “Fans seemed to really like that image, so I played it up on purpose. It was a genuine aspect of my life, too.”

 

He explained that the situation caused such a large scandal because of the irony involved, and it felt like a betrayal to those watching. He continued, saying, “That must have been incredibly hurtful and upsetting for viewers.”

Over a year after reconciling with beauty vlogger Tati Westbrook, the popular YouTuber found himself in some new disagreements. It started in August 2020 with a seemingly indirect tweet “about how I thought some celebrities shouldn’t launch makeup lines,” where he hinted that Alicia Keys, who rarely wears makeup, shouldn’t have a skincare line. He later apologized, stating he wasn’t trying to control who could create makeup.

But just two weeks later, the Instant Influencer host had to address another error when he criticized Lauren Conrad‘s new beauty line. In a series of Instagram Stories, he showed his 22 million followers empty packaging he’d received “from a new makeup brand from somebody who has no business having a makeup brand.”

Luckily, the LC Lauren Conrad fashion designer took the situation in stride, playfully admitting her mistake on Instagram. She explained that the person packing the gifts had accidentally included the empty samples with the full-sized products. She shared that she’d put empty samples in a bag to test the size and, when the products arrived, the empties were mistakenly sent out. She jokingly added that the employee would be fired.

Charles later apologized, saying the videos were meant to be humorous and that “Lauren and I spoke privately about the misunderstanding & are both good.” However, it’s pretty clear he knows what he did.

As a longtime follower of The Stauffer Life, I remember being completely shocked when Myka started a video in May 2020 by saying, “This is by far the hardest video James and I have ever publicly had to make.” It quickly became clear she wasn’t going to share typical mom content. Instead, she and James revealed they had placed their 4-year-old son Huxley, who they adopted from China in 2017, with “his now new forever family” because they were struggling to meet his needs related to autism.

The reaction from their nearly 1 million subscribers was intense – a lot of people were angry, questioning whether the couple-who also have four other children-were just inexperienced or if they’d used Huxley to gain views and donations, then abandoned him when things got difficult. They lost a lot of followers and partnerships; brands like Fabletics, Suave and Danimals all announced they were cutting ties. Even the Ohio’s Delaware County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to TopMob News that they were looking into Huxley’s welfare.

The authorities announced in late June that they had closed their case “without any charges,” but Myka’s online presence has remained shut down ever since. She hasn’t posted on YouTube or Instagram since she released a long statement, apologizing for “being so naive when I started the adoption process” and stating that they were “not under any type of investigation.”

Following a video posted by TikTok user Kaitlyn Teaches-showing her opening a lunch her husband made, which playfully included a bag of dog food and a note saying, “Because you’re my dawg,” along with some Chipotle that was a couple of days old-she responded to the strong negative reactions they received because of the prank.

“I need to clarify what went down this weekend,” she stated in a TikTok video from September 2025. “A lot of you are really upset that he referred to me as a dog.”

Oh my gosh, you guys, she was *so* upset everyone was misunderstanding! She kept saying, “He didn’t call me a D-O-G,” and then she slowed down, like she couldn’t even believe people thought that. It wasn’t ‘D-O-G’ at all! It was D-A-W-G. Dawg, you know, like ‘homie,’ that American slang we use? It’s what they *call* each other! It’s just a J-O-K-E, a joke! She kept repeating ‘joke’ like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It was quite a journey, and not in a good way. When Hall announced in May 2020 that he and another TikTok star were planning a cross-country road trip, they got more than just travel suggestions. His Twitter followers were upset that they were ignoring stay-at-home orders, and Hall responded, saying that “most states lifted quarantine, the boys are driving across country staying out of contact from everyone… it’s not that deep.”

However, things got much worse five days later when they drove through Lee County, Texas. The sheriff’s office confirmed that Hall was arrested and charged with marijuana possession, and Hossler was arrested and charged with possession of controlled substances. (Both posted bail the next day. TopMob News contacted both representatives for a statement at the time. Hall’s representative declined to comment, and Hossler’s did not respond.)

In a June essay, Hall told People he was “started on the path” to sobriety: “While I’ve messed up in the past, I’m learning and growing… and I will make you proud. I promise.”

Some pranks are harmless fun. Like, imagine George Clooney and Brad Pitt playfully covering Julia Roberts‘ door with shaving cream. This incident was nothing like that. In October 2019, the YouTube duo known as the Stokes Twins dressed in black, pretended they had just robbed a bank, and called an Uber, all while a camera recorded. The Uber driver wasn’t amused and refused to drive, and someone nearby even called the police.

“Irvine police arrived and ordered the Uber driver out at gunpoint,” the Orange County District Attorney’s Office explained in a press release. Once authorities confirmed the driver wasn’t involved, he was released, and “police issued a warning to the Stokes brothers about the dangers of their actions.”

Just four hours later, the twins allegedly repeated the prank on the University of California, Irvine campus, leading to their arrest. They could have faced up to four years in prison if convicted on charges of false imprisonment and swatting. This angered Orange County D.A. Todd Spitzer, who stated, “These are crimes that could have resulted in someone getting seriously injured or even killed.”

In a 2020 statement, their lawyer claimed, “We can say without hesitation that our clients are in fact not guilty of any crimes.” However, they eventually pled guilty to lesser charges of misdemeanor false imprisonment and reporting false emergencies, receiving 160 hours of community service and one year of probation.

Crowned the “King of YouTube” for his lengthy videos that earned him some 34 million followers, Dawson saw his reign end in June 2020 after he posted a since-deleted explosive tweet about why he was leaving the online beauty community. “They are all attention seeking, game playing, egocentric, narcissistic, vengeful, two-faced, ticking time bombs ready to explode. And I’m OVER it,” he griped, calling out James Charles in particular as “a young, egocentric, power-hungry guru who needed to be served a slice of humble pie in the size of the f–king Empire State Building.”

His followers were not impressed, noting that those that live in glass glam rooms shouldn’t throw stones. And within days Dawson had posted a 20-minute video titled “Taking Accountability” in which he apologized for his own bad behavior, noting “I have done a lot of things in my past that I hate,” including using blackface, making racist remarks and jokes about pedophilia and posting a video that sexualized a then-11-year-old Willow Smith. 

“This video is coming from a place of just wanting to own up to my s–t, wanting to own up to everything I’ve done on the internet that has hurt people, that has added to the problem, that has not been handled well,” he said. “I should have been punished for things.” Which he was, YouTube suspending his ability to monetize his three accounts. 

He returned to creating content in 2021, saying, “I’m so grateful that I got cancelled, because it really changed my life.”

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2025-09-29 22:49