Beast Games: Three cheers for this Christian who just turned down $1 million

Amazon Prime’s latest reality TV offering which sees 1,000 people compete for $5m has divided critics. But Max Avard says the presence of an inspirational Christian contestant makes Mr Beast’s show an unlikely source of hope

How many times have you seen someone praying, worshipping and calling on the name of God on mainstream TV lately? Not often I imagine. I’m always shocked when I see overt displays of faith on the box, so imagine my surprise when I found God on Mr Beast’s latest show, Beast Games.

Mr Beast is what you might call ‘chronically online famous’. In other words, he’s one of the most famous people on the planet, but only to those who’ve grown up on social media.At just 26, he already earns around $700 million a year, has attracted more than 500 million subscribers, and racked up a mammoth 70 billion views. To put that in context, the population of the United States is 345 million.

His content is a mix of high-stakes challenges, extravagant giveaways and large-scale philanthropy. Examples include planting 20 million trees, getting contestants to stay in a patch of grass for 100 days and, in one of his earliest videos, sitting at his desk and counting to 100,000 because, well, content.