When the Amazon Prime competition series Beast Games arrived in Toronto, it launched with a $138-million budget and advertised the largest grand prize in entertainment history at $5 million (US). Released in December of 2024, the inaugural 10-episode season quickly became Amazon’s most-watched unscripted series ever, breaking several records for the amount of money dispensed and earning a write-up in Guinness World Records.
Shot across the late summer and early autumn of 2024 at Downsview Park, the production was the largest of its kind to set up shop in the city. Its execution required thousands of cast and crew, 1,100 cameras, 200 editors sifting through multiple petabytes of footage, and more than 2,500 people on set during its biggest shoot day. Yet, by several accounts, the massive production was also tumultuous.
MrBeast Builds Beast City Compound at Downsview
Hosted by YouTuber, billionaire, entrepreneur and philanthropist James “MrBeast” Donaldson, the series began with 1,000 competitors narrowed down to 500 in an enormous neon-lit soundstage. Donaldson offered contestants cash bribes laid out in briefcases, eliminating anyone who accepted along with every person in their row. For example, Player 898 accepted a $100,000 bribe, sending the rest of his row packing.
Contestants who advanced entered Beast City, a $19-million compound erected at Downsview and encircled by a moat. The compound featured sleeping cabins, a gym, a four-storey tower complex, and a café offering Donaldson’s proprietary “Feastables” snack foods—milk chocolate bars that a consumer advocacy group later found to contain high levels of the cadmium heavy metal.
A New Model for Canadian TV Production
In its lavishness and chaos, Beast Games signals a new model for Canadian TV production: mammoth, expensive American reality-and-competition shows that take full advantage of Canada’s infrastructure and talent pool. Donaldson described the first season as bigger than anything one can ever imagine, utilizing a budget large enough to finance almost 60 episodes of Murdoch Mysteries.
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