MrBeast's isolation experiment reveals horror of solitary confinement

Eliyahu Tulshinski

December 4, 2023

Top YouTuber MrBeast has given a close up look at the severe effect of isolation on emotional wellbeing. While the volunteer for the MrBeast's video had far better conditions than J6ers and others confined to isolation cells, the video provides a glimpse into the speed at which mental health deteriorates in solitary confinement.

With 216 million subscribers, MrBeast, whose real name is James (Jimmy) Donaldson, is the most-subscribed individual channel on YouTube. His fast paced videos, with extreme challenges in which participants can earn huge payouts, have allowed him to build a half billion dollar fortune.

10k a day

The video begins with MrBeast offering a random person, Alex, the opportunity to earn $10,000 for each day he stays in a large, well-stocked supermarket that MrBeast purchased and closed to the public. Alex grills a steak on one of the store's barbecues his first night in isolation and says he'll easily be able to last “for years.” One year would earn Alex $3.65 million.

Twists

On the second day of the challenge, MrBeast introduces a new condition: the contestant must part with $10,000 of products each day. Alex then creates a hierarchy of what he least needs to survive and each day brings the appropriate amount of electronics, dog food, perishables and the like to a cash register while holding onto drinks and canned and frozen foods.

A second twist takes place on Day 31, when the electricity goes out for nine days (MrBeast claims he didn't pay the bill). Alex collects the store's frozen meat to use towards his $10,000 daily “sale,” as it won't help him without working freezers.

It turns out, though, that these issues are not what limited Alex's earnings. Alex gave up and left the supermarket before he ran out of products to use to meet his daily quota of $10,000. And he walked out while plenty of food remained on the shelves.

Lonely

Already by Day 10, Alex's hope to stay in the supermarket for “years” was reshaped into a goal of 100 days, just enough to earn $1 million. On Day 21, Alex lowered that goal again, planning to stay long enough to walk away with half a million dollars (50 days), rationalizing that it would be enough to meet all his goals and he could reunite with his family:

A million dollars is nice in theory. I'm still missing out time with my boys. Both their birthdays are coming up . . .

Alex's spirits were raised on Day 30 with a surprise visit from his wife and children that MrBeast arranged. But the electric outage the next day quickly led to a drastic downturn in Alex's emotional wellbeing, exacerbating his loneliness. On Day 34, he could be seen driving a fork lift in circles and eventually into shelves, throwing glass bottles, and turning the supermarket into what he called a "wasteland."

By Day 37, Alex was spending his time at a store exit imagining escaping from the supermarket and reuniting with the world.

Alex reached a new low on Day 44 when his daily visit from MrBeast staff to deliver his wagon filled with $10,000 was replaced with a robot delivery:

It's the first interaction I get all day and it's the freakin robot. Thanks for the money. Not even Jimmy wants to come here for a minute. That's how depressing this place is now.

By Day 45, Alex was captured on video continuously driving a motorized scooter backwards and forwards and making similar repetitive motions with a bat.

When asked later that day how many more weeks he could hold out, Alex responds, “I don't even know if I got an hour left, Jimmy.” MrBeast then suggests that he try for five more days, to make it to fifty, Alex declines: “Honestly, it's not worth staying and I'm leaving.” And so he did, with $450,000.

Not jail

Alex's conditions for his 45 days in isolation, which were as much as he was ready to handle, were far different from conditions in a solitary confinement prison cell:

Alex had far more space to move in
Alex cooked and ate high quality food at his leisure
Alex had access to a normal bathroom far from where he ate and slept
Alex knew he could leave anytime
Alex knew he was earning $10,000 each day
Alex had access to everything the giant store sells, including an above ground pool that he assembled

Weaponized BOP

As Frontline News has covered in depth, a Special Housing Unit (SHU or isolation) is at the top of the Bureau of Prison's (BOP) punishment hierarchy. A common use of isolation is to punish participants in fights. Even then, a typical duration for isolation is only seven days, to prevent torture.

The United Nations’ top expert on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment has called for solitary confinement to be used only in very exceptional circumstances, as a last resort, and for as short a time as possible. [Emphases added].

Yet, this severe form of punishment is not being used just to deter prison fights but to punish political prisoners, particularly J6ers, for their resistance to growing fascism.

One example is America's Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) Creative Director John Strand, who was overcharged for peacefully guarding a medical freedom speech on January 6^th.

Strand was locked in an isolation cell at the end of August after giving a phone interview from prison.

Journalist Owen Shroyer was likewise placed in solitary confinement after continuing to relay his political message from jail.

See our previous articles on John Strand, Dr. Gold and weaponized law enforcement