• Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, posted 15 videos on his YouTube channel in 2022.
• Amid his outlandish and frenetic challenges, videos saw him gave away at least $3.2 million in cash.
• One participant also won a jet that Donaldson said cost $2.5 million, and another a private island.

MrBeast has over 124 million subscribers on YouTube where he posts big budget videos with cash prizes.

On November 11, Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by MrBeast on YouTube, surpassed 111 million subscribers on YouTube. By November 14 he had overtaken fellow creator PewDiePie and become the most-subscribed to individual on the platform.

His videos feature large-scale productions and massive prizes which often go viral as a result, such as his "Squid Game In Real Life" video from November 2021, which saw contestants compete for $456,000 in a video viewed over 329 million times.

In 2022, MrBeast's main channel posted 15 times, continuing the streak of challenges and substantial cash incentives.

In total, he gave away at least $3.2 million to participants. Here's how.

One contestant sought to traverse a highly complex escape room in a bid to win $100,000.

In his first video of 2022, posted January 29, Donaldson constructed the "world's most dangerous escape room."

An unnamed competitor trekked through multiple sets, including a room with spiked walls and a snake-infested jungle, in a quest to win $100,000. The contestant was aided by frequent MrBeast collaborators Karl Jacobs and Chris Tyson.

In the end, the winning sum turned out to be $95,000, as the contestant agreed to forfeit $5,000 for a clue midway through the video.

YouTubers wimming with sharks and tightrope-walking across canyons won $240,000 for their fans.

In his second video of 2022, Donaldson featured a slew of simultaneous challenges.

First, Tyson recovered a backpack filled with $100,000 floating in shark-infested waters, with the prize money going to a fan. 

Next, fellow YouTuber Airrack — also known for his outlandish stunts — was offered $10,000 for every hour spent in a freezing room, with the prize money going to another fan. (Airrack endured eight hours).

And Donaldson coughed up additional cash: $40,000 to one contestant for doing nothing, and $20,000 to another for tightrope-walking across a chasm between two 1,000-foot canyons. 

Finally, the video comprised a "Squid Game"-inspired challenge, but it did not result in any winnings.

Throughout the video, Donaldson gave away a total of $240,000.

A man spent 22 days living alone in a decked-out basement to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring.

Donaldson ramped up the prizes yet again for his third video of the year, which saw a contestant named Josh being challenged to reside in decked-out, basement-esque "prison" for as long as possible, earning $10,000 for every day spent there.

Josh lasted 22 days but won a total of $340,000 thanks to some ancillary betting and a hidden $100,000 check uncovered toward the end of his stay.

Josh said he used $20,000 of his prize money to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend, and proposed at the video's conclusion.

MrBeast's riff on 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' resulted in a $613,000 giveaway.

In one of Donaldson's buzziest videos of the year, a riff on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," 10 contestants were given the chance to win the factory he'd constructed to host the challenge — or cash in the property's deed for $500,000.

The last man standing at the end of a series of candy-themed challenges — from a chocolate-eating contest to a bake-off officiated by Gordon Ramsey — was the YouTuber Dallin Lambert, who opted for the cash prize. 

Additionally, Donaldson also gave away a $3,000 television, a piece of candy formed out of a nugget of gold, and $10,000 to the second runner-up — for a total of $613,000.

A battle of the sexes saw teams remaining inside a specified enclosure for days, with the women's team ultimately winning over $500,000.

In a kind of battle of the sexes, Donaldson challenged 100 men and 100 women to remain in an enclosure for 100 hours, with the winning team taking home $500,000 — or $5,000 for each team member. 

Teams were bestowed with Porta Potties, sleeping bags, and bowls of oatmeal for every meal, and the team with the most contestants at the end of the challenge won. Ultimately, the women outlasted the men — by a margin of two: 35 to 33 contestants by the video's end.  

In addition to the $500,000, Donaldson also gave away two Nissan sedans, a box of Reese's Puffs cereal (roughly $3.50), and $40,001 in other prizes.

Subscribers of the channel competed to win a private island.

On July 28, the MrBeast YouTube channel passed the 100 million subscribers mark and celebrated the achievement by giving 100 subscribers the chance to win a private island in a video posted on August 4. 

The contestants were whittled down through four tasks which included lighting a fire on a beach and a "Squid Game"-style challenge on a boat.

The final 10 players were told to choose a plank that perched above the water, five of which gave way and dropped them below, which left five to compete in the last event. This involved a race to find the MrBeast 100 million subscriber play button covered in the sand, earning one lucky winner the island.

Donaldson and his crew hunted 100 people through a mall who hid in hopes of a cash prize.

In a video uploaded on September 3, Donaldson gave 100 subscribers $10,000 each in a silver briefcase and challenged them to hide in "one of the largest malls in the world" for 10 hours.

Those who remained hidden once the time was up were told they could keep the money.

At around 5am, a group of people in security uniforms, who Donaldson said were a "SWAT team," joined the search, being offered a $60,000 bounty for the people they found. He also brought on a group of collaborators to help him search, and said he'd buy a boat for their moms if they helped find people, which he estimated would cost $75,000.

By the end of the video, 23 people remained hidden which meant a combined $230,000 was handed to the winners.

In total, Donaldson gave away at least $365,000 in this video which was viewed over 66 million times.

A 'random subscriber' was challenged to live in a red circle for 100 days to win $500,000.

A challenge posted on September 25 saw a single "random subscriber" told he'd be paid $500,000 if he could stay within a red circle for 100 days. 

On day 50, Donaldson tempted the contestant to exit the challenge with a check for $100,000, and on day 92 he offered a higher incentive of $250,000 but the subscriber refused both chances to leave early.

Over 101 million viewers watched the contestant successfully complete the challenge and win $500,000.

Donaldson gave two cruise ship crew members one hour to win up to $100,000.

A video posted on October 22 primarily focused on Donaldson and his crew staying at a variety of increasingly expensive hotel rooms around the world. These included a $ 1-a-night mat and a $ 150,000-a-night hotel in Las Vegas.

During the video, Donaldson said he rented a cruise ship for one hour which cost him $75,000, and to make things fun he hid $100,000 in cheques around the ship. 

He gave two members of the cruise ship crew one hour to find the money and said they could keep whatever they discovered. In total they recieved $40,000.

YouTubers competed to win a jet in an endurance challenge.

In a video posted on November 12, Donaldson gathered a group of 11 YouTubers and told them the last to keep their hand on a $2.5 million jet would win it. The only rule was that they couldn't push someone to make them lose contact with the jet.

The line-up included LazarBeam, who has 20.3 million subscribers, and IShowSpeed, who has over 14.9 million. 

Along the way, a YouTuber named Chunkz gave up his position in exchange for Donaldson's debit card, which he said would "probably stop after 10 grand." 

After 18 hours, YouTuber WroeToShaw won the challenge and the jet.

Kids and adults went head to head in a 100-hour battle for cash.

On December 3, Donaldson shared a video that featured 100 kids and 100 adults in two separate cubes, and told them whichever building had the most people remaining after 100 hours would win the grand prize of $500,000, which would be split between the remaining players in that cube.

One hour into the challenge, Donaldson told the contestants he would give them $1,000 if they left within 60 seconds and 22 people took him up on the offer. Two participants were also tricked into leaving as a briefcase with $1 sticking out was left by the door, but was revealed to be otherwise empty when opened.

With one hour remaining in the challenge, one adult was spotted accidentally crossing the line and was removed from the contest, but was offered a consolation prize of $5,000. 

Ultimately the adults won the task and were given half a million dollars to share between the remaining 49 people, however the last 25 kids were also given $1,000 each. This brought the total giveaway of this video to at least $552,002.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here. 

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