Beast Games holds the record for having the largest grand prize for a game show.
MrBeast provided a one-word response to reports that the winner of the first season of Beast Games will be rewarded with just over half of his $10 million winnings.
The reply came after a Dexerto post to Twitter/X on February 15, which stated, “The winner of MrBeast’s $10,000,000 ‘Beast Games’ prize will only receive $5.03 million after taxes.”
The YouTube star, who is the host and creator of Beast Games, simply responded “Only” followed by a crying emoji.
Jeffrey Allen, aka Player 831 in the show, became the first winner of Beast Games when he correctly guessed which briefcase contained a check for $10M. Despite the substantial amount of tax Allen will have to pay, his take-home winnings should still exceed the original $5M billed winning prize money.
Bridging episodes 9 & 10, Gage Gallagher, aka Player 974, flipped a coin that had a 50% chance of sending him home or doubling the prize money. Luckily for Allen, the coin landed on the ‘tails’ side and doubled the total prize pool.
Report claims Beast Games prize is halved due to taxes
The original Dexerto post came as a result of a report by Watcher.Guru, which broke down the tax that will allegedly be applied to Allen as a result of his $10 million windfall. The report breaks down the amounts as follows:
Gross Prize Winnings: $10,000,000
Federal Income Tax (37% top rate): ≈ $3,700,000 owed
California State Tax (13.3% top rate): ≈ $1,330,000 owed
Total Tax Obligation: ≈ $4,970,000 (50.3% of the prize)
As game show prize winnings are not exempt from federal taxation or California income tax, Allen will owe approximately $4,970,000 of the $10,000,000 in taxes between the two forms of taxation, making his take-home winnings approximately $5,030,000.
All calculations in the report are approximate and do not take into account Allen’s earnings from any other activity.
Jeffrey Allen, aka Player 831, won $10,000,000 by winning the Beast Games
Yet, as Mr Beast alluded to, Allen is not taking pennies away from the show. He would still take home the majority of the money based on the above calculations. Allen also confirmed the money will be used to help fund a cure for his son’s rare brain disease, Creatine Transporter Deficiency (CTD).