MrBeast is one of the most-watched YouTubers in the world and recently filmed himself spending 100 hours inside the Giza Pyramids of Egypt. But, it turns out one of our articles got him in some trouble along the way.
The viral video, published on his YouTube channel on February 8, has racked up an incredible 130 million views at the time of writing. It has also been liked by 4.3 million people.
It was so good, in fact, local people praised the content creator for unveiling things inside the pyramids they had never seen before. “As an Egyptian, this is the first time I see and hear about the things shown in this video! Honestly, this is one of the best videos you’ve ever made,” one fan said in the comments.
Speaking on Dexerto’s Clickbaited show, we asked Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson about Egypt and for him to respond to a few headlines we have written about him over the years.
But, there was one issue that led to an awkward phone call from government officials. And it was kind of our fault…
MrBeast reveals what happened after our story went viral
A headline was shown to him, saying: “MrBeast literally rented out the Egyptian pyramids for upcoming YouTube video.”
“You want me to respond to this honestly?” he said. “Headlines like this got me in trouble with the Egyptian government! Because we didn’t literally rent the pyramids… They let us use the pyramids for 100 hours, but we didn’t technically rent it.”
“I’m not even joking, after you guys ran this story, the higher ups in the Egyptian government called us and they were like ‘Are you telling people you rented out the pyramids? We don’t rent them out.’ And I was like… No, that’s just an article.
“And then your article went super viral and everyone was calling me about it. I had at least 50 famous people go ‘Yo, how much does it cost? I want to rent out the pyramids for my bar mitzvah.”
The process to get approval to shoot at such a precious location was also not easy, as the YouTuber revealed. His team had to speak with the United Nations beforehand and was delighted to get it over the line eventually.
“I thought it was a pipe dream that we would ever get access to them. I kind of said it like a joke, I was like: ‘I would love to have the pyramids, seven days in it..’ I couldn’t get seven days but after talking with them month after month they slowly warmed up to the idea. I was like, oh, we’re getting somewhere.
“Eventually my team was like… We got a yes. I didn’t believe it. Until I actually started filming at the pyramids I was in constant doubt thinking this isn’t gonna happen. Then they give me the keys, I explored it and it is a really good video.”
Dexerto has pioneered coverage of the world’s biggest YouTubers and content creators since 2015, following their developments into viral content, acting, and even influencer boxing. Our new show on YouTube, Clickbaited, debuted with MrBeast in February 2025 and stay tuned for more episodes featuring the biggest stars in the space. For more stories like this, check out our Entertainment coverage.