Is the city ready for Beast Games?
UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS
from Toronto Life’slong-form archives |
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Dear reader, A new reality show is coming to Toronto, and there’s already drama before the cameras have started rolling. The Prime Video production Beast Games will be filmed on a massive set in North York, where 1,000 contestants will face off for a whopping $5 million (US)—the single biggest cash prize in the history of television. The series is the brainchild of American YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, who has amassed a following of 300 million subscribers by hosting and filming elaborate, high-stakes challenges with hefty rewards. The 26-year-old is YouTube’s most popular content creator, but he hasn’t made headlines only for trapping contestants in nuclear bunkers or leaving them stranded on deserted islands. Donaldson’s rise to fame has been marred in controversy, including allegations that he’s made racist and homophobic comments, hired a convicted sex offender, and failed to ensure safe working conditions for his contestants. When it airs, Beast Games could become the most explosive reality show filmed in Toronto, the pinnacle of an industry that has been booming for more than a decade. Series like Donaldson’s may not be highbrow, original or even ethical, but viewers can’t stop tuning in. As Emily Landau put it in her 2013 feature, “The Real World”: “These shows are entertaining and addictive—even scandalous—and millions of us are watching them. When was the last time you said that about a Canadian show?” For more great long-reads from Toronto Life, subscribe to our print edition here. |
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| —Madi Haslam, digital editor |
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Reality television is booming in Toronto: nearly 100 shows are made here every year—some of them drawing more viewers than (gasp) hockey. Call it an affront to good taste or appointment TV, it’s the future of Canadian entertainment |
BY EMILY LANDAU | AUGUST 22, 2013 |
In this era of downloading, streaming and TV-on-demand, reality shows have become appointment television, and Toronto is cashing in. Heaps of them are made here, collectively targeting every conceivable TV pleasure centre. For production companies and networks, these shows are profit machines: they’re cheap to produce and almost guarantee huge ratings. For filmmakers mastering the dark arts of faux-candid footage, commercial-break cliffhangers and tearful exit interviews, reality TV has become a honeypot. Based on the number of people tuning in week after week, viewers can’t seem to get enough. |
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