I spent 45 days with MrBeast

January 15, 2026

Welcome to Created. Can I get more personal to open this week’s newsletter?

I dropped the ball. I haven’t emailed you in 2 weeks after nearly 2 years of sending newsletters every Thursday.

It’s because we just released a 7 Episode Docuseries with MrBeast called The Making of Beast Games.

It took every waking hour I’ve had.

Our team grew to 30+ people which somehow set a Guinness World Record for largest crew to do behind-the-scenes on a show.

I let a lot of things slip to stay locked in. Like this newsletter…and calling back my Iranian parents who constantly remind me to eat more.

So I’m sorry for ghosting you.

But I’m back! I have a great feeling about 2026 and I’m grateful to be a small part of your inbox.

Now back to our regular newsletter content.

MrBeast Premieres Beast Games Season 2, Hits #1 in US

Last week, MrBeast premiered Beast Games Season 2 on Prime Video.

He dropped the first three episodes at launch with the fourth one, a crossover episode with Survivor, debuting yesterday.

It features 200 contestants. $10 million in prizes. And was filmed in 4 countries.

As part of our behind-the-scenes documentary, I spent 45 days with Jimmy and his crew to capture how they pulled it off.

Here’s just a few of my biggest takeaways from the experience:

1. Jimmy Turned His "Break Time" Into Collab Sessions

During long shoot days, Jimmy used his lunch breaks to collaborate with creators who flew in.

“We put creators in different areas of the set during Jimmy’s breaks, so he can do the collabs back-to-back without losing any time,” said Sinan Deriş, MrBeast’s Head of Marketing.

That turned into 43 different collab videos from Airrack sneaking into Beast Games to Ryan Serhant touring Beast City.

Deriş would even help brainstorm ideas with the visiting creators so their content with Jimmy could perform as well as possible.

2. They Cast for "Potential Storylines"

This season, Beast Games cast a lot of contestants who could spark amazing stories.

Example: several Beast Games contestants were previously on shows like Survivor.

One of those contestants, Sue Smey, made it to the Beast Games X Survivor episode which led to a heartfelt, full-circle moment on screen.

Had Sue not made it, that storyline would’ve never happened.

3. They Swapped Co-Hosts For Global Audiences

Some shows add subtitles. Others do dubs. But almost nobody swaps their co-hosts to appeal to different countries.

Except for Beast Games.

For Episode 1 and 9, viewers will see slightly different versions if they’re located in India, Spain, and France.

4. They Went Even Bigger on YouTube

On the day of Beast Games launch, MrBeast posted a video with Kevin Hart, Paris Hilton, and 30 other celebrities fighting for $1,000,000.

Many of the games in that video were the same as Beast Games Season 2.

We actually filmed behind the scenes of that too to show the details that went into making that YouTube video drive a ton of traffic to Prime.

All in all, there’s a reason they hit #1 in the US on Prime Video.

But honestly, it’s hard to put into words all the things we saw. That’s where our docuseries goes even deeper. Stay tuned.

Is Veritasium Leaving His Channel with 20M Subscribers?

For years, Veritasium was just Derek Muller and his camera.

Now, it’s becoming something bigger.

In a recent video, Muller addressed what his 20 million subscribers have noticed: he’s appearing less on the channel. Some videos don’t feature him at all.

Not because he’s retiring but because Veritasium has quietly transformed from a one-person operation into a full-scale media business.

What Changed

In April 2023, Muller signed a funding deal with Electrify, a company built to help education creators scale sustainably.

Nearly three years later, the impact is clear:

Why Is Muller Stepping Back?

Running a 30-person operation meant more meetings, more management, more stress…and less time with his family.

Muller is appearing less on screen by choice. And he can do so because Veritasium finally works without him doing everything himself.

Our Take

For years, most creator brands were defined by the key-man problem: if the host stopped showing up, the business stopped working.

But with the right investor backing, creator-led brands can operate like traditional startups and scale beyond a single personality.

🎯 Weekly Roundup: Thumbnails

Why we love these YT thumbnails:

1. Symmetry + mid-air spreads make a mundane breakfast feel oddly dramatic (Binging With Babish)
2. Top-down angle + “I became a YouTuber” frames the moment as a powerful origin story (Tim Runia)
3. Before/after landscape with “no trees planted” flips expectations and sparks disbelief (Planet Wild)
4. “LIES” scribbled over OpenAI instantly turns the brand from authority into controversy (More Perfect Union)

🚀 Weekly Outlier

This video by Greenbelly has 827K views, which is 12.7 times higher than the channel’s average. Here’s why it took off:

Science Meets Adventure: Extreme thru-hiking framed as a real biological experiment, not just a lifestyle story.
Counterintuitive Insight: Reveals surprising tradeoffs, like heart health improves while bones quietly suffer.
Credible, Balanced Take: Real data, real hikers, and clear limits of the science build trust.

🏆 The Created Referral Program

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Refer 5 friends: you’ll get my Top 50 Thumbnails book. It includes a detailed breakdown of why they work so you improve your packaging.

Trust me, these books are packed with more tips than most paid courses.

Copy this unique link and email, text, or post it: [RH_REFLINK GOES HERE]

👋 See You Inside

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– Jon

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