GWR speaks to Jon Youshaei, producer of BTS series about record-breaking show Beast Games

Back in May 2024, Jon Youshaei sat across a table from YouTube sensation Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson (USA), and interviewed the GWR ICON about all his secrets to social media success. 

With Jon’s experience as a marketing specialist for Instagram and YouTube, their conversation was intriguing and insightful – and the subsequent videos quickly gathered over six million views by fans who liked the duo's dynamic. 

Yet little did anyone expect, that just over a year later, Jon would be working alongside the content creator himself – as a producer for MrBeast’s record-breaking competitive reality TV show Beast Games. 

He filmed a couple of behind-the-scenes episodes from season one, before being handed the reins of season two’s official docuseries The Making of Beast Games, which Jon described as “a life-changing experience.”

In an interview with GWR, the talented producer spoke to us all about the intricacies of shooting such a large-scale production: from filming through thunderstorms, to deploying dozens of employees to fulfill last-minute requests from contestants. Yet despite all the drama, Jon provided a capable hand, saying on social media that he’s never worked harder – nor has he ever been prouder – of a project in his life. 

“We couldn’t have done it without Jimmy and the Beast team giving us so much access and believing in us,” said Jon to GWR. “It starts with them.”

“The trust they put in our behind-the-scenes team was incredible and we’re grateful that they brought us into the moments big and small, which is very rare on such a massive multi-million dollar production.” 

He also added: “I truly believe they’re setting a new precedent for how to showcase a streaming show or movie, because with the rise of AI, people are more curious than ever to understand how great content gets made – especially if it’s a massive production like Beast Games. 

“So it was incredible to document and be a part of.”

For season two, the entire Beast Games crew – including MrBeast himself – were determined to up-the-ante, even though they already had 44 records under their belt from the spectacles in season one. 

So they called in the brightest minds and largest bodies from around the world, to make up a gigantic battle between Smart vs Strong for a $5 million (£3.75 million) prize – the largest prize fund awarded for a competitive reality TV show in history.

“The Beast team is world-class so we wanted to match their attention-to-detail, energy, and creativity. That meant leveling up every single detail of our production to be world-class, too,” said Jon. 

“For example, we had more camera operators to cover all the action with Jimmy, contestants, and crew from the massive sets to inside the control room. 

“On top of that, we had to be ready to film the unpredictable: thunderstorms, drama, and more as it unfolded. 

“Then in post, we hired top unscripted editors to make our docuseries really feel elevated with hopes of being considered for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary.”

And for Jon, one of his biggest challenges was capturing the full story for his docuseries – before and after the cameras were rolling, and not just during.

“The trickiest part was capturing how last-minute thunderstorms ravaged the sets of Episode One and Three –  and how the crew miraculously came back to pull off their shoots while keeping everyone safe,” he recalled. 

“You’ll never see that in a call sheet. You can rarely plan for that. We just stayed ready and put our crew in the right positions to capture the action – and reactions – as it unfolded.”

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Yet Jon’s advice for managing these challenges is surprisingly simple and straightforward: prepare, prepare, prepare.

“For every episode, we had a goal to spotlight different members of the crew to show just how the Beast team pulled off this historic show,” he said.

“For example, how did the story producers track 200 different contestants' storylines? How do the drone pilots capture massive cannonball explosions? How did Jimmy and the team bring their YouTube mindset to streaming? 

“Preparing ahead on those questions made our process much smoother when editing because we had clearer storylines beyond the main action of the show.”

And even though he doesn’t want to give away any spoilers, Jon is confident that season two will definitely satisfy viewers’ desire for more. 

He particularly teased Episode 5, which features the return of Beast Games’ famous Cubes, where contestants can order literally anything in the world by picking up a red phone.

“Capturing the behind-the-scenes of that was fascinating,” said Jon. “The Beast team had private jets on standby and couriers at local stories open around the clock. They brought in gourmet food, white glove services, and even one million cash. 

“So seeing how their team organized the crazy requests – and then fulfilled them in real time – was incredible to document in our behind-the-scenes series.”

And beyond the Cubes, Beast Games season two promises even more nail-biting thrills and epic spectacles – as well as some pretty special guest stars.

So if you want to check out the show, season two is streaming now exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, with episodes dropping weekly until the season finale on 25 February.