James Donaldson, aka MrBeast, speaks during the 2026 TIME100 Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 22, in New York City.Jemal Countess/Getty Images
A production company tied to YouTube superstar MrBeast has filed a $5-million claim against a Toronto media company for allegedly breaching an agreement involving the Amazon Prime Video show Beast Games, according to court documents – prompting a countersuit from the Canadian business for double that amount.
The game show, whose first season was filmed in Toronto, promises millions of dollars to its winner for besting hundreds of other contestants in physical and psychological challenges. It’s hosted by the YouTuber MrBeast, an American whose real name is James Donaldson. The second season of Beast Games was filmed in North Carolina and Las Vegas.
In a legal filing with Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice earlier this year, Donaldson’s production company, MRB2024 LLC, said that it advanced Toronto-based Media Headquarters Film and Television Inc. (MHQ) $5-million in May, 2024, to scout and secure filming locations around the city, plus hire staff and an immigration lawyer for contestants.
The filing says that Donaldson’s company soon decided to film in Atlanta instead and would no longer need MHQ’s services, only to opt to return to the Greater Toronto Area days later. When MRB2024 then tried to re-engage MHQ, the filing says, the Toronto company “refused” to work on the show again.
“MrBeast immediately engaged a different Canadian production partner to work on Beast Games, which started from scratch on the production,” MRB2024’s claim says. The show began airing on Amazon Prime Video in December, 2024.
MRB2024 claims that MHQ has “unjustly enriched” itself by refusing to return the $5-million. But in a counterclaim filed last month, MHQ said it instead deserves to keep its $5-million payment and receive an extra $10-million in “damages for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligence, or negligent misrepresentation.”
The counterclaim says MRB2024, LLC is “a production company owned, in whole or in part, by James Stephen Donaldson.”
MHQ’s lawyers wrote in the counterclaim that the company turned down other opportunities from April to May, 2024, and gave Beast Games its “full attention,” even without an initial written contract. When production was cancelled, the counterclaim continues, MHQ had to fire crew members “en masse,” which “had a devastating impact on MHQ’s reputation as a reliable and trustworthy producer.”
“Several important creative partners in the industry have already indicated that they will not work with MHQ going forward as a result of the unexpected cancellation of the production,” the counterclaim continues.
The counterclaim denies that the money MHQ received was an advance, and argues that MHQ created “the blueprint that enabled the show to be executed successfully” without fair credit. “MHQ carried out its responsibilities honestly and in good faith at all times,” the filing says.
In a legal response to the counterclaim filed last week, MRB2024 denied all of MHQ’s allegations.
This is not the first claim filed against Donaldson’s companies. Outlets including Variety have reported on a 2024 class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of five first-season contestants who say they faced sexual harassment and “chronic mistreatment” when competing in qualifying rounds set in Las Vegas before the first episode of Beast Games.
In addition, Lorrayne Mavromatis, an ex-social media manager and executive for Donaldson’s company Beast Productions, is suing the company for allegedly firing her after she took maternity leave and complained about sexist comments made toward herself and other women, as well as supervisors who condoned sexual harassment, according to an AP News report. The company has denied these claims.
MHQ CEO Robert Cohen declined to comment. Donaldson did not respond to a request for comment.