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Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
MrBeast's wildest videos amid ‘real-life Hunger Games' idea
MrBeast has floated the idea of doing a 'real life' version of Hunger Games - without the killing, of course. The YouTube megastar is known for his extremely wild stunts in his videos. He shot to mainstream success after he released his $426,000 Squid Game in Real Life back in November 2021. Costing a reported $3m to make, the video has passed 800 million views on YouTube as of August 2025. But MrBeast might not yet be done with remakes of dystopian death games. In an appearance on The Today Show over in the US, he was asked about his idea for a real life version of the Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence starred in the movie adaptations in the 2010s, while another prequel film is due to arrive in 2026: Sunrise on the Reaping. The books and films feature teenagers forced to compete in brutal death matches, for the entertainment of the rich in the capitol. MrBeast told Today Show his version would 'not use real weapons' and involve dropping 26 people on an island, with the last one standing winning $1m. He pitched using 'laser tag' instead of actually killing the contestants, like in the original novels. It comes after his own reality show Beast Games came to an end earlier this year and crowned its first winner. Find out more about that here. Now he is talking about doing his own version of Hunger Games, I thought I would take a look at some of MrBeast's wildest and most extreme video ideas so far. Are your kids fans of MrBeast and his YouTube channel? Let me know what you think of his videos by email: . If you love TV, check out our Screen Babble podcast to get the latest in TV and film. 1 . $456,000 Squid Game in Real Life Even if you hadn't heard of MrBeast before 2021, you definitely heard about his remake of Squid Game at the time. He got real people to compete in a non-lethal version of the Netflix hit. It featured games like Red Light, Green Light, Dalgona and musical chairs. |for Netflix Photo:for Netflix Photo Sales 2 . I Built Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory MrBeast, who now is a chocolate-maker of his own with his Feastibles brand, has in the past recreated Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in real-life. 10 players had the chance to walk away with the factory at the end of the video, as was the prize in the original book/ film. |for Netflix Photo:for Netflix Photo Sales 3 . I Paid A Real Assassin To Try To Kill Me For $100,000 Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be hunted by a real-life assassin? Well, MrBeast has had that experience. A 'real assassin' had a day to try and stab the YouTube star with a rubber knife to win $100,000. |Photo:Photo Sales 4 . Survive 100 Days Trapped In A Private Jet, Keep It One of the more recent efforts from MrBeast, this video came out in mid-July. He tasked a pilot with staying in a luxurious private jet for 100 days, with the carrot that if he accomplished it, he would get to keep the jet. Not sure I would be able to manage that. | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Photo Sales Related topics: BoostYouTubeCelebrities
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
MrBeast's wildest videos amid ‘real-life Hunger Games' idea
MrBeast has floated the idea of doing a 'real life' version of Hunger Games - without the killing, of course. The YouTube megastar is known for his extremely wild stunts in his videos. He shot to mainstream success after he released his $426,000 Squid Game in Real Life back in November 2021. Costing a reported $3m to make, the video has passed 800 million views on YouTube as of August 2025. But MrBeast might not yet be done with remakes of dystopian death games. In an appearance on The Today Show over in the US, he was asked about his idea for a real life version of the Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence starred in the movie adaptations in the 2010s, while another prequel film is due to arrive in 2026: Sunrise on the Reaping. The books and films feature teenagers forced to compete in brutal death matches, for the entertainment of the rich in the capitol. MrBeast told Today Show his version would 'not use real weapons' and involve dropping 26 people on an island, with the last one standing winning $1m. He pitched using 'laser tag' instead of actually killing the contestants, like in the original novels. It comes after his own reality show Beast Games came to an end earlier this year and crowned its first winner. Find out more about that here. Now he is talking about doing his own version of Hunger Games, I thought I would take a look at some of MrBeast's wildest and most extreme video ideas so far. Are your kids fans of MrBeast and his YouTube channel? Let me know what you think of his videos by email: . If you love TV, check out our Screen Babble podcast to get the latest in TV and film. 1 . $456,000 Squid Game in Real Life Even if you hadn't heard of MrBeast before 2021, you definitely heard about his remake of Squid Game at the time. He got real people to compete in a non-lethal version of the Netflix hit. It featured games like Red Light, Green Light, Dalgona and musical chairs. |for Netflix Photo:for Netflix Photo Sales 2 . I Built Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory MrBeast, who now is a chocolate-maker of his own with his Feastibles brand, has in the past recreated Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in real-life. 10 players had the chance to walk away with the factory at the end of the video, as was the prize in the original book/ film. |for Netflix Photo:for Netflix Photo Sales 3 . I Paid A Real Assassin To Try To Kill Me For $100,000 Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be hunted by a real-life assassin? Well, MrBeast has had that experience. A 'real assassin' had a day to try and stab the YouTube star with a rubber knife to win $100,000. |Photo:Photo Sales 4 . Survive 100 Days Trapped In A Private Jet, Keep It One of the more recent efforts from MrBeast, this video came out in mid-July. He tasked a pilot with staying in a luxurious private jet for 100 days, with the carrot that if he accomplished it, he would get to keep the jet. Not sure I would be able to manage that. | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Photo Sales Related topics: BoostYouTubeCelebrities
Time Out
5 days ago
- Business
- Time Out
Why 26,000 whiskey fans are desperate to join this Colorado distillery's bottling day
Every month, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey invites its fans to join in the labor-intensive but one-of-a-kind and honestly, pretty fun process of bottling this award-winning whiskey by hand. You'll work side-by-side with its professional distillers in the final step to bring the beloved whiskey to life. And, as a reward, you even get your own bottle of Stranahan's Original, a couple of taster glasses, and a well-earned lunch to enjoy after a day of hard work. But it's no easy feat to become one of the 'chosen few.' To ensure fairness, names are randomly selected from the list, and emails are sent to the lucky few who have been chosen to bottle. In fact, you'll be up against 26,000 other people on this list that's always growing in a lottery to get the chance to join this coveted experience. To some, it truly feels like winning the lottery if they're picked (or even better). I had the chance to go behind-the-scenes on a recent bottling day and get the scoop on this process and the ins and outs of this coveted experience and its home business. This is what a kid in a candy store must feel like As soon as we arrived at the warehouse headquarters where Stranahan's distills and bottles their liquor, and all the magic happens, my husband (and bottling line partner for the day) exclaimed, 'This feels like I'm in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!' Admittedly, it was not nearly as child-friendly as Charlie's golden ticket winnings, boasting bottles of whiskey and barrels lining the walls around us, but perhaps even better for a spirits fan. We meet up as a group in the room where tastings and events such as their 'cheese and whiskey pairings' are typically hosted and we sign our waivers of liability. There is just as much of an air of excitement in the space since everyone in the space is grateful to be here. We chat with the other whiskey lovers and lucky lottery winners around us, and it feels like an organized sort of casual and enthusiastic chaos. It's as if we're on the precipice of competing as a team on a reality TV show. And, while we're here, they are filming for the TV show American Made, which adds more of an electric atmosphere among the workers and us volunteers. The list of bottling lottery volunteers has existed and has been growing for 13 years. Rachel, one of the employees who checks us into the facility, says she's been on the list for six years herself and has never been picked. Some people raise their hands and say they've been on the list for more than 10 and this is their first opportunity to join the experience. Some people (to others, chuckles or glaring stares, say this is not their first time on the line). The list of bottling lottery volunteers has existed and has been growing for 13 years. I ask the team how often this volunteer bottling process happens, and I am told it's typically two days a month for two shifts a day. But it's also on an 'as needed' basis, depending on when the whiskey is ready to bottle—so it's not even a consistent thing folks can count on to try to win every certain amount of time.& The Stranahan's team, who call itself a Strana 'fam,' is made up of less than 50 people, total. And from the volunteer side, I've learned that we're typically made up of mostly locals, but some folks have flown in from as far as New York and Kansas to join the team for the day. Our bottling happens from noon to 4pm on a Thursday, so it makes sense that not everyone can make it if they don't have time off work, or can't make the trip on a month to a few weeks' notice. But I'm told that people do drive hours to join the team for just those four hours—and I feel lucky I live less than 20 minutes from the Stranahan's warehouse and headquarters. Whiskey business We start the experience with a tour by team members Johnny and Wally, where we learn the history of Stranahan's. It's one of the first two distilleries to start making single malt whiskey and one of the most decorated single malt makers in the world—and its accolades. I learn that all the water used to make the whiskey is from Colorado, which is actually rated No. 1 nationally, but 'water sommeliers' (I guess that's a thing?), so even before it becomes whiskey, it's a high-quality liquid, apparently. And speaking of quality, I asked how many bottles volunteers typically make in a shift, and it's measured by pallets—two of which we filled throughout the course of our shift. That means we're making roughly 1,200 bottles per four-hour shift. But we're told quality over quantity is always valued first, because these bottles really do go to market. Then, we're taken into the bottling facility, where I'm told whatever we'll be bottling that day is between 5 to 9 years old. This detail strikes me because the liquor we're bottling is potentially equal in age to an American fourth grader. We're told that a 'good chunk' of the bottles on the market you'll find in a liquor store are made by volunteers, just like us. We're given insight into each element of the bottling and labeling process which includes everything from taking the naked bottles out of their boxes, cleaning them off, filling them with whiskey (no doubt the most 'Instagrammable' part of the line), corking, labeling, decorating, double checking, and packaging them back into the boxes they came in as empty glass—this time ready to be shipped off to somewhere potentially nationwide. And it's then that our four-hour shift begins. Upbeat music plays from the boombox in this big warehouse room and rotates positions every 20 minutes or so. Wally comes in donning half shots of 'OG whiskey' every once in a while for those who want to imbibe and keep the 'spirits' up, so to speak. Some of the folks on the line with us are taking their jobs very seriously. These volunteers pay meticulous attention to detail, and no speck of dust or drop of liquid is spared on their watch in their position. Some of us—or rather, the majority of us—are just here for fun and enthralled with the concept of this rare experience that we beat out literally 26,000 other folks for the opportunity to have. It takes about 45 minutes and perhaps a shot of whiskey (or two) to get into a solid rhythm, but soon there's an air of camaraderie and a sort of smoothness to our line. We get into a good flow, putting out, I figure out I'm very good at some of the jobs (emptying boxes and filling bottles) and not so great at others (labeling and taping). It's an interesting test of patience, fortitude and teamwork. And seemingly as soon as the experience begins, it ends, with all the bottles we need to make for the day filled and the boxes on the pallets getting ready to be shipped off to their final destination. We end the day with a cheer and exit the bottling room into the adjacent distillery area, where giant boxes of pizza greet us as a thank you for our service. We're each given a bottle of label-less 'OG' and told that, since we're labeling experts now, we can label it ourselves with anything we want on the bottle to commemorate our time with the team. It's better than any sort of monetary compensation, from my perspective. The experience brings together lovers of spirits and expert whiskey makers in a jovial environment that rings as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Some of us even exchange phone numbers to keep in touch. And as I'm leaving the facility, I can't help but wonder if I'll see a bottle we helped make ourselves, at some point, somewhere, on a shelf. It's a cool closing thought.
The Irish Sun
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Wonka child star, now 66, looks unrecognizable while seen on rare outing after vanishing from public life
The actor previously appeared on an episode of Jeopardy! but didn't mention his film appearance factory reset Wonka child star, now 66, looks unrecognizable while seen on rare outing after vanishing from public life A CHILD star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory looked unrecognizable on a rare outing after vanishing from public life. The 1971 movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is now something of a classic. Advertisement 8 Paris Themmen became the envy of children everywhere with his time in the chocolate factory Credit: Coleman-Rayner 8 The star now lives his life away from the limelight Credit: Coleman-Rayner 8 Paris Themmen played Mike Teevee in the 1971 movie Credit: Alamy While it spawned a remake in 2005 starring Johnnie Depp and a prequel film in 2023 with Timothee Chalamet as Wonka, the original still holds a special place in many hearts. It saw Gene Wilder play the eccentric Willy Wonka, while Peter Ostrum played Charlie Bucket. He was joined by a cast of fellow child actors to play the other competition winners Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop, Mike Teevee and Violet Beauregarde. While many remained in the spotlight after the film's success, others disappeared, including Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee. Advertisement However, the former child star was pictured on a rare outing this week, dressed casually in jeans, a faded red T-shirt and trainers. Paris decided to step away from the limelight when he was a teen, saying he just wanted 'to be a kid'. While he did return to the industry sporadically as an adult for commercials and occasionally TV appearances, he also set up a travel service arranging charter flights to Europe for backpackers called Access International. He even appeared on an episode of Jeopardy! in 2018, but failed to mention his starring role in the cult film. Advertisement However, Paris also attends conventions to sign autographs for fans of the movie. He previously said: "The film was also not hugely popular at the time. It grew in popularity around the '80s. Where original Willy Wonka film child stars are now – from actor's TWO roles on Emmerdale to tragic early death "They were showing it once a year on TV and it started to get cult status. "So, now we can look back and go, 'Wow, I was working with all these great people. Look at how much talent is all in that one place.' Advertisement "But at the time, we didn't have that perspective. It's only in hindsight that we really can recognize that in many ways we were really lucky to be in this wonderful film.' 8 Paris got the chance to work with Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka Credit: Alamy 8 The unrecognizable star was seen putting out the bins near his home Credit: Coleman-Rayner 8 Paris does attend conventions to sign autographs, after stepping away from the limelight as a teen Credit: Getty Advertisement 8 Paris later spoke with someone on the phone as he went for a stroll Credit: Coleman-Rayner
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Willy Wonka' child star reveals how much he still earns from the iconic movie
The residuals from this film did not produce the golden ticket. Fifty-four years after 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' hit theaters in 1971, Peter Ostrum revealed how much he makes from the movie today. Ostrum, 67, who played Charlie Bucket, the lucky winner of the golden ticket, shared in 2018 while at the Snowtown Film Festival that he received $8 to $9 in royalties every three months. The money comes from the film being shown on television. Regardless of the monetary amount, Ostrum felt lucky to have had the experience. 'Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction,' he told the 'Today' show in 2015. 'Willy Wonka' was based on Roald Dahl's 1964 book, and followed five kids who won a golden ticket to tour a magical factory belonging to Wonka (Gene Wilder). The project's initial release made $4 million at the box office. After the movie, Ostrum stepped away from Hollywood, but still looks back at his time as a child star fondly. 'There was a little bit of fanfare but not much, and the film died a quiet death,' Ostrum said during a 2018 interview with the Daily Mirror. 'Back then, when the film came out, there was no red-carpet premiere. I was in my hometown in Ohio. It had lukewarm reviews and people forgot about it.' 'It wasn't until video 10 years later that it resurfaced and it took on a life of its own,' he added. 'We had no idea at the time that it would have any kind of success at all, so it's pretty neat that it is still so loved.' Ostrum originally nabbed the role of Charlie after being spotted by talent agents at a children's theater show in Cleveland, Ohio. He had 10 days to leave his hometown and move to Munich, Germany, to shoot the movie with Wilder for five months. Ostrum reflected on his time with the legendary actor, who died at age 83 in 2016. The retired veterinarian said Wilder 'treated people with respect and dignity' and took on a fatherly role. The 'Blazing Saddles' alum even coached Ostrum in acting. The former actor said Wilder's death was 'like losing a parent,' even though the two hadn't kept in touch. Once filming wrapped, Ostrum spent a week in California after being offered a three-movie deal. He ultimately decided to turn it down. Ostrum's parents had bought him a horse to celebrate the release of 'Willy Wonka,' and he realized his passion lay with animals. 'This person really enjoyed what he did for a living,' he told the American Veterinary Medical Association in an interview. 'My father was a lawyer, and I really didn't have a clue what he did all day. But I knew exactly what the veterinarian did. Someone making a living from something he enjoyed so much really sparked my interest.' 'I thought, if that doesn't work, then maybe I could do something else,' Ostrum added. 'But I would always have in the back of my mind, 'you should've tried to get into veterinary school.' If I didn't pursue that, I'd always kick myself.' After the original film, Johnny Depp took on the role of Willy Wonka for the 2005 movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' and Timothée Chalamet revived the eccentric candy man in 2023's 'Wonka.' 'You can't kill Wonka,' Ostrum mused during a virtual reunion with Yahoo in 2021. 'It just gets played over and over again, whether the original or the remake with Johnny Depp. And that brought attention back to our film. Kids saw Johnny Depp's version, their parents said, 'You need to see the original.'' 'Anything that talks about Wonka is good for the Wonka story,' he noted. 'It's a great story and it needs to be retold, regardless of who's producing it or who's making it.' Solve the daily Crossword
