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Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show

April 02, 2025 / 53:39

This episode features Jeff Allen, winner of Beast Games, discussing his $10 million prize, tax implications, and the impact of his son's rare disease.

Jeff shares his experience of winning the largest prize in TV history and how he plans to use the money to fund research for his son Lucas's creatine transporter deficiency. He explains the tax situation, revealing he could pay over 50% if not for charitable contributions.

He recounts memorable moments from the final episode, including a pivotal coin flip that doubled the prize money and his spontaneous leap into a pile of cash. Jeff reflects on how winning has changed his life, from public recognition to family vacations.

Jeff also discusses the emotional challenges he faced during the competition, including the psychological intensity of the games and the friendships formed. He emphasizes the importance of helping others and raising awareness for rare diseases.

Listeners can follow Jeff's journey on social media as he continues to advocate for his son's condition and inspire others.

TLDR

Jeff Allen discusses winning $10 million on Beast Games and its impact on his son's rare disease advocacy.

Episode

53:39
00:00:06
Jeff Ellen, number 831, winner of Beast Games. Welcome to my podcast. Hey, super
00:00:11
excited to be here. Thanks for having me, mate. I'm I'm so excited to have you
00:00:15
on. I've been um just fixated with Beast Games. Um so you won $10 million, uh
00:00:21
which is the biggest prize in TV history. Um by by the way, the exchange rate is so bad at the moment. If you
00:00:27
moved to New Zealand, you'd have 17 million. Really? Oh my gosh. I need to uh maybe need to take a look at it.
00:00:33
Yeah. What's um I I've heard you in a couple of other interviews and and uh
00:00:37
the the main question that um American podcasters want to know is um about the tax situation. How much how much do you
00:00:43
lose with tax? Is it a real issue? Yes. I mean, I don't know how it is in New
00:00:47
Zealand, but uh in the States, you know, if you contribute to charity um and there's other kind of tax exempt or tax
00:00:53
deductible investments you can make. Um, but if I didn't do anything, I would pay
00:00:57
over 50% in tax. Wow. I mean, it's still not bad. No, no. I mean, I'm I'm not complaining. The
00:01:07
good news is, uh, you know, obviously the the purpose for me joining Beast Games was to try to help kind of fund
00:01:12
and find a cure for my son's rare disease. So, uh, a good chunk is going to go to kind of funding research
00:01:18
through charitable uh, form. So, um, my taxes will not be 50%, but I don't know
00:01:23
what they'll be until early next year. Yeah. So, um, since since the final I
00:01:28
suppose you had to keep it all quiet until the final episode went to air since you won, uh, what are the what are
00:01:33
the top three questions you get from people? The the one you just asked is how much are you going to pay in taxes?
00:01:39
Um, is there a big like have you made a big purchase and um, you know, how has your life changed? Yeah. How has your
00:01:46
life changed? Um, you know, in many ways, none at all, but a lot of ways, you know, tremendous. I mean, here I am
00:01:53
talking to you. I mean, like, I wouldn't have been talking to you six months ago.
00:01:56
Um, but like, you know, just even walking down the street now, I'll have people stop me uh if I'm taking my son
00:02:02
on a walk to just ask for a picture, say congratulations, which is, you know, super cool. Um, but, you know, I'm still
00:02:09
kind of driving the same minivan that I drove a year ago. Um, so like some things change and um some things are
00:02:16
staying the same. Have there been any special purchases? I bought my wife something nice for her
00:02:24
for her birthday. And then I took my kids um on a beach vacation over the holidays. We've even though we live in
00:02:31
California, we'd never been on like a true beach vacation. So we went to Hawaii and um had a blast. Wow. Okay,
00:02:37
let's um yeah, talk about the final episode. By the way, I want to do the podcast in a way where um it's still
00:02:44
going to make sense and be a fun listen for anyone that um hasn't watched Beast
00:02:47
Games. So, I'll try and keep them kind of broad, but um there's a moment in the
00:02:51
in the final episode where uh there's a coin flip and that's when it goes from
00:02:55
$5 million to $10 million. Talk us through that moment. It's crazy. So, um the the whole nine um
00:03:05
episodes before the before the final episode that Jimmy talks about, Mr. talks about $5 million. $5 million. $5
00:03:11
million is the grand prize. And then he goes, "Until now." And he wheels out
00:03:16
another stack of $5 million. By the way, this is real US dollars, not fake like movie money. And in my mind, I'm like,
00:03:23
there's no I'm not going to flip it. I'm not that's just it's too risky for me.
00:03:27
But my buddy Gage, number 974, kind of had this twinkle in his eye and I'm like, wait, does he does he want to do
00:03:33
this? And you know, he eventually touched the coin and said, "I'm going to
00:03:37
flip this." And for those who haven't seen it, if he flips it, the the prize
00:03:42
goes from 5 to 10 million for everybody. And if he if he calls it wrong, he gets
00:03:48
eliminated. So huge risk for him. And he did it. And he called it Tales. And it was Tails. And uh it changed everything.
00:03:56
And and um yeah, you can you can see it's not a contrived moment. Like Mr. Beast looks I don't know, he looks kind
00:04:02
of deflated. Oh, he was I mean because like the the thing the the the way the economics work
00:04:08
and m and Mr. Beast has been kind of transparent about this is Amazon paid Mr. Beast a sum of money to do the show.
00:04:15
Anything he spends on top of that is his money or the company's money and you
00:04:19
know it's his company. So that $5 million technically was his money or the company's money that he wasn't expecting
00:04:26
to spend. Yeah. I suspect from a a content perspective, he would have loved to um announce all through the series
00:04:32
that he was giving away $10 million. You know, it doubles the appeal really. Well, yeah. I mean, especially in
00:04:38
today's world when you think about titles and how important titles and thumbnails are. The fact that he could
00:04:43
not share that in any of his titles until after the episode aired is like heartbreaking for him. Yeah. So, when
00:04:49
you got down to the um the the final three contestants, um you had the chance to walk away with a million bucks at
00:04:55
that point. Why? Why didn't you walk? When did you think? Um I Yeah. No, that's a good good question. You know,
00:05:01
you could easily self-eliminate, take a million dollars, no harm, no foul. Uh however, for me, the way I played the
00:05:07
game, I thought I made great inroads with people. So, it was um whoever had kind of the the the least amount of
00:05:14
votes uh or least support from the top 50 was the one whose kind of name was on the chopping block. And I felt there was
00:05:21
no way I was in the the the bottom three or the the bottom third. So, I thought I
00:05:25
was either number one or number two. So, I said, "You know what? I'm not going to
00:05:28
go for it. I feel good." High risk, but it paid off. Super high risk. Yeah. You You never know. I was
00:05:36
But I was really I was remarkably confident that whole final episode. I don't know what was into me, but uh I
00:05:42
felt really really good and I'm glad glad I didn't uh take Jimmy's bait.
00:05:46
Yeah. Although um yeah, had you not won the the the $10 million um it'd be a
00:05:50
different conversation we're having now potentially. 100%. I would probably be
00:05:54
thinking about it every night. Why didn't I press the button? Why didn't I
00:05:57
press the button? And um the moment you won, uh this is really memorable. You did this um this big leap into the giant
00:06:03
mountain of money. Um how planned was that? At what point did you plan to do that or was that just spontaneous? I I
00:06:09
mean if it was I mean in in my mind I kind of blacked out. I kind of like don't remember what happened. Um so I
00:06:17
just I sprinted. I took off and like people were like watching the video that you see Mac and Carl Chandler trying to
00:06:24
hug me. I just run right past them up the up the pyramid and then I start falling. So I just go, "Okay, I need to
00:06:30
be safe." So I slid down. So like to answer your question, it was not planned
00:06:33
at all. Um I just knew I kind of had all this energy. I need to express it. It was such a good reaction. Just um Yeah.
00:06:42
So authentic. Yeah, it was um you know I I opened it up and then I did like I'm a huge Elvis
00:06:48
fan and I did this like Elvis move I didn't even realize I did until I watched the episode. So it was like it
00:06:54
was it was surreal. And what about um souvenirs or memorabilia from the the set? I'm guessing you've still got your
00:07:00
your number 831 top. Um did you Of course. Yeah. No, I I got a couple tops. I um I got this right here. I
00:07:09
don't know if um so this is the number six. Wow. The number six key. Um I got
00:07:15
my ticket to the um to the to the helicopter. So yeah, I mean anytime I could grab something, I would, but
00:07:22
they're they're usually pretty good at not letting you do that. So I was
00:07:24
fortunate to to take a few things. Yeah. And um Lucas is your why. He's your he's
00:07:29
your son. Um he was born what was the condition he was born? Born with it was like a creatine deficiency thing. Yeah.
00:07:35
It's called creatine transporter deficiency. Um have you ever heard of it? No, not until I saw you on Beast
00:07:41
Games. Yeah. And and and you're I mean obviously you're an endurance runner.
00:07:44
You've probably heard of creatine. You probably have taken creatine. Um our bodies make creatine naturally and so
00:07:50
does his, but it it gets into the blood and it travels to your organs and the organ that needs creatine the most is
00:07:55
your brain. There's a transporter that takes it from the blood to the brain and
00:07:59
his is defective. So his brain doesn't get the energy it needs to develop, create synapses, function, and
00:08:06
ultimately thrive. So, he's um he's kind of ultimately powering on low power mode
00:08:10
and has never kind of allowed his brain to fully develop. How old is he now? He's seven.
00:08:18
Yeah. Can Can you remember the moment where um you and your wife got told um that your your child had special needs?
00:08:25
Yeah, it was um you know, we knew around 8 months that something was off, something wasn't wasn't right. Uh so we
00:08:32
did about 20 to 24 months of kind of extensive testing. We hooked them up to every machine. Um we did every lab test
00:08:39
and when we found out we just we we are like okay at least we know and let's
00:08:43
Google it and then we Google it and there's no treatment. There's no cure.
00:08:46
Um but you you quickly kind of surrender to what is and then you know you shift from God I'm trying to fix my son to how
00:08:55
do I connect with him and he's he is a happy boy. He is like the the sweetest
00:08:59
boy around. He has taught me more about life than anyone. And so like there there's nothing to be sorry about, but I
00:09:05
certainly want to be able to help him um heal and other kids like him and other families like ours heal. So kind of my
00:09:11
quest right now is to can can we fund and find a treatment to help kiddos like Lucas? Yeah. Um has it changed you as a
00:09:20
person, do you think? Oh yeah. Um yeah, my um my oldest son, Jack, kind of gave me the gift of sobriety. Um I didn't
00:09:29
really know what it was like to be a dad till he was six months old. And um I I put down the drink and I kind of go,
00:09:34
"Wow, okay, this is great." Um and then my his little brother when he was
00:09:40
diagnosed gave me the kind of the gift of faith again and I was, you know, so like for for me he has allowed me to
00:09:46
really explore kind of the beauty in the bumps like seeing challenges in your life and trying to find the good in it.
00:09:52
And um he's given me more than any teacher, mentor, coach has ever um so like I'm just trying to pay him back.
00:10:01
Yes. So, so what can you do with the the money? Obviously, it's going to give um
00:10:04
yourself and your family and Lucas um a better quality of life. Um but in terms of um finding a cure for the disease,
00:10:11
like you know, can the money help? Can it do anything? Yeah. No, I mean, yeah. I mean, it's uh you have you have a
00:10:17
mixed reviews. Some people are like, "Oh my gosh, you have $10 million. Where's
00:10:20
the cure? Like, did you already find it?" Well, it doesn't work that way. And
00:10:23
then there's other people going, "There's no way $10 million can help."
00:10:27
And I think the real answer is somewhere in between. is to to to kind of find a treatment for
00:10:33
a rare disease. It's going to cost4 to $50 million. And um that means, you know,
00:10:39
you got to fund the research to try to find a treatment. Then you have to make sure the the the treatment is safe,
00:10:44
non-toxic, and effective. And then you got to put it in the US through clinical trials. So, um the $10 million isn't
00:10:51
necessarily going to do it, but it's going to help bolster the efforts and kind of really jump charge it. So, it's
00:10:58
um and the good news is there's been a ton of researchers over the last 20 years who are investing time into this
00:11:04
and this just kind of gives them more resources to to do what they've been doing. Yeah. And and like money aside,
00:11:11
as I said, um until you came on Beast Games, I'd never heard of this and I'm
00:11:14
guessing a lot of people are in the same boat. So, um the torch that you've shown
00:11:17
on it is um I mean, you can't put a sum of money on that, can you? You can't.
00:11:21
No. And this is like I get goosebumps thinking about it. This was the goal. This is why I signed up for Beast Games
00:11:27
was I wanted to get on have a platform to talk about my son and his condition. Um, winning was the cherry on top.
00:11:34
Winning was secondary. And so for me, like every challenge, people like, "Why
00:11:38
didn't you take a bribe? Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you go for the
00:11:41
island?" Because I needed to get far enough to where I could talk about Lucas. So, um, yeah, the the there's
00:11:48
been countless families who've reached out and said, "Hey, I didn't know one
00:11:51
other family who had CTD besides us." I've had researchers reach out to offer
00:11:56
their time at, you know, really prestigious universities. So, I am um forever blessed from this experience
00:12:03
and, you know, I'm super excited to kind of hopefully report back to you in a
00:12:06
couple years the the impact we've made. Yeah. Brilliant. Um, in in day-to-day
00:12:09
terms, what does the disease mean? Like, is he is he communicative? Yeah. So, that that's probably the biggest
00:12:15
challenge is um him communicating his needs and and what he wants. He has he has some words that kind of mom and dad
00:12:22
can understand. Um and um but he's he's a smart kid. Like he he I think he knows more of
00:12:29
what's going on than we give him credit for. But yeah, he uh he needs assistance
00:12:33
with activities of daily living. So he will, you know, barring if there's no
00:12:38
treatment, he'll live with us for the rest of his life. Um so, but it's uh
00:12:43
he's he's a great little kid to be around. It's a lot for you and your wife, isn't
00:12:49
it? actually for any parent with um you know special needs needs kids. It's a
00:12:53
lot. Yeah. I mean it's it's certainly not something that you you get married
00:12:58
and say hey I want to have a kid with special needs rare disease. Um but you know sometimes you don't get what you
00:13:04
want. You kind of get what you need. And um you know I I what's helped me is I
00:13:09
believe that he kind of his his soul his perfect soul came into this world to teach me and mom some lessons. And it's
00:13:16
up to us to learn them and to love them. And um you know the good news is we're
00:13:20
doing that. So it's yeah it's it's it's not easy. It's different. But man I I
00:13:25
wouldn't trade it for the world. Was he able to watch TV and sort of you know
00:13:30
comprehend what was going on? Good good good question. Um we had it on. I mean he he could see me but he didn't really
00:13:36
understand that it's a competition that dad won it. Um but it's neat to kind of
00:13:42
see and obviously they showed him some some videos and pictures of him too. So, it's neat for him to see that on the
00:13:48
screen. Um, yeah, he didn't he didn't really fully understand what dad was
00:13:52
doing. Hey, thanks for sharing that stuff. I really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. You know, it's um you know, and
00:13:58
I hope if there's some families out there, especially in New Zealand, who um
00:14:01
who need some support, who think that their their child has creatine transport deficiency, like feel free, you can
00:14:06
reach out to me. I'm happy to help. Yeah. Oh, thanks for that. That's a very
00:14:09
generous offer. So, um tell us about Jeff Allen pre pre-beast games. Like, what were you doing? You were in between
00:14:15
jobs. You just lost your job and that's how you were able to do it. Yeah. I mean
00:14:19
it's Yeah. This is another reason of trying to find the beauty of the bumps.
00:14:22
I um I've been in healthcare and led sales teams my whole life and I was leading a a sales team for a startup and
00:14:30
I got laid off last April. And so in May I filled out the application for Beast Games. In June I found out I'm in it and
00:14:38
then July I get shipped off. So um interesting conversations to have with your wife. Hey, no longer do I have a
00:14:44
job and now I'm going to some Mr. Beast, you know, summer camp. And she always
00:14:49
kids around. She goes, "You and I are dealing with our midlife crisis very differently." But um I I got to have the
00:14:56
time of my life. Like Beast Games was so fun. Yeah. I was I was thinking midlife
00:15:00
crisis. She must have been like, "What is Jeff doing? He's just got to get this
00:15:03
out of his system." And uh Yeah. So did you know who Mr. Beast was? Yeah. My my
00:15:09
oldest son introduced me to him. My oldest son is a huge Mr. Beast fan. So, like I think it was like early last
00:15:14
year, the year before, he's like, "Hey, Dad, can we watch these videos together?" I'm like, "All right, you
00:15:18
know, I've heard of Mr. Beast. I saw him on Joe Rogan." Um, but once I started
00:15:23
watching, I'm like, "Oh, this guy's pretty cool." Like, it's obviously fun
00:15:25
for an 8-year-old to watch, but also fun for a 40ome year old. So, that's how I
00:15:30
got introduced. And when I saw the application, I'm like, "Oh, this is a
00:15:33
no-brainer. I can be cool dad for Jack and I can kind of have a platform for Lucas." What? There must have been like
00:15:40
tens of thousands of of um applicants. What made your entry stand out? You I I don't know. I mean, my when I
00:15:48
when I look at when I rewatch my my application video, it is very plain like my it's in my office. My office is a
00:15:56
mess. Um I kind of, you know, messed up some words, but I, you know, I do think it was authentic. It was me and Lucas
00:16:03
was in there, too. So, you know, the world got to see him. So, I think it was just more like, hey, this is a dad kind
00:16:08
of going who's willing to do whatever it takes to try to find a treatment for a
00:16:12
son. Um, and you know, the good news is it was enough for them to call me back. And you didn't um tell your wife you
00:16:20
were applying. You just sent it off without running it past her first. Um, did did that get you in trouble? No, it
00:16:26
didn't. I mean, no, it probably saved me. Um, you know, it was um, you know, I
00:16:32
I might have been a little vague like, "Oh, hey, there's something that, you
00:16:34
know, I'm looking at like, you know, like from a casting perspective, I was very, very vague cuz like if I tell her
00:16:39
that I'm going to do something that's that I'm going to be gone for weeks,
00:16:42
like she is like a logistical like conductor. So, she'll know, okay, so who's going to do this? Who's going to
00:16:48
pick up for this? Who's going to take the camp? Who's going to be um be able
00:16:53
to drive to this place?" So, like I didn't want her to do all those logistical juggling until I knew I was
00:16:59
in. So, like once I was in, I told her and she was like, "Well, you're already
00:17:02
in. Like, you can't not do it." And um she was awesome. She kind of looked at
00:17:06
me and said, "Hey, like this is cool to go talk about Lucas' platform, but if
00:17:10
you're going to be away for a handful of weeks, you better win this damn thing."
00:17:15
Yeah. Yeah. Like, imagine if you turn down that million dollars when you're in
00:17:18
the final three and you come home completely empty-handed with just a little number six keychain. I I would
00:17:23
have to make I would have to make sure she did not watch that episode. Like honestly, like I had to come home with
00:17:28
something or she would have killed me. Yeah. And what what was um the sort of due diligence they did like um that
00:17:34
there must have been background checks to make sure you're not some sort of psychopath. Yeah. No, yeah, it was uh
00:17:39
background checks. It was like social media checks. it was like kind of health and wellness, you know, obviously um you
00:17:46
need to make sure other contestants are safe and that you're like, you know,
00:17:48
physically and decent enough or emotional like a good enough emotional state. Um and then there was just kind
00:17:54
of some general questions. So like I'd imagine when you're casting a thousand
00:17:58
people, you wanted people from a kind of a wide variety of backgrounds and interest. They did a great job. You
00:18:05
know, it was I was really surprised by how many good people. I thought there was going to be a lot more kind of like
00:18:11
infighting or backstabbing, but there was a lot a lot of good folks. Did you have a strategy going into it or
00:18:18
what sort of like preparation or training did you do? Yeah, I I thought it was going to be super physical or
00:18:24
endurance. And I Yeah, I like that stuff. You know, I'm in decent enough shape endurance wise. Like I can fast
00:18:31
for days. I can um you know, I'm I'm willing to put my body through weird
00:18:36
things. I'm not not the best at it, but I'm willing to do it. So, like that's
00:18:40
what I was training for. Um, and then we kind of get in there in the first episode. We're stacking like little kids
00:18:45
blocks. Um, so there wasn't much physical to it except for the monster truck hole in episode 6, which was
00:18:51
awesome. Um, but most of the game was social. It's like how well how how well
00:18:57
can you do at making friends, earning trust, building relationships, and like that's like what I love to do in
00:19:04
general. So, I got to like part of the game was just me being myself, which was a ton of fun. Yeah. Would you describe
00:19:10
yourself normally in day-to-day life as like an extrovert or an introvert or I I
00:19:15
think I'm a little bit in between. Like I usually like to take in my environment, get to know people, and
00:19:21
then once I kind of like, you know, figure out kind of the environment, I'll
00:19:25
I'll start being more active. But like like when I when I when I first went there on before I knew anybody um I was
00:19:32
like very shy. Like I was like I'm like what am I doing here? I look around like
00:19:36
I'm like one of the only few silverhaired guys there. And this one guy who made it to the top 10. This is
00:19:43
this is before we even started 9:30. Patrick kind of put his hand on on my chest and said, "Hey, like you know
00:19:48
started chitchatting me and I'm like I have no clue who you are. What are you
00:19:51
talking about?" He's like, "Hey, you seem like a good guy. Come with us." And
00:19:54
so I made friends and once I kind of had a group of friends, it allowed me to kind of really be a little bit more
00:19:59
extroverted. Um, but usually I'm kind of in between in a game like this. Do you think it's
00:20:05
better to be a leader or a follower in the games? Um, I I think it's circumstantial. I think there's
00:20:13
certainly times to step up and there's a lot of times where you're better off
00:20:18
blending in like um, you know, captains, people who step up. I mean, aside from 8:30, actually the captains were treated
00:20:26
very well. If you really look at it, um, captains for the most part did well. Um,
00:20:32
like Tana obviously got to the very end. Jeremy just got in trouble from the from
00:20:38
the helicopters and then Dino, god bless him. Um, he got in trouble on the elimination train. But if you stepped
00:20:44
up, you were rewarded. Um but like for me I I stepped up more on kind of small group sessions than doing it for the the
00:20:52
entire group. Yeah. All right. I'm I'm keen to get into some um BTS stuff um
00:20:57
behind the scenes. So you arrive on set um what do you get told your devices get
00:21:01
taken off you straight away or? Yeah. So there was kind of two beast games. There's one where we had 2,000 people go
00:21:10
to a thousand. That was in Vegas. That was to make it on to the Amazon show. And we get into our hotel in Las Vegas
00:21:17
and they tell us, "You cannot leave your hotel room. We will bring food to you."
00:21:22
And I I thought the game had already started. I was trying to memorize serial numbers on the lamps. Like I was trying
00:21:29
to memorize what my room looked like. I thought I thought I'd have to recreate
00:21:32
it. Um obviously I was totally wrong. Um but then once you kind of go into um Amazon Prime, we're down to a thousand.
00:21:42
Yeah. You check in. you check in your electronics. So, you know, for the whole time I was there, no computer, no phone,
00:21:49
really no concept of date. Um, time was kind of tough to find out. Um, and you just like like after a few days of like
00:21:57
reaching for your phone. You get used to it and you kind of like feel like this weird sense of freedom and not have your
00:22:04
phone and not like you just have to be wherever they tell you to go. It was um was pretty cool actually. Yeah. So, what
00:22:10
did an average day look like on on Beast City? So, and what are the what are the
00:22:15
sleeping arrangements, the living arrangements, the food hall? Yeah, the the the the food was awesome. Um, you
00:22:20
know, we had this thing called Fables Cafe that they serve kind of three meals a day. There was snacks available 24/7,
00:22:26
drinks and um available 24/7. And then the the sleeping arrangements like we it felt like you're like in a summer camp
00:22:33
with bunk beds, but it was like comfortable and remarkable. I don't know how I played college football. I
00:22:39
expected our bunk of 50 men to smell like a locker room. Somehow they kept it they kept it nice. It was uh it was
00:22:46
good. And then um like B city was was awesome. Like I just I I can't believe
00:22:52
they built a giant city just for that. So um yeah, all the accommodations um in B city were were pretty pretty
00:23:02
rad. And how many how many cast and crew on site? Because that's one of the remarkable things for me. You you rarely
00:23:09
see them on camera. Yeah. Uh there's a lot, you know, when when you when you think and I've never
00:23:16
done a show like this. I've you know, I'm not kind of in TV or acting like on
00:23:22
film. So like for me, I'm not used to seeing this many cameras, this many sound people, production assistants,
00:23:29
gaffers, directors, lighting. So, like when when I walked in, especially in that first episode when we were all on
00:23:36
the pillars, like there was I think they they said there was over a thousand cameras recording, you know, that there
00:23:42
were GoPros on everybody's platform. It was just one of these it was just a crazy spectacle. And again, I mean,
00:23:49
that's what Mr. Beast does. What about duty of care and um yeah, looking after
00:23:54
the mental health of that many people. Yeah. Um, another thing that obviously they
00:23:59
they've thought of everything kind of once we got to Amazon Prime was there was a psychologist on staff
00:24:05
24/7. And so like if you needed to speak with someone or if you're struggling,
00:24:10
you could um you could reach out to one of the psychologists. And what about you with um homesickness
00:24:16
and um you're wondering what's happening at home? Like um were you were you were
00:24:20
you allowed like a daily phone call or anything like that? No, never. No, no. Oh, it's I mean I I wanted to, but it
00:24:26
was one of these things. My wife's like, "Hey, you better not call me because if
00:24:29
you call me, I'm going to think like you paid like you gave up some type of prize
00:24:33
to do it. I'll see you. I'll be back." My wife is awesome. My wife is tough and
00:24:38
sweet. So, she's just like, "Do not do not take any deals to call me." So,
00:24:43
yeah. Like, of course, I missed my family and there was a couple challenges where I really really missed him, but I
00:24:48
knew like I'm here. like going home is not an option without something substantial either telling Lucas' story
00:24:56
or or winning it. So, were they sort of in the dark? So, you you just went away and you got and
00:25:02
and your wife thought you were going to be away from maybe one day, maybe x amount of weeks. Yeah. You don't know. I
00:25:09
mean, u Yeah, because what happens is people get eliminated to go home essentially right away. like if you get
00:25:14
like and and most of the filming was done at night. Uh because it was outside, you need to you want to control
00:25:20
the lighting and the easiest way to do that is to have it be dark. So, we would film during the night. We'd get done in
00:25:27
the morning and like let's say like four or five o'clock in the morning. We'd be
00:25:31
able to sleep for eight hours, but if you got eliminated that night, you would go to a
00:25:37
hotel, they would process you, and they'd either get you on a flight later that night or early the next morning.
00:25:42
like there's like kind of no messing around. What do you mean process you? Yeah. So, everything from kind of
00:25:49
turning in your uniform to getting your technology back. Um if you wanted to speak to a psychologist, you could um
00:25:56
giving you your tickets back, your your your flights back home. So, just making sure that all the belongings you came
00:26:03
with, you get them returned. Um and they kind of get you on your way. It's like
00:26:07
leaving jail. I mean, I Yeah, I've never been, but I'd imagine that's what it's
00:26:11
like. It's like you got the Ziploc bag, here it is. Um, but yeah, it was uh I I
00:26:15
just I it was weird because there was like as you get further in the games, you your relationships get super strong.
00:26:21
And I remember in the top 10 when we got to the final six and my best friend of the game, 9:30, Patrick got eliminated.
00:26:29
And it's not like we get to spend time together. It's like a 30 second hug, a
00:26:34
handshake. Um we wish each other well and then he's off. And it's like this is
00:26:38
the guy I've spent every almost every moment with for the last five weeks and
00:26:42
now he's gone. It's just uh it's super bizarre. Was there much downtime or was
00:26:46
it pretty much just sleep, eat, film, repeat? Yeah, there was a lot of downtime. You know, if you think about
00:26:53
it, most of the day was downtime. And but you know, in the city, they had basketball courts, they had yoga mats,
00:27:01
they actually had free weights, they had a little soccer field. So there was stuff to do. Mhm. Um and they mostly
00:27:08
filmed at night. So there just a ton of socializing and it was I mean it was it was really really cool. The the
00:27:15
socializing was that the time to make um to make connections and sort of like develop a bit of a strategy in a way.
00:27:21
Yeah. Um yeah. So you know some people were there kind of you know having fun and chitchatting. There's other people
00:27:28
who took the game very seriously and kind of going okay this is what we think is next. You know what are we going to
00:27:32
do? Other people who are just building new relationships. So, it's a it's a
00:27:36
combination of it all, but uh as we kind of get deeper in the games, most of the
00:27:40
people are there to to win. And so, they're certainly kind of strategizing, teaming up, building alliances. Uh it
00:27:48
makes it a lot of fun. Yeah. Um competitiveness and also um a large sum of money can bring out like the worst in
00:27:54
people. Um yeah. Did you sort of find that like did things get sort of like you kind of nasty or [ __ ] towards the
00:28:00
end with some? Um, I think it I expected it to get way cheekier. Um, you know, there was a lot of good people for a
00:28:10
handful of reasons. Um, most people were kind of playing the kind of the game fair. Uh, I think I think season two is
00:28:17
going to get pretty nasty. I'm excited to watch it. Um, but yeah, like as you
00:28:22
get further in the games, you realize gosh, like you know, you get into the top 20, like there's a 5% chance that I
00:28:27
can win five million bucks. Get in the top 10. There's a 10% chance you get in
00:28:31
the top six after the coin flip. You're going there's like a 17% chance I can
00:28:35
win $10 million. Yeah. You're you're going to play hard. Yeah. Was there any chat when it got to
00:28:41
the pointy end like the the final five, final 10, final 20, whatever, was was there any like talk or strategy about
00:28:47
splitting the money or was that not allowed? Not allowed. Yeah. It's it's uh
00:28:50
explicit in the kind of the agreement we signed and then you know they they reiterated you know a few times
00:28:56
throughout the challenges like hey by the way just remember remind you guys like you can't make deals. Um so like it
00:29:02
was just one of these things that you could never do. And friends for life how many how many
00:29:07
how many of the thousand contestants are you going to keep in touch with? Uh it's
00:29:11
weird like I I with like um with sports and with school and with work like you make these amazing friends while you're
00:29:19
there and then you leave and like oh yeah like I remember Scott like let me shoot him a note with Beast Games like
00:29:26
I'm six months out and there's still people who I talk to every other day.
00:29:30
It's um you definitely friends for life really good people some very talented
00:29:35
people. So, um, yeah, I am, you know, I I won in so many ways on beast games. I'm so fortunate. Um, oh, it says I
00:29:44
think it says a lot about you as a person and just, you know, the sort of impact you have on other people and the
00:29:47
connections you make. could be, you know, and it's probably kind of the other end, too, is the I was
00:29:55
lucky to meet and connect with some amazing people. And um yeah, it's fun when you can kind of meet your match,
00:30:01
you know, people who want your best, who want to root for you and are fun to hang
00:30:05
out with. Like those are the best friends you can have. Um and the the second place getter, um I'm I'm guessing
00:30:12
you're not friends or is there any sort of No, no. I mean, I'm I'm I'm certainly
00:30:17
cordial with her, you know. She uh she's awesome. So I I was I was right next to
00:30:21
her in episode one. She was number 830. I was number 831. So we were stationed right next to each other. I got to know
00:30:26
her well. We spent two and a half days right next to each other. Um but I got a chance to talk to her a couple weeks
00:30:32
ago. We had a reunion show and got to meet her her daughters and um she she's
00:30:37
awesome. She is so competitive, so smart, so tough, and really really talented. U she's a professional
00:30:44
wrestler and um yeah, she's you know, she's great. Tana is gonna do great
00:30:49
things. She already has. And you know, I really hope to see her on uh season two.
00:30:54
Is Is she okay? Has she processed the loss? I think Yeah. I mean, when I saw her, she was good. But I mean, I I I
00:31:02
could imagine being in her shoes, you know, like turning down a million dollars at the bribe, turning down a
00:31:08
million dollars at the on episode 8 and turning down a million dollars on episode 10. Like, that would that would
00:31:15
be hard for me to process for sure. Um, what about lessons about human behavior, good and bad, from this
00:31:22
experience? Um, you know, I I think good is that there's a ton of good people out there
00:31:31
who like their word and integrity means something to them. Um, you know, I I was
00:31:37
really surprised that no one took the million-dollar bribe in episode two and three. That was crazy. And then um you
00:31:43
know bad you know you I I think I think money certainly brings people's personalities out you know and
00:31:57
um you know I wouldn't say it's bad but you definitely like it kind of surfaces
00:32:02
whoever you are. So it was just it was interesting for me to kind of really truly find out like who my who my
00:32:07
friends were on the show and who they weren't. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, what about
00:32:13
emotionally speaking? What was the most difficult challenge? Yeah. So, um, the challenges were all
00:32:20
crazy in their own kind of way. And you know, Mr. Beast kind of said before the the game started, this is going to be
00:32:26
the most emotional, psychologically intense games of your life. And they were like, uh, so episode three, we have
00:32:33
the red cubes where we go in with three people. Um, these are teams that we selected. So these were friends and we
00:32:41
can only leave if someone cussed himself to the wall. We were in there for 5 hours. It was like bright white like you
00:32:48
feel like you are in a like very sterile room. That one was like early on in the
00:32:53
games I was missing my kids a ton. And um I was just like oh my gosh like this is it. This is like this like we were
00:33:00
making no progress. It it was it was a total it it screwed with my mind like I I I screwed with my mind so much like I
00:33:07
didn't eat for a day or day and a half after. Yeah, that um yeah, that that challenge
00:33:12
was very memorable. Was that the one where you could request anything? There was a phone on the wall and you could
00:33:16
request what what did you guys request? So me personally like um again my aim was my son Lucas like how can I help
00:33:24
find a cure? So I I asked for a phone call with Elon Musk and Yeah. And I'm like, okay, like
00:33:31
Creatine is like the energy of the brain. Tesla is energy kind of uh, you know, different energy than Neuralink is
00:33:39
this company that has to do with the brain. So I'm like, if I can get a minute with him, I'll ask him to dinner.
00:33:43
I'll fly anywhere in the world. I'll, you know, pick his brain. Maybe he can
00:33:47
help make a connection to to try to find a cure. Um, and it was like three hours
00:33:52
late and in my mind I'm like going, "Mr. Beast always gives away Teslas. He's got
00:33:56
to know Elon." And one of the producers like kind of looks at me a couple hours
00:34:00
later goes, "You need to ask for something else. It's not going to happen." So, Oh, with Craig. With Craig.
00:34:07
Yeah. No. So, my my one of my buddies who was in my room asked for a tattoo artist. So, he got a giant Mr. Beast
00:34:13
tattoo. Um, and then I eventually asked for a psychologist to come into our room
00:34:18
because we we had one person in our room who didn't want to play a game. Most
00:34:22
people played a game to try to get out. Um, and there's one person in our room
00:34:26
who didn't want to play a game. She's like, "No, I'm not going to play." So, I
00:34:29
asked a psychologist to come in to try to help us get past that, and she didn't
00:34:34
have any luck. So, that one the one girl didn't play, and then it was me and my
00:34:38
buddy had to flip a coin, and obviously I came uh came out on top. What were some of the other items that
00:34:46
other contestants um requested? Um, it was crazy. I remember looking out my window and seeing a horse going to
00:34:54
walk to a cube. a horse. Yeah, it was a I mean everything from a horse to a psychic.
00:35:03
People were getting kind of massages, uh puppies, all different types of food. Um
00:35:10
literally you could ask for anything. It doesn't mean you would get it. And like
00:35:13
people always ask me like, "Hey, why didn't you ask for money or you know
00:35:17
something else?" Like you could ask for anything, but you couldn't take it with
00:35:20
you. So, like if you ask for $500,000, yeah, they might bring it in, but they're not going to let you leave with
00:35:26
it. Was Was Be City near near like a shopping complex or did they have like a big store room or I know. I mean, like
00:35:33
this is something that's it's cool because I've seen it in my comments on
00:35:36
like Tik Tok or YouTube because in my mind I'm going I think they had a lot of
00:35:40
that stuff there and then people are going this is Amazon Amazon Prime Beast Games like it's Amazon like I I
00:35:46
guarantee you they have a warehouse nearby. I'm like, "Oh, that probably
00:35:49
makes sense." But I do think they had a lot on like a lot on site. I think their
00:35:54
writers probably sat around and kind of go, "What are the weirdest things that
00:35:57
people will ask for? Can we have him here? Let's get a horse just in case." I
00:36:03
mean, like, cuz I was in such a bad place. Like, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to get eliminated." Like, no,
00:36:09
this this one girl doesn't want to play. Like, I just I felt so bad. And I look
00:36:13
out the window and see a horse and go, "What the hell am I doing here? what am
00:36:17
I doing here? So, it was uh it was crazy. What were the biggest lessons about yourself through this whole
00:36:23
experience? Not just that challenge, but the whole the whole series. Yeah. Um yeah, I I
00:36:30
think the people who went the furthest. Um and the people who I connected with the most were the people who tried to
00:36:37
help others, which is really cool. was just kind of reinforcing that those who share genuinely like typically typically
00:36:46
go far. Um especially the ones who's like they're not doing it for that reason like they're doing it because
00:36:51
that's who they are. Um then also like you know take risks like I mean again
00:36:58
I'm a 44 year old man father of two like I'm on the internet like the the the
00:37:05
highest point of the internet is Mr. beast with a bunch of internet people who are like in their 20s and maybe
00:37:10
early 30s. I didn't belong there, but I did like but when you like actually when
00:37:15
you watch the show like I made great friends with young people with older people. So it's like if there's
00:37:20
something you want to do like man just take the action and give it a shot cuz I spent so many
00:37:27
years thinking things had to be perfect and not taking chances. Um you know it's
00:37:33
just like you got to take the chance if you want to. M you seem I mean we've
00:37:37
only been speaking for 37 minutes, but you seem like a super calm and measured guy. Um did you did you ever lose your
00:37:43
[ __ ] or snap at any of the other contestants? Yeah. No. Um I I I am usually I try not to ride the highs too
00:37:51
high or lows too low. But um when when my friend JC in episode 8 took six $650,000
00:37:59
um I lost my [ __ ] Like I just I could not believe he did it. And I'm like are
00:38:04
you kidding me? like like this is a guy who um you know I bunked with and I knew
00:38:08
really well. I was just super super surprised. So like you know him and I kind of had a grown man kind of
00:38:14
argument, you know, like no fists were thrown. No fists were thrown, but it was definitely like, "Hey, what the hell are
00:38:25
you doing?" So like um I tried not to get too fired up, but sometimes I couldn't hold back. M he he
00:38:32
seemed um very tormented by his decision at the time, didn't he? Yeah. And I
00:38:38
don't blame him, you know, and it's one of these things like um like it is a game and like I have a
00:38:46
lot of different perspective now watching it than I did living it. And man, he got an opportunity to take
00:38:53
$650,000, man, do it. M um I I think I think where what kind of maybe tormented him is like I think he
00:39:00
also felt betrayed. Um he he I think he felt that people he trusted with the most were turning on him. So like I feel
00:39:08
like he was just experiencing kind of a whirlwind of emotions. Yeah. Did you did
00:39:13
you have much to do with Mr. Beast? Uh obviously in the beginning when there's
00:39:16
2,000 people then 1,000 people very little I'd imagine but um because you were there right to the very end. Yeah.
00:39:22
Did you have much one-on-one time? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. So, once we got down to the top 10, he spent like an
00:39:30
entire day and night with the top 10. So, we got to play games. We got to hang out with him and his fiance and uh a ton
00:39:36
of the other beast folks and it was great. And then on the top 10, episode 9, I was on the top floor and that's
00:39:44
kind of where he and Carl and Mac were all kind of in holding patterns in between kind of shooting. And so, I got
00:39:51
to talk to them too. And then obviously getting in the top six and the further I
00:39:56
go like there's time in between where I get to talk to him and he is it's just
00:40:01
crazy for me to think that he's 26 years old. Like he is so damn talented. He's
00:40:07
so committed to what he what he's doing. Like he's he does what he does so well
00:40:12
because he loves it. And so like it just yeah he I I knew he was a sensation. I knew he was like phenomenal what he
00:40:20
does. I just did not I did not expect him to be kind of as good of a guy too. Like I was I was pretty pretty taken
00:40:28
back. Oh yeah. And I mean the work ethic is just it's boggling, isn't it? It's
00:40:34
inspiring, you know, and again like I'm you know I played college sports, you
00:40:38
know, I I like to work hard. Um but to see that in someone who's achieved so
00:40:44
much like I feel like so many people who've achieved that at that age just kind of shut it down. M but he's doing
00:40:49
it for obviously more than just the uh the accolades or the money. He absolutely loves it. Yeah. If it was for
00:40:56
the accolades or the money, I he would have stopped by now, I'm sure. Yeah, that's that's my guess. What mean like
00:41:02
what makes you like you've done couple dozen marathons. Like why do you keep
00:41:07
going to the next one? Oh, just cuz I love it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um what since you've won, what have there been
00:41:15
any sort of like weird um interactions with fans of the show or any odd DMs or anything like that? Um people asking
00:41:24
Yeah. I mean I mean Yeah. I mean so I mean I've gotten you know some some pretty cool people have reached out to
00:41:28
me over DM which is great but like this is a funny one. Like my wife and I were traveling together a couple days ago and
00:41:35
um we're kind of in the jetway about to board the plane and this this girl turns
00:41:39
around. She goes, "Hey, were you were you on a TV show?" like, "Were you uh
00:41:43
were you on Beast Games?" I'm like, "Yeah." She goes, "Can I get a picture?"
00:41:45
I'm like, "Of course." I was ready to take a selfie. Then she hands the phone
00:41:48
to my wife and says, "Hey, can you take a picture of us?" And I'm looking at
00:41:52
like, "Oh my gosh, like this is just it's just something that like I never
00:41:56
thought would happen." It's just super interesting. But yeah, there's, you
00:41:59
know, people who are, you know, yelled out the window while I'm on a walk with
00:42:03
my son like, "Hey, congratulations." So, so people are people are recognizing me
00:42:08
on the street, but it's all kind of great wellwishes. Like, man, I um I'm
00:42:13
super super thankful. Um if you had to put a percentage of it, how much was luck and how much was
00:42:18
skill? I think a lot of it was luck, you know, or you know, or a lot of it was out of
00:42:26
my hands. I'll put it that way. Um but like a lot of the stuff that people think was luck had a little bit more
00:42:32
skill involved. Like for example, the first episode where you had to have someone self eliminate to in order to
00:42:39
move on. Well, the reason I was number 831 was from the YouTube video where we had to get our flags. And the people who
00:42:47
went and got the early flags like I need to go get this flag right away. I'm
00:42:50
going to get, you know, one through 100 or 100 through 200. Those were the rows that nobody chose to eliminate
00:42:56
themselves. So you think about these hard chargers who weren't around either
00:43:00
helping others or were weren't the the feelers who kind of felt like they needed help. Those were the rows that
00:43:06
got eliminated. So it's um but you know on paper that looks like chance. So it's
00:43:11
there was there was a lot of luck but there was certainly more skill but the skill was around kind of social. It was
00:43:20
it was a very very social game. Yes. So, so you win, then what happens? You jump on the pile of money and then
00:43:28
what? Like in the uh in the minutes or the hours after that? It was Yeah, it was it was bizarre. So, my my my wife
00:43:33
and my oldest son were there and I'm like, okay, like what do I do now? Like
00:43:36
for five or six weeks I've been told where to go, what to do, and they're
00:43:40
just like, you go back to the hotel and we'll send you your flights. And um so I
00:43:45
go back to my wife's hotel and I'm like, did I did this really just happen? Like,
00:43:50
did we really just win $10 million? So, I went to Dunkin Donuts and got like a coffee and a donut and like I'm sitting
00:43:57
there going, "What is happening?" Like, it just still all felt surreal, but then
00:44:02
it's weird. So, then I get to go home, but I can't tell anybody. Like, I can't
00:44:06
tell my mom. I can't tell my dad. Can't tell my sisters. I can't tell any of my
00:44:09
friends. So, it's like I have this giant secret that I'm super proud of and
00:44:13
excited about, but I have to keep it a secret for like five or six months. Yes. What? There must have been an NDA or
00:44:19
something. Um, you what was the penalty if you if if it got out, did you lose? Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, it's it's
00:44:24
strict. I mean, it's like Yeah. Like they reserve the right to like I think take it all. Um, but it's one of these
00:44:30
things where like in the in the final six, one of the show producers like gathered us together
00:44:36
and said, "Hey, like think about everything you did to get to this moment. Think about all the challenges.
00:44:41
Think about how much fun you had, the emotions you felt." Um, and he said, 'Believe it or not, people at home
00:44:47
watching it will have the same feelings, will feel the same emotions. So, you telling friends or other people how you
00:44:54
got out, when you got out, if you won, you're robbing them from the experience
00:44:58
that you just had. And so, that combined with the NDA was like enough for me to kind of go, man, I I don't want to do
00:45:04
that. And then, so, like, if you see my family's reaction, like my my parents,
00:45:07
my siblings, my nephews, my nieces, um, to me winning, it's all worth it, man.
00:45:12
like their their their elation is so raw and real. It's so cool. Did Did you have
00:45:18
to go through the um the outing process that all the other contestants did? Like
00:45:22
did you have to see a a therapist or anything? Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah. It was um you know, it's it's it's it was
00:45:29
interesting. It was probably, you know, a half an hour after I won, you know, like I think it's just they I had to do
00:45:36
it. And so it's like I can only imagine what it was like for the therapist, too,
00:45:39
to kind of go, "So, you won $10 million. how do you feel? Um, but she but she
00:45:44
kind of, you know, mapped out what it was. She goes like, "Hey, like I'm sure
00:45:47
you're going to feel awesome. It's going to be hard not to tell anybody. Life's
00:45:51
going to get back to normal. You'll probably for some weird reason are going
00:45:54
to get depressed." And a lot of like, you know, it's maybe like you've
00:45:58
experienced it kind of training for a marathon. Like you train for a marathon, maybe you have your your PR, but then
00:46:03
you're like, "Now what?" And um, and the same thing kind of happened. I just
00:46:07
rocked across California. like after I rucked across the state, I'm like miss
00:46:11
it. So the same thing happened with beast games. You kind of have you kind of get down. You're like you don't know
00:46:15
why, but that goes away and then you forget about it and then the games air again and then you get to feel it all
00:46:22
again, watch it with your family and then um you fast forward a few weeks, you know, you're sitting next talking to
00:46:28
uh the host from New Zealand having the time of your life. That must have been a
00:46:32
surreal experience watching it on TV. Um yeah, did it feel like you were back there? I mean, obviously you knew the
00:46:37
outcome. you knew how it was all going to play out. I I knew the outcome, but it was a different perspective. Like it
00:46:42
it was really cool for me to to see other people's experience. Like I I um I I knew my experience, but I didn't
00:46:52
know what the Habibi brothers were doing or Akira or Gage. So, it was just really
00:46:58
neat to see other people kind of go through their processes and their experience.
00:47:03
And when did you get the money? Was it after the final episode went to air? Yeah, it was. So, the final episode
00:47:08
aired on like the 13th and it was the 14th. So, it's like um um it was Valentine's Day and I Valentine's Day
00:47:15
I'll never forget. So, what? So, it just gets deposited into your into your bank account. Yeah,
00:47:21
it was just a wire. It's just a wire for the entire $10 million went into my bank
00:47:26
account and they really didn't tell me like they didn't call me and say, "Hey,
00:47:29
is it in there?" They just said, "Hey, this is going to come sometime in the
00:47:33
next couple days." And I looked down and it was there and I'm like, "Oh my gosh,
00:47:36
crazy." Unbelievable. Um, yeah, it is. It's like it's like it's it seems almost
00:47:41
fake, but it's not. Did you Did you have you considered just investing it? Uh,
00:47:46
like if you say you end up with 5 million after tax and you invested at 10%, that's half a million a year. You'd
00:47:51
never have to work again. Yeah. No, I mean that that's that's the plan. I
00:47:55
mean, obviously like our our goal is to stretch this money out, make it work for
00:47:59
us as long as we can to do two things. to obviously make sure my family is taken care of. Um, you know, the goal is
00:48:05
to make sure Lucas um is gonna be fine when mom and dad are no longer here, you know, and that his older brother Jack
00:48:12
doesn't have to look out for him financially. So, that's number one. Then, two, can we make the money work
00:48:18
stretch far enough so that we can help fund kind of treatments and really try to uncover to help more families like
00:48:25
ours. So, um, yeah, I mean, I am I'm lucky to be to have access to some really smart people who know how to do
00:48:32
good things with money, but yeah, my job is to make sure that this thing returns
00:48:36
as much as it can so um, we can take care of our family. Yeah. When people talk about that sort of sum of money,
00:48:42
they talk about it being a life-changing amount of money. Is it a life-changing amount of money? Oh, clearly. I mean,
00:48:46
it's um you know, it's clearly money that like in my mind it would take me
00:48:53
decades to have ever made, you know. Um you know, gez, like it's like could you
00:48:58
even make that in your lifetime? Geez, probably not. So, it definitely changes my life. Um, but it doesn't mean I need
00:49:06
to change my lifestyle, you know, like um, you know, fortunately, I think I I I went through that in my 20s and kind of
00:49:13
I needed to have fast cars and this that and the other and country clubs. Don't
00:49:17
get me wrong, those things are still great and maybe I'll get one someday, but right now I am uh I'm totally okay
00:49:22
with the lifestyle I got. Yeah. And what's next for you? Do you like do you want to work again or now that you've
00:49:27
got a taste of um you taste of fame I guess um do you want to keep sort of pursuing you know something a bit
00:49:33
public? Yeah. No, I mean I I definitely will pursue something um a little more kind of you
00:49:39
know content facing. So um you know I I just you know rocked across the state of
00:49:45
California 365 miles. We document it every day. It's pretty cool. It's on
00:49:48
YouTube. Uh Legacy 831 official. I'll be posting on kind of Instagram and then I
00:49:54
think there's some neat opportunities for me uh to help kind of advocate for
00:49:58
the rare disease community as well. So, in the time being, you'll see me doing
00:50:02
kind of more um more online things, but uh you know, I do have a knack for business. I like um you know, I'm I'm
00:50:10
like you and I'm like, you know, Mr. Beast, like I like to be busy. I like to
00:50:13
be doing stuff. So, um, you're not going to see me kind of like on a on a lawn
00:50:17
chair kind of sunbathing, reading magazines. You got to do something, eh? You got to be striving for something
00:50:23
else. Um, are you are you proud of yourself? Oh, um, of course. You know, it's um, it's funny cuz I don't think
00:50:31
anybody's asked me that. Um, yeah. Yeah. No, it's um I'm I'm I'm
00:50:37
proud that I I can like show my son both of them like to to go for stuff. And you're never kind of you're never kind
00:50:48
of uh blocked out of going for something like Yeah, I was I was the odd man out.
00:50:52
I was the old guy going on a young person's TV show, but I went for it. So, like, uh it's neat to be able to show
00:50:58
Jack that you can go for your dreams regardless of the age. and to be able to kind of show Lucas, you know, whether he
00:51:03
understands or not, that um it's amazing what those who love you will do for you.
00:51:08
And um I just think these are things that I'm proud of. And I again, there's
00:51:13
zero chance I could have done any of this stuff without my wife. Like she's she's taught me so much about myself,
00:51:18
too. So, it's just uh I'm proud of me, but I'm also proud of my entire family.
00:51:23
M do you think um do you think your religion and faith played a role in you winning as in like sort of a higher
00:51:29
power sort of looking after you because you for the right reasons? It's it's
00:51:32
hard it's hard to think not. Yeah, it's it's hard to think not. No, I um I've
00:51:37
got a great relationship with with God and um yeah, it like even even in the last challenge the the number six was
00:51:46
speaking to me like it it was I had a a sense of calm and a sense of certainty that I've never had. Um, and like I
00:51:54
don't know where it came from, but you know, you can you can surmise it's uh
00:51:58
from something divine. Hey, this has been so great, Jeff. Yeah. No, this is awesome. I uh I
00:52:07
enjoyed catching up. I I need to get some tips for you because now I'm I'm
00:52:10
supposed to run 68 kilometers in June in Holland to raise to raise money and I've
00:52:17
only ran one marathon. So, like, can I can I get ready in two and a half months? Of
00:52:23
course you can. Yeah, you can you're the winner of Beast Games. You can do anything.
00:52:29
Hey, I love that answer. But no, but um but I I I might need to pick your brain on um some training plans, but uh yeah,
00:52:35
I'm excited to I'm excited to get out there and continue to do stuff and kind
00:52:39
of raise awareness. But yeah, it's um Beast Games was a huge pivotal moment for me and hopefully it's just the start
00:52:45
of my journey to um to do great things for for kids with rare disease. Yeah. Brilliant. I um how can people follow
00:52:52
you? Yeah, you can you can find me on Instagram at legacy.831. YouTube legacy831 official.
00:53:00
Uh and you can find me on X and Tik Tok too. Legacy.8831. Jeff Randall Allen number 831, winner of
00:53:08
Beast Games and $10 million. Thank you so much for your time, mate. Really appreciate it. And um if you ever make
00:53:13
your way down to NZ, uh make sure you look me up and uh we'll go for a run. I
00:53:18
would love it. I I I really will. Thanks so much. You're a good man. Congratulations. Appreciate you. Take
00:53:23
care.

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Episode Highlights

  • Life Changes After Winning
    Jeff shares how his life has changed since winning, including public recognition.
    “I’ll have people stop me to just ask for a picture.”
    @ 02m 00s
    April 02, 2025
  • The Coin Flip Moment
    A pivotal moment in the final episode where a coin flip changes everything.
    “He called it Tails. And it changed everything.”
    @ 03m 53s
    April 02, 2025
  • The Impact of Winning
    Jeff discusses how winning will help fund research for his son's rare disease.
    “This was the goal. This is why I signed up for Beast Games.”
    @ 11m 25s
    April 02, 2025
  • Background Checks for Contestants
    Contestants undergo extensive background checks to ensure safety and emotional stability.
    “They did a great job. I was really surprised by how many good people.”
    @ 18m 05s
    April 02, 2025
  • Life in Beast City
    Contestants experience a unique living arrangement with camaraderie and activities.
    “It felt like you’re like in a summer camp with bunk beds.”
    @ 22m 33s
    April 02, 2025
  • Unexpected Friendships
    Connections formed during the game lead to lasting friendships.
    “You definitely friends for life, really good people.”
    @ 29m 33s
    April 02, 2025
  • Lessons in Human Behavior
    The game reveals the integrity and character of contestants under pressure.
    “I was really surprised that no one took the million-dollar bribe.”
    @ 31m 34s
    April 02, 2025
  • Emotional Challenges
    Contestants face intense psychological challenges that test their limits.
    “This is going to be the most emotional, psychologically intense games of your life.”
    @ 32m 28s
    April 02, 2025
  • Life Lessons from Competition
    The importance of helping others and taking risks in life and competition.
    “Take the action and give it a shot.”
    @ 37m 22s
    April 02, 2025
  • Unexpected Fame
    Experiencing fame unexpectedly, including a funny encounter with a fan.
    “Can I get a picture?”
    @ 41m 40s
    April 02, 2025
  • Surreal Victory
    Winning $10 million felt surreal, leading to disbelief and a coffee at Dunkin Donuts.
    “Did we really just win $10 million?”
    @ 43m 50s
    April 02, 2025
  • Jeff Randall Allen Wins
    Jeff Randall Allen takes home $10 million from the Beast Games.
    “Beast Games and $10 million. Thank you”
    @ 53m 08s
    April 02, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • I’m not complaining.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show
  • I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show
  • I thought I’d have to recreate it.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show
  • I was missing my kids a ton.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show
  • Take the action and give it a shot.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show
  • It’s amazing what those who love you will do for you.
    Beast Games Winner on $10 Million Prize, What Mr. Beast is Really Like, Taxes & Life After the Show

Key Moments

  • Winning Moment00:06
  • Tax Discussion00:43
  • Initial Misunderstanding21:26
  • Friendships Formed29:33
  • Emotional Struggles32:56
  • Life Lessons37:22
  • Unexpected Fame41:40
  • Winning Reaction43:50

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown