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