Beast Games Psychology: Two Therapists Break Down Strategy, Shame, and $5 Million Stakes

What happens when 1,000 strangers compete for $5 million—with shame, strategy, and survival on the line? 

In this episode of Wicked Psychotherapists, Erin and Tanya (two real-life therapists) break down the mind games of Mr. Beast’s Beast Games.

We dive into the psychology of trust, betrayal, group dynamics, and why money messes with our moral compass. 

Spoilers ahead, insights guaranteed—and yes, we’re talking about the Lamborghini train dilemma.

🎙 Follow, rate, and share—then tell us: would YOU have taken the money?

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Transcript

0:08

You are listening to Wicked Psychotherapists, a podcast where two psychotherapists show you that taking care of and learning about mental health doesn't have to be wicked hat.

Erin: 0:31

Hey guys, this is Tanya. Hi, this is Erin and welcome to Wicked Psychotherapist.

Tanya: 0:35

Yeah. So today we are talking about something pretty, pretty new and really fun on Amazon. The Beast Games. I don't know what it, I don't, I don't know. I think it's called, I think it's just Beast Games. Beast Games, yeah. But we, this is not something that I knew about and I kind of binge watched over the weekend, I found it very interesting. We thought there'd be a lot of kind of psychological dynamics and just some, some things to discuss

1:00

mm-hmm.

Erin: 1:00

In that, you know, because there is a lot of mental warfare, I think in a lot of these. Yeah. A lot of psychological elements. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. so if you have not watched this, there are without a doubt going to be spoilers because we watched all 10, episodes. So we're gonna be going right down even to the winner. So keep that in mind. Mm-hmm.'cause we'll just be talking about it. But yeah, I thought it was really interesting this, this dynamic of having a thousand people come in who are complete strangers to one another. Except, I mean, some of them, you know, there are pairs of friends and a married couple kind of here and there. But for the most part, everybody is a stranger to one another. And knowing or not knowing what they have to do to get this pot of 5 million at the end. And only one person is going to get it. but along the way you start to realize, well there's other things that get offered and is it about taking this now or thinking you can win the 5 million along the way and just offered in so many different ways. that Mr. Beast or Jimmy does. I really thought, you know, the first episode with the, where everybody is just in rows, they don't know each other. Right. You know, with the exception, like I said before, but he, Mr. Beast starts to offer up bribes to kind of say, Hey, if you take this, you gotta eliminate yourself, but you can take this money kind of thing. Right. How much would it take you to. some people took it right, because that kind of makes sense. They probably played out the practicality of like, what's the actual, you know, stat that I would be able to, what are the chances I would be able to get to be number one and why not walk away with some money, you know, and not have to really compete too much I can just go home with, you know, whatever, 20,000 or whatever it is. I thought that was kind of interesting because I think some people were like. this is something not only to think about for myself, but also they didn't know these other people. along the way, the more and more you go along the episodes, they become closer, right? They're gonna naturally just become friends. I think it was kind of easier to just take the money because in doing so, you would then. Eliminate your row or you know, the chances of other people around you. And so maybe some people were like, well that's, that's the name of the game. I don't really know these people. I don't really care. I need this money. how did you find the kind of first part of this where everybody's strangers, there's offerings of money, To be like, okay, you're eliminated, but you get this money guaranteed. Yeah, so I mean like the way the whole show started, even from the very beginning when they're just in this huge room and there's a thousand of'em, they just have these numbers on them. It's kind of ominous too. You're like, what is this show? What is happening? And you know, then you start seeing them drop and then, yeah, then there's. Different parts where they're offered him money as a group. Like, Hey, you individual can get this and you save your group. it really was a lot of psychological components because you start thinking, what would I do? Or why are they choosing that? Why are they not just taking the money for themselves? Because, you know, watching other reality shows like Survivor and other things, it's like in the end it's just you. You have to think about yourself at times because these people are strangers. Even though you might be friends and you might live in the be city or whatever it is, but it, you all signed up for the same reason. You all signed up for the chance to win$5 million. These people are not really having your best interest, and it's hard to see that when you're in it, and I'm sure that played a huge part of it. the dynamic of like individual need versus group need, because the more and more you bond within a group, the less you're gonna think of just solely your needs. And so at the beginning. You're probably not bonded with, with very many people. Mm-hmm. So you're like, okay, well I might as well get something outta this. Yeah. I don't think I can make it all the way. There's only one person, statistically that can get this. That's, that's a lot. More than likely I'm not going to get that. You know? Mm-hmm. Or maybe some people really did strongly feel that way, but, yeah. So I, I could totally see personally myself. Maybe feeling like I could do that if, if it were, you know, a decent kind of amount. not to say that I, I mean, I wouldn't enjoy the fact that it kind of, you know, gets other people out. But I mean, it also, yeah, like you said, it's a game and you have to weigh that versus like, I haven't really bonded with these people. I don't really owe these people. This is the name of the game. Right. and I know they were trying to, in the different rows, they were trying to kind of bond and be like, my name is this, my name is that, to be like, oh, you know me, you know me. And kind of create those bonds. Yeah. But it just wasn't really anything too personal. And for some people they were just like, I got all these bills to pay. And I don't like. What if someone else ends up taking this, because I don't trust, trust is another factor. They don't know these people in that. They haven't really bonded with them. They don't know anything about them except their number or maybe one or their first name, so, yeah. Yeah. It's really hard to, all right. Who, who am I gonna trust? Or you know, what am I gonna do for myself or for them? Whose word can I take? And, You know, am I ever gonna get this chance to be offered, money like this again? Mm-hmm. In this manner? so I may have taken that money. I think I would've, depending on what stage and what was happening, I think I probably would've, especially if it was like a big physical thing and I was like, I'm not, I don't know if I can stack up to everybody. I think I'd be like, Gimme that million or whatever. Yeah. If offered before. Yeah. and you know, I think that there's another element here. There's shame, right? There's public shame of like, we know you did something against the group, which can be strong. But again, if you don't know these people, some people really don't care in general whether they know the people or not. And then some people just have, like, I personally, I have a high. amount of shame for things that I probably shouldn't. But I do think in that situation, I think I've worked on that. I could feel like, okay, this is not, like, I'm not really doing anything terrible to someone. This is a competition, right? It is a game. This is, these are the risks of the game. and I think that gets lost. I think people forget that they're in a game or. This is, they signed up for it while they're in it. And that's some psychological component I think with a lot of these games that you see like on online, like, you know, like I Keep gonna Survivor or Naked and Afraid, or one of those, like, I think people forget that it's a competition. Yeah. Again, you signed up for this, so, but once you're in it, you kind of forget and be like, oh wait, what about her? What about him? I gotta think about everybody else's needs. Yeah, because as they move along, they do start to get bonded. They do start to talk to each other and hear about each other's kids and their lives, or you know, what they do for a living, and just get to know their personalities and they. That that is something, because now you have something that you're saying it's a personal narrative. It's not like a, you know, like a, a face, just a random face. Right. It's someone that you know, you know their name, you know the sound of their voice. You know how their eyes light up when they talk about their, their kid. Right. That for some people can be like, oh crap, I'm not, I don't wanna take that away from them. You know? Like, I don't wanna hear like the, the people that were talking about, oh, I have a kid who has a disease, or, you know, this or that, and they could use that. Like, that's a really hard thing to then say, Ooh, I'm gonna screw this person over and take that chance away, even if it's possible or not. Right. I would have a really hard time at that point, my shame level would be. I think I would have a hard time when I started to know. But I think as a person, I am not somebody who gets to know everybody in the group. I think I kind of sit back and wait, and then I get to know People. And so that may be an advantage or a disadvantage. It could be both. Because you also, like you were pointing out, you need to establish connections so that people can trust you. People want to have you, in these. Different challenges. People want to elect you as a leader. Or they just want you to go to the island because they know you, they're trustworthy. And if you don't get to know people like that and don't get to prove that, then you could be eliminated just by that. So it's a really important, you really have to kind of keep looking and being adaptable and how you think about, I guess like your moral code or how you're playing your strategy too. and that's what you were saying is that, people do forget that it is a game, but you have to be adaptable in how you're looking at the strategy and Your moral code in this. That, you know, save outside of like, murdering someone or physically harming someone. Everyone's kind of signed up for this. Yeah. They signed up for it and they, I think they also had to realize too, like you mentioned, like the components of building relationships and getting to know people or. You're not gonna do that, have, have your game of really observing and kind of watching honed in really well. So you're not just in the background just playing solitaire, you're actually in the groups or walking around. You might not really be talking to people, but you're still seeing what's happening. So you know how everyone's working. Yeah, that's a good point. I think I have to really, get to know people on a deeper level as opposed to many people. And so that's kind of more my introverted nature and I don't think that dynamic would work for me. yeah, I think I would definitely be, and I would know that and I think I would start to see like, I need to try and get something before,'cause I'm not gonna make it to the end, you know, I'm gonna get eliminated, so I need to figure out the next thing he's offering. I need to raise my hand. Yeah. Right. I was just thinking that. I was like, that's how I know I would like probably by the fourth. Like episode, I'd need to be outta there with, with a little something and be like, okay, I tried. Yeah. And you know. Yeah. I like that. Mm-hmm. Like summer camp, you know from hell. Can't imagine. I'm sorry about the smells and. Ugh. Ugh. I'm, I, I just don't like, I'm sorry. I don't, I don't like that. I don't like that at all. mm-hmm. It's hard enough. I have to spend, you know, share a bed with my husband. It's, you know, it's tough. No. I love you, Dino, if you're listening, but, he knows my struggles with, like, I get overheated and I'm like, oh, like I'm sweating. Yeah. And my. Perimenopausal self. I think it really is an interesting, display of dynamics is there any kind of particular challenge that sticks out to you that just kind of really. I think we talked about the cube. Like when they're in the cube and so then you could wish for, or you could call and you can get anything you want, You can get. Stuffed animals or food or this or that. Or you could dress up, you know, puppies. Puppies a horse. Yeah. So you can get anything you wish, but the thing is, like, they had to figure out, one of you is going to stay, so there's three people, two are gonna leave, one is gonna stay and get chained to the wall, and then they're eliminated. they figure out different ways, like whether you're rolling a dice and this and that some of them played board games, some of them just talked it out and some of them did it really nice and you're like, oh, they're good, decent people. But there was two brothers and a girl who were in one and they were just trying to figure it out their manipulation of this person I just felt like was just so wrong. they tricked her into putting herself up and they lied and it just felt really bad. it reduced Her chances of going up. The Habibi Brothers, they were Apparently they just kind of scheme together, which is again, you know, it's a strategy, but it didn't look good for, I'm sure people, if they got recognized afterwards, were like, you guys were dirt bags. You know? Yeah. That does show, I think they could have gone about it in a different way, and yeah, maybe they would've risked one going home. But that, again, that's kind of like, do you go with the strategy and play dirty or do you, just leave it up to chance and say, well, this just isn't for me. And maybe in there there's a little bit of, you know, kind of, you know, you're, what you're. Integrity is, or whatever. Yeah. But they were, they were just jerks about it. Like the one guy was laughing when she was crying and basically just made, he was like, I'm not participating. And they set it all up. Yeah. they played her and basically she ended up pulling the lower card and the guy was just like, we had it all planned out, we're geniuses. just total jerks. So that was definitely one that I thought of. And then the train one too was pretty crazy. Oh yeah, that's the one that stuck out to me. Really? Yeah. With the Lamborghini, like, okay, are you gonna hit a Lamborghini or Dummies, or are you gonna do this? Or you know, like, these three people and who are you gonna pick to stand there and. Then you gotta watch and are you gonna pull the lever and make the train move? So it, that one was very high adrenaline.'cause you didn't know what was gonna happen. That one, seriously, my heart was beating so fast.'cause I was like that, like, it just, it was so horrible to watch out, even though they were dummies. I was like, oh my gosh. But, it, you know, it's hard because the first guy who, and I can't remember his name, I know it began with an a. The first guy that got elected, like the, the leader who had to make the decision.

13:45

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 13:45

He had a tough decision to make because he was kind of like, okay, if I, if I do this, you know, if I eliminate, you know, the Lamborghini, I don't think he was just thinking of the Lamborghini. I think he was thinking we're going to have to eliminate some people. Yeah. And if I just put this off, then you know, somebody else could go into being a leader. Then I could be eliminated from this. Right. So I kind of have to get something like that. Yeah. Maybe they thought that was selfish and their friends were kind of getting mad, being like, oh, you did this wrong. But at the same point, they weren't in that position. Yeah. To have to make a choice. Yeah.'cause he had to think too, okay, well if I let this Lamborghini get smashed, I'm probably going home next. And elimination is the name of the game. And, and by chance and by how the it plays out, it really is a lot of chance and a lot of luck. Mm-hmm. And unfortunately, he didn't really know those three, the three women I think. Yeah. The three women that he elected. And, you know, it was just kind of the way it was and I really got way too invested in what happened with Tijuana and, Dino. there was a time when basically, Tijuana was voted leader. Dino had gone up to be a leader, but they started saying like they didn't trust him because he was trying to get other people to go up. And when Tijuana and Queen went up, he like then went up himself. I think he may have went up after that when he didn't seem he wanted to before was because they announced you're going to wanna be a leader. The leader will be, will go on. And I think he maybe was like, oh crap. Yeah, maybe I should be a leader. I don't know that it was like he was going against, Them in particular, I think he was like, oh, maybe I should go ahead and be the leader.'cause that's what I was thinking. I was like, oh, maybe I would jump in then to be the leader. No one else. No one else was jumping to do it either. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, well, he saw, he saw Queen go up and then, you know, she saw him go up and I think she thought like, oh, well he, he doesn't trust me. And he's been trying to work things like it, like he was being shady, but once again, strategy. And I think he heard, I, you're gonna go through. So he was like, okay, I'll try this. You know, they trusted me as a leader before. Yeah. and then they, they got really upset It was self preservation at that point when he was, you know, he had to then pick another person to be on the tracks with him, and he picked someone who Tawana then said, you know, we weren't even that close of friends. We didn't really get to know each other that well. Right. But, you know, she was just used as bait, but it's like, well, what, what other strategy could he have used? He would've had to pick someone anyways. Maybe he was trying to hope. Yeah. Okay. Maybe you won't have to, it just made tiawana feel worse about Right. I just kept thinking this could have happened to anyone. This doesn't show his character.

16:28

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 16:29

Like, I mean, yeah, sure. He could have just sacrificed himself and been like, oh, I'll just take whoever along with me, but. How is that? I don't know. Yeah. I didn't see that as that. Terrible. And then JC and Queen like thought he was just being messed up. And then JC goes and takes a majority of the million six, yeah, six,$600,000 or something like that. Just because he feels like his, his debt and his needs outweigh anyone else's, which. Yeah, he had opposite of group think. Oh my gosh. Yeah. He was just, he, I think he really saw the money and was like, I could walk, I literally can pay off my debt and be okay. And you know what? I might have to feel like a bad person. I might have to feel like this, but I think it was just too much for him. Yeah. he couldn't deny it. Mm-hmm. And he just took it. But, That I think was pretty shitty because they really could have all just had a hundred thousand. They really could have, I mean, he could have made that fair, you know? Well, and just how he, it really affected the four or five people after him too. So it was like all seven people after, and they had to really. And, and that, that I think really showed too that some people, like Emma, she was like, I'm not gonna take the full 20. She was left with 27,000. And JC was like, I wanna leave Emma something. You left her with 27,000 after he took 650,000. But then it would also leave her looking like a big jerk if she took it all.'cause then everyone else has zero. And 27,000 is not at all what they were. Like, they were kind of under the impression of like, Hey, let's just do a hundred thousand easy. You know, like We could build more trust here and Yeah. But, at the same point, I don't think I could have taken more than a hundred thousand during that, and especially'cause people know it's you, it's not like it's an, anonymous thing where you're just saying, okay, well I'm gonna take this money and everyone would know you're the one who took it. Well, that's the thing is Jimmy, Mr. Beast said, no one's gonna know it's anonymous. And he meant for that point because he always twists things around. Yeah. But then they found out afterwards. So I think maybe JC felt like, why not if I can do this? So maybe it was a little bit of his like, kind of like, I mean, I understand, you know, you've got kids, you've got, you got, I mean, but other people do too. That definitely his. His, self preservation just kicked in high drive there. And maybe that's something that he talked about, before he went on, get that money at any cost. And I mean, he only left Emma 27,000 and then she took 5,000 and she was like, well, I just got married and I wanted to help my sister and this and that, but I'm not gonna take all the money She's, you know, and then everybody else was kind of. Was pretty fair after that, they were like, I'm not gonna take all this, you know, and Split it up, but it was cruddy amount, you know, 27,000 Yeah. Compared to the, the million. not that I would, I would love to get$5,000 randomly, but I'm just saying like, you know, in that context, But yeah, I think it was seeing how your moral code can shift At different. And I do not think that there was somebody in here who was just so noble, never cheated, never had to strategize. Everybody had to at some point. It's just that, Some people got a little luckier because they maybe were not in certain positions where they had to kind of make a really tough choice and look at really sacrificing themselves. you know, with Tijuana, maybe that was an exception. But I do see that she also, I think she was kind of someone who was very influential in being like, this is how you should be, this is how you show integrity. She was very influential in the group moral code sort of, because she just had that natural personality but who knows how she would've been if she was in that same situation? Yeah. And, and I mean, she did take a hundred thousand, you know, so she did show like, Hey, I am looking out. I do think she was trying to be honorable, but I, I think there were some situations like that, like the thing with, with jazz and, and Dino, I just was like, that it wasn't personal. I mean, it was just mm-hmm. He was trying to save himself. Yeah. But, Yeah. And, and also, you know, I, I have to say when they, for the helicopter ride to the island, that gave me such anxiety about like, oh my exclusion. And like, who's gonna get picked? Yeah. And like somebody said, they were like, I feel like I'm back in school. I'm not getting picked for kickball. And I was like, me too. I'm not even there. Yeah. Well then, then you see everyone kind of like partying on the boat and just having a good time when they're, you know, it's like, and then the people who. Going on the island, you know, if you don't win, you're getting eliminated. So it's such a gamble. Yeah. I mean, I would not wanna Random island. You mean when they actually got there? I was just talking even about the helicopters to even get to the island. When they had to. like how there was only like 10 of'em or something, but there was not enough seats for all of'em. Like that gave me such like, because it's kind of like right there, those are your connections or you enough of a connection that you can get picked on on that. Yeah. Jeremy, the preacher guy that everybody like trusted, but some people did not trust. Some people said minority kind of cult culty, which I can definitely see that. he ended up giving to the, I think because he felt like, well, I said I would look at female, so he gave it to the, to this female that he said your character came through and she was the one that when they were blindfolded. With the ball drop that was shouting out numbers to people up. Yeah. and he's like, he didn't have a good judge of character. Yeah. And that's what everyone was like, what? Yeah. Of all the people, you chose her, you know?'cause Yeah, she was very like, yeah. Trying to destroy everyone's game. And I think he maybe didn't know that at the time. Like maybe he didn't realize that, that it was her. I know she did say before he picked her, like she was like, just pick a a, a girl, please. Just any girl. It doesn't have to be me. You know? So maybe he thought, oh, well she's a good person, but he didn't know that. So she must be good. Yeah. I think he just went based on very kind of shallow predictions because he probably didn't get to know a lot of the women. Yeah. He, it is just like a bro, bro thing for him. And the way he just kind of, was he an actual preacher? Like was he, or was he, I don't know. He just, I don't know. It's funny'cause I've, I saw something saying like that he was, and that it's like culty, but I don't know. That's interesting. cause you know, we like to talk about cults too, so it all comes back to it. Maybe we could, if we find out more information, we could talk about his. Quotation marks church or whatever it is that he leads church of something. I mean, I don't know. I don't wanna, I don't wanna disparage that. But yeah. yeah, no, I, I really think that this was, I have to say honestly, overall, I got a creepy vibe from Mr. Beast. I think he has a, yeah. I think he just has a very, his affect is very strange to me. His reality is a little skewed than everybody else's. So he's probably used to being the center of attention and having everything planned the way he wants it. Based on his, YouTube. And how he got famous and everything. And you could see that in that, like some of the games were not planned out. Well, we were talking about they were kind of rushed. It was still a fun, like 10 episode seasons. I mean, There's like a few that were kind of sloppy and you're like, well, did he just rush this? Because he wants to get to the big one and he has to have so many, he still needs all these people eliminated. And that's what it felt like. Yeah, I did the, I mean, it was cool, the production of like, the city, the islands, the helicopters, you know, it was all very flashy and big, which was, you know, I hate to say it, but like, that is what we look for sometimes. But it also felt very over the top at some points compared to like, the weak trivia questions that he asked. And yeah, it was just strange. a little bit of like not having a backup plan with some of the games. But also I think his crew and I know maybe we might not agree on this. I thought they were creepy too. They didn't introduce them. And they were just kind of wearing black and they were kind of like creeping around. Yeah. I don't know. The two boys, I know they're probably not boys. They're probably like 26 or something, but like They do look young though. they seemed. Less creepy than the others.'cause they actually seemed like they tried to get friendships with some of the, contestants. Sometimes they were just kind of taunting them though. And heckling them. Yeah. And that was probably their job. I just didn't get a good vibe from them. I just didn't really like it overall. But, in terms of that, with like that being brought on, I thought it was a little bit all over the place. Mm-hmm. Like, couldn't tell. How, was there like five of them, or six or four? I don't, I don't know. Yeah. There's probably, didn't really know their names, didn't really know the connection that they had. They, were they just his friends? Yeah. Like, were they best friends? Do they all YouTube together? Do they, you know, how do they know each other? Maybe if like we watch some of Mr. Beast, I just don't watch him. I watch. Yeah. I don't watch Mr. Beast. I I, I am curious to now, but yeah, I haven't seen, I, I only heard about it because my son, people at his class were talking about Beast games, so then we started watching it. Mm. Yeah. Luck strategy, trust, manipulation. Group individual dynamics you have to take into account. I don't know that there's one formula for being able to win. I think it is a lot of luck. And likability and being able to know how to proceed and some Kind of, thinking on your feet. Like the guy who won, what was his name, Jeff? I think he had like ability, he had the story. he got to know everybody and then at the end, he was just really smart and in tune. Like he was able to see how the other person, like, oh, how is she acting? What, how did she answer the questions? Which briefcase might she have put? Where you know is. Yeah, he, he seemed to read body language and psychological kind of cues very well, and mm-hmm. I thought that was really impressive, the way he picked case number six. Yeah. And even how he answered and, you know, then paused and you could tell, she was like, ah, crap, I was caught. Or I, yeah, yeah. I knew he wanted, when he said like, he was going towards six, I was like, oh, no. She definitely kind of gave herself away. Like, she thinks she's like kind of a, you know. a brick wall. And she's not giving off any clues, but she definitely did give a little bit of like, her eyes got a little, you could just tell like she was a little nervous. And he, he also was, wasn't he the one that hung in the physical challenge with the other guy? So he was, Jeff was pretty physical too, so he was a lot, I thought it was a different guy. I thought it was the tattooed guy and another skinny guy. Oh, maybe. Or maybe he was the pushup. He was like the, like second in pushups or something. Maybe I'm mixing'em up. it was hard to tell sometimes who was who, because there were so many people at certain points. But he, yeah, he had a lot of abilities and he had like the purpose, he had the story and, yeah. Likability, I think people liked him. He was always in a group of people.'cause that was one thing too, where Mr. Beast would watch to see who was alone, who wasn't which friendships they had or who they chose to hang out with. Again, that's why even if you're just wanna play solitaire or take a nap in the back, you kind of would wanna be seen or sit with people or try to get to know people. Or maybe try to get to know people that you wouldn't wanna hang out with because it seemed like that also, then he would pit the friends together. So start talking to people at different times that you don't even like. So then he is like, look, they're friends and then they eliminate your enemy. Yeah. But I mean, I think people are just people and they're gonna gravitate towards who they gravitate toward. they have like this insane, like thousand. Thousand cameras set up so they could really analyze every single detail. they made a ruling on one of the challenges with like the balls dropping or whatever. At first they thought one team had lost and then it ended up being the other one.'cause they caught on camera. Somebody actually let the ball drop. he let it touch the floor and it bounced so quickly up. I guess they missed it the first time around, but then they saw it on the cameras. So that system and kind of the watching that it's necessary with that many people. Mm-hmm. And that much money. For sure. Yeah. because he gave away a lot of money. There was a lot along the way. There were offers of like, you know, the million dollars for, the four team leaders. None of them took that. I was very surprised that none of'em took. thought one of taken that thought of them was gonna taken'cause honestly,'cause that was only like day two or three. It wasn't too far into it. And then they have the four team leaders looking at their groups and it's like, okay, well if you take the million, you get to keep the million and you're in the game. And then everyone in your group is gone. But they didn't even know them yet. They were just all in the same line as them. So that that's'cause they didn't even talk to each other. Just like, okay, everyone stand and stand over here. Who's your group leader? And. So I'd be like, all right, bye. See ya. Yeah. I mean it kind of, maybe you would've felt like, like that shame, but you know what was there is you are facing them and they're all looking at you like, please, no, I depend on you. Yeah. And so that's really psychologically, like I think that was honestly what kept them kind of like, Ooh, if I do this, I'm really disappointing these people and this feels so shameful to be like up on a platform. Yeah. People watching me take their chance. Away because I want this. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so I think that may have been a deciding factor in that overall. Yeah. Which is a really strong, whether you know the people or not, it's like, like, so I think I, I, I see, I, I don't know. I may have felt too shamed for that, but logically it makes sense. You know? it does. But yeah. And so I think that's where a lot of those four leaders established a lot of credibility. But then, yeah. you know, Jeremy kind of became the, the, the preacher. Like, people were like, eh, he is not really taking women. And, one of'em lost in like the, the cube. The cube gate. Like he just naturally lost and Yeah. so I don't think any of those people made it through Tiawana. Tiana did. Oh yeah. Was the leader. she, that was where I think she had a good strategy in thinking, I can really be liked by this and trusted, but with the other people. There were other things that people saw. And with Dino, it was that thing on the train tracks. And then they just completely forgot about, oh, well, he's trustworthy. And you know, he was kind of in a bad, all of a sudden they were like, all right, screw him. We hate you. And that's where the group think comes in play too. Yeah. Even though, I mean, I'm pretty sure most people would've done that, so Yeah. I don't know. But Tiawana, I think, kind of had, she was the one that made it through and Yeah. I found out really strange that her number and the final three, she was voted by the former contestants as the person they would've Gotten rid of. Which she seemed to be the most liked. I don't know if it was'cause it was anonymous or, like I said, maybe the question was framed to them, like, who would you not want to compete against? I don't know. But I found that really odd. She was the one. And then Gge of course, who was the one that got them 10 million. That coin flip that he took was insane.'cause he could have been eliminated or mm-hmm. Just, you know, made a pop bigger for someone that was not him, which he ultimately did. Yeah. But a lot of, a lot of psychological elements, a lot of mm-hmm. You know, and people being manipulative to, to, you know, try and. during the, the city game with people trying to get votes and everything and you know, people lying, people bribing people with money. Yeah. You know, just to be able to get a seat and it's like, how, you know, how far would you go? That I would've totally messed up and been like, will you vote for me? I think, overall it was a good watch. Very interesting to see what people would do. if you can see their integrity, but if you can really see, that you are in line with being able to get life changing money. And I don't think that is really necessarily people's. Character or dignity fully. especially with, the way things are now in the world. So I don't know that it's a great measure of people and how they truly Are, but maybe in seeing opportunity in these places to be like, well, nobody's getting hurt. Well, and it's also some of their most vulnerable things too. finances really make people. Think and behave differently than they would in probably normal day-to-day situations. Yeah. And in these offerings with some of the money, and of course the final pot of 5 million, it can be completely life changing for people that they could pay down their debt, have a fresh start, or, you know, start up a business for passive income Wealth, right? And setting up your family for generations.

32:07

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 32:08

So that's a lot to think about. It's not a, it's not a small thing that, you know, saying like, okay, maybe this clip of me being a good person that'll make me feel better. Right. That kind of thing, like that won't make me feel great. In the end. But, I do think. I do, you know, I, I actually, I kind of wonder if some people at the beginning, the very first episode, if they thought if they sacrificed themselves when they weren't offered anything just for the benefit of the team, if they thought maybe they would get something or if maybe they just have that like guilt complex of like, I don't deserve it, you know, kind of thing. Yeah. Or maybe they just felt this like pressure of, I, I don't wanna be here, this is too much. I am kind of wondering what that was, I could see myself 10 years ago, 15 years ago, getting in that position. I don't think I'd be there right now, but I definitely used to have feelings like that Like I felt like, oh my gosh, I can't take this. This is too much and I don't deserve to be here. These other people do it becomes like a self worth thing of like, not only am I putting other people's needs first, I'm not worthy. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of wonder if that was what was happening in that first game with some people. Oh, I'm sure some people, it may have been, maybe they felt like, okay, this game isn't for me. It's too much. Yeah. Or maybe some people thought they would get something from it. I don't know. But you never know what's gonna happen. There's so many twists and turns. So they have to really prepare for that. psychologically it takes you on some twists and turns. Mm-hmm. It does. It's a lot. It is good. Yeah. So this brings me to a question or a fun question. Okay. If you had to choose one challenge to go through, out of all the challenges, which one would you want to do on B schemes?

33:50

Hmm.

Erin: 33:51

I think I'd probably do, I don't know, some of the challenges in the tower in the city looked pretty fun. You know, some of those like where you're, you're with the teams or you're, but I think I probably the train, even though it's high anxiety, I think being on top of the platform, figuring out when I'm gonna pull it would be really fun. Okay. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. I think that would probably not be, that would be the least one I would wanna do because I would always, I, I am a person who questions like, did I do the right thing? Right. Even if I feel like I did, I will question myself. So I actually think, oddly enough, as much anxiety as this would give me, I'd rather go with like the chance games. Well, it was a, you know, if I had to do it so that I, I wouldn't have to like doubt myself and be like, did I doubt myself? Did I, did I do this enough? Right. And, question myself. Yeah. But I, I think that's probably what I would do.'cause it's like, well, what else could I do? Yeah. You know, like, it's not, it's not of the like politics or anything playing into it and. You're just standing there. I would not wanna do the strength one, and all of a sudden I have to do like 50 pushups or something like that. Like you pull a monster truck, you don't wanna pull a monster truck and, or like feel like you're in the presidential fitness thing or something. Yeah. These people, but then the group that you didn't think was gonna win, because they seemed like they were like smarter with like, okay, let's just slow down and figure this out. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. It was a physical challenge, but yeah, they used their brains and I kept saying, we were like, oh, like if you go back and you get some momentum kind of thing. We were both thinking that, but we were like, but these people, maybe that's how they, I don't know that that was a good thing. They thought of that because that's what got them to win it. But, yeah, so, let us know what you think. Tanya watched the entire thing in like a couple days. I, it took me, I think it took me like two weeks. So we would just do one episode, one or two episodes a night. Which is the better way to do it, because I had so much anxiety and it was just all compounded. Yeah. Honestly. But it's very addictive. It's very addictive and it is very adrenaline. And it had our family having lots of conversations. I mean, we are talking a lot about Mr. Beast and just a lot of stuff. I mean, which is, I mean, it's, that's the point, right? So I mean, it was, it was fun. Yeah, I don't think there's certain game shows. I'm like, I, I would like to see myself on that one day, or if I felt like it, I don't think I'd wanna be on Mr. Beast. I would go, but I don't think if there's a, there's probably a rigorous process to get through with it. I don't think I'd wanna go through that to do it. And then, well, if I can get on it and then get eliminated like the first day or two and still bring home like 20,000 or something like that, that'd be fine. Yeah, that'd be nice. I think that'd be good. I just don't, I don't wanna go through that whole thing. And like, it's, honestly, it's a little bit of psychological warfare. I really wouldn't want to go through that. It's not fun, Yeah. So, yeah, let us know what you thought. If you watched it or if you wanna watch it, what you think, if you would go on beach games or what challenges you liked, which ones you didn't, people you liked, you didn't, we didn't go too much into the people because, they're numbered. Yeah. they're numbers. But also I think It's up to everyone's judgment on that. And I think it's very contextual. It's kind of not fair to really call one person out. it's a tough situation. it's complex. Plus we forgot a lot of their names, so Yeah, I don't know. I didn't really know any of their names, honestly. And I think that's the way that Mr. B said it,'cause that's like 882 or blah, blah blah. So you're just numbers. It was very dystopian squid games ish with that. Like referring to their numbers and the way he just talked to them and yeah, it was very odd. But, yeah, so, let us know what you think. Don't forget to follow us on all the socials, including YouTube, which we are on as well. We're not as big as Mr. Beast, but we'll get there. No, but we're getting there and, we're coming Mr. Beast. but, yeah, help write us a review with five stars. We hope. if you know, otherwise, maybe if you don't feel five stars, maybe we, you just don't, you know, just like, just yeah. Five stars is great. And forward the show to a friend. And don't forget, stay wicked and keep your mind well. All right everyone, have a great week. We'll talk to you soon. Bye guys. Bye.