Amazon finally unveils its most dystopian show yet with a real trailer

Sometimes reality TV can actually be a little too real – and Amazon's about to serve up a blockbuster game show that might underline that point quite nicely. Beast Games is the long-gestating result of a team-up with YouTube giant MrBeast, and has been in the works for years.

Now it's about to release, with a confirmed streaming date of 19 December making it just a few weeks away, and we've finally been given a first trailer to digest, which you can check out below.

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The show will see a massive 1,000 contestants competing through a series of rounds to earn an unprecedented cash prize of $5 million, with each round whittling out presumably large numbers of them. It sounds more than a little like Netflix's own (fictional) Squid Game, albeit without the murderous forfeits for losing a round. That still leaves it looking somewhat dystopian, though.

We don't yet know how many episodes the show will run for, or indeed what many of the games will actually entail, but the brief glimpses that we do get in the teaser suggest that they'll be pretty high-octane. It'll be fascinating to see how MrBeast's slightly jarring YouTube-edited presenting style translates to the glossier world of TV production, too.

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The show will almost certainly generate a huge amount of discussion when it finally arrives thanks to controversy that has dogged it for months. Contestants who participated have alleged mistreatment and malnourishment from the show's staff, along with unsafe conditions and sexual harassment.

MrBeast has recently responded by saying the claims have been "blown out of proportion" and that a behind-the-scenes segment attached to the show will refute them. People are likely to watch it with incredible attention to see what can be gleaned, therefore.

All of which makes Beast Games seem like a bigger gamble than Amazon Prime Video might have realised in the battle to be the best streaming service. Whether it'll pay off remains to be seen, but it doubtless was relying on MrBeast being a little more squeaky clean in terms of image than he's looking right now, after a surprisingly turbulent 2024.