Beast Games Season 2 is heading to the finish line, and as someone who's been watching with my Prime Video subscription all season long, I have a note. While the reality series has given us some awesome twists, a Survivor crossover, and big stakes, something is still very much missing from its run on the 2026 TV schedule.
After thinking on it for most of the season, I realized that Beast Games fails in a way that many iconic reality competition shows have been succeeding at for years. The creative team is good at crafting engaging competitions, creating stakes, and even filming dramatic moments. Where it's failing, however, is at giving us a reason to actually care about its competitors, and the episodes would be so much richer with more focus on that aspect.
Beast Games Doesn't Know How To Prop Up Its Competitors With Storytelling
Beast Games is really good about creating moments worthy of reality competition shows, but it lacks the same soul. People come and go in this game quite frequently, but rarely does it feel impactful. There's not a ton of fanfare, a goodbye, and most of the time, we don't even learn their stories or anything about them.
That's fine in Episode 1, but when we still have relatively obscure people I know nothing about in Episode 6, when there will soon be only ten contestants remaining, I have to wonder why no one else has called this out. By the time we've reached this stage of the game, I should have my favorites, why I want them to win, and a story to connect to them. So far, the only people I really remember are the duo who fell in love in the season and some of the returning players from Season 1. By the way, I only really knew a little about those returning players, but I remember their challenges and how they left the game stuck with me.
Beast Games Can Benefit From Slowing Down The Rampant Competition To Do Some More Storytelling
I've watched enough Mr. Beast content to know that the Beast Games production doesn't differ a ton from what the brand delivers with its shorter-form YouTube content. I think going with what you know how to do is good, but the show is limiting itself by not trying to be more like Survivor, Big Brother, or the other big dogs of reality competition shows.
Even Squid Game: The Challenge does a great job in post-production of crafting a story around its competitors and giving the audience a reason to stay invested in someone's journey, no matter how far they make it. Sometimes I think Beast Games gets too caught up in documenting what happens in every stage of the event that they forget to give time to the most interesting bits. The final product is fine, but it could be much better.
Beast Games continues Season 2 on Prime Video with new episodes popping up on Wednesdays. This season is at the tail end, so for those who still haven't had a chance to watch, binge it now and catch up before the big winner is revealed.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
