If you’ve spent more than ten minutes on the internet in the last five years, you know MrBeast. You’ve seen the thumbnails — the wide-eyed face, the pile of cash, the absurd challenge. You’ve probably watched one video meaning to spend three minutes and come up forty-five minutes later, mildly confused about where the afternoon went.
But who actually is Jimmy Donaldson? How tall is he? How much does he weigh? Who is he dating? And how, exactly, did a kid from Greenville, North Carolina end up as the most subscribed individual on YouTube — with 500 million subscribers and counting?
Let’s get into it.
MRBEAST — QUICK FACTS AT A GLANCE
How Tall Is MrBeast, and What Does He Weigh?
Jimmy Donaldson stands at 6 feet 3 inches tall — around 190 centimetres — which is noticeably above the US male average of 5’9″. If you’ve ever wondered why he seems to loom slightly over everyone in his videos, now you know. Some sources have floated 6’5″, but the widely accepted and confirmed figure puts him at 6’3″.
His weight sits at roughly 185 to 195 pounds (84 to 88 kg), with a lean, athletic build. For someone who spends long shooting days climbing things, running around challenge sets, and sprinting towards cameras, he keeps himself in solid physical shape — which makes sense, given that his body is essentially a piece of production equipment.
His eye colour is blue, his hair is brown, and in February 2024 he revealed that he has astigmatism and started wearing contact lenses. His shoe size is approximately US 12–13. These are, admittedly, minor details — but if you’re here for the full picture, there it is.
Date of Birth, Age & Star Sign
Jimmy was born on May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas, making him 28 years old as of mid-2026. He was raised in Greenville, North Carolina — the city he still calls home today — by his mother Sue, who raised him and his older brother CJ largely as a single parent after his parents divorced when Jimmy was nine.
As a Taurus, he is — according to the stars — stubborn, determined, patient, and extremely hard to stop once he’s decided he wants something. This feels accurate.
The Early Years: $1 a Day and a Point to Prove
Jimmy started his YouTube channel, MrBeast6000, on February 20, 2012, when he was just 13 years old. His first video was titled Worst Minecraft Saw Trap Ever??? — which, in retrospect, is a perfectly humble beginning for a person who would eventually build the largest individual channel in YouTube history.
For the first two years, he made roughly one dollar a day. He uploaded Minecraft videos, estimations of other YouTubers’ net worths, and gaming content that went largely unnoticed. He didn’t quit. He studied what made videos go viral with the intensity of a graduate student, obsessing over thumbnails, titles, retention data, and pacing. He dropped out of East Carolina University after just two weeks to pursue YouTube full-time — a decision his mother apparently took in stride.
In January 2017, he uploaded a video called I Counted to 100,000! It took him 40 hours over multiple days and went viral almost immediately. The era of escalating, expensive stunts had begun.
The Health Fact Most People Don’t Know
Here is something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: Jimmy Donaldson has Crohn’s disease — a chronic inflammatory bowel condition with no cure. He was diagnosed at 15. During the acute phase of the illness, he lost approximately 50 pounds and had to give up competitive baseball and basketball, two sports he had been seriously involved in throughout his childhood.
His mother has linked both his introverted nature and his singular focus on YouTube to the illness. With sports no longer an option, and with long stretches of time to fill during recovery, YouTube became everything. In a very real sense, Crohn’s disease didn’t derail Jimmy Donaldson — it redirected him.
Partner: Thea Booysen
Jimmy is currently engaged to Thea Booysen, a South African Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and published author with a background in neuroscience. Their story is considerably more interesting than most celebrity romance timelines.
They met in South Africa in 2022, during what was supposed to be a trip to Antarctica that ended up being cancelled. A dinner arranged through mutual friends turned into something more. Jimmy — who by his own admission prepared a list of questions to ask potential partners — was apparently quite taken with her immediately.
Despite the considerable distance (he was based in North Carolina, she in Cape Town), they made it work through video calls and visits. They went public at the 2022 Kids’ Choice Awards. By 2024 they were living together and had adopted a dog.
On Christmas Day 2024, Jimmy proposed in front of both families. They announced the engagement on Instagram on January 1, 2025 — because even his personal milestones have impeccable content timing. As of mid-2026, no wedding date has been confirmed, though rumours of a private island ceremony continue to circulate.
Before Thea, he dated Instagram model and YouTuber Maddy Spidell from 2019 to 2022.
500,000,000+
The Money — And Why He Doesn’t Actually Have Much of It
MrBeast’s net worth is estimated at approximately $2.6 billion as of 2026, making him wealthier on paper than many professional athletes. His parent company, Beast Industries, is valued at over $5 billion. He holds a majority stake. That’s where the billions live.
Here’s the paradox: despite being the richest YouTuber in the world, Jimmy reportedly holds less than $1 million in personal liquid cash. He has said publicly that he doesn’t have access to his own bank accounts — his CFO manages everything, and his mother Sue has access to his main account. Every dollar that comes in gets pumped back into the next video, the next product launch, the next giveaway.
His income streams include YouTube advertising across over 14 channels in multiple languages, brand sponsorships worth tens of millions annually, his chocolate brand Feastables (which generated an estimated $250 million in revenue in 2024 and is now reportedly more profitable than the YouTube channel itself), the Amazon Prime competition series Beast Games (a reported $100 million deal, with Season 2 airing in January 2026 and Season 3 already confirmed), his lunch kit brand Lunchly, and investments under the Beast Industries umbrella that now include a fintech acquisition and early-stage telecoms expansion.
Forbes placed his personal earnings at $85 million over the 12 months to April 2025, putting him at the top of their Creator Rich List. He has said his annual revenue runs somewhere between $600 million and $700 million — almost all of which goes straight back into the machine.
The Things He’s Given Away
No profile of MrBeast would be complete without a summary of the sheer volume of things he has given away, because the numbers are genuinely hard to process.
He has handed a private island to a competition winner. He has paid for cataract surgery for 1,000 people who were blind. He has planted over 24 million trees through Team Trees, co-founded with YouTuber Mark Rober in 2019. He co-founded Team Seas, which raised over $30 million to clean ocean plastic. He co-founded Team Water in 2025, raising over $40 million for WaterAid. Through Beast Philanthropy — a YouTube channel where 100% of ad revenue goes to charity — he has funded food banks, built homes, and funded community infrastructure projects around the world.
The challenge videos are the attention engine. The philanthropy is, increasingly, the point.
A Few More Things Worth Knowing
His YouTube name came from his Xbox Live gamertag: MrBeast6000. A $2.6 billion brand, named after a teenager’s gaming handle.
He won the Streamy Award for Creator of the Year four consecutive times — 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He is also the third most followed account on TikTok globally.
He tried to join esports organisation FaZe Clan twice and was rejected both times. He subsequently built something considerably larger.
He describes himself as an introvert. He has said YouTube leaves very little room for a social life outside his close circle of friends — Chris, Chandler, Karl Jacobs, and Garrett — many of whom have featured in his videos for years.
In September 2025 he uploaded a promotional video titled I Bought the NFL, which briefly caused genuine confusion online among people who thought he had actually purchased the National Football League. He had not.
Jimmy Donaldson is 28 years old. He has Crohn’s disease. He dropped out of college in two weeks. He grew up without money, made $1 a day for two years, and turned down every shortcut in favour of making the next video slightly bigger than the last one.
Whether that makes him a genius, a workaholic, a philanthropist, or just someone who found the one thing he was built for and refused to stop — probably all four — the numbers speak for themselves.
504 million subscribers. $2.6 billion. One gamertag from Greenville, NC.