MrBeast's lion cage stunt scrapped

In 2022, MrBeast planned an Antarctica survival shoot with Casey Neistat and Logan Paul. After a week of COVID quarantine in Cape Town, the expedition was canceled when a member of the advance team already in Antarctica tested positive. The crew quickly pivoted to a new production in the African bush: a custom steel cage where MrBeast and Logan Paul would spend the night near wild lions. MrBeast, suffering a severe Crohn's disease flare-up, lasted about four hours in the cage before being hospitalized. He later made the Antarctica trip without Neistat, producing "I Survived 50 Hours In Antarctica."

The Antarctica cancellation was driven by COVID protocols and the medical isolation of the continent — if anyone got sick there, evacuation would be extremely difficult. The lion-cage pivot reflected MrBeast's stated philosophy of hiring people who can "push through a no" and immediately re-planning rather than dwelling on failure.

Casey Neistat has described a 2022 MrBeast shoot to Antarctica that was scrapped after someone on the advance team tested positive for COVID, and a pivot to a lion-cage video with Logan Paul that ended early when MrBeast was hospitalized with a Crohn's disease flare-up. The eventual Antarctica video was titled "I Survived 50 Hours In Antarctica," though the canceled 2022 plan is described in some accounts as a 48-hour survival shoot.