On Could 10, YouTube mega-star MrBeast (actual title James Donaldson) launched a video titled I Survived 100 Hours in an Ancient Temple to his channel, which presently counts greater than 394 million subscribers. The video, a part of his globe-trotting endurance collection, has racked up over 55 million views in simply 4 days. However whereas the challenges could also be actual, not every part proven within the video is—at the very least in keeping with Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past (INAH).
In a statement published May 12, INAH confirmed that Donaldson’s visits to a number of Mayan archaeological zones—together with Chichén Itzá, Calakmul, and Balamcanché—had been carried out with full permission from the federal Ministry of Tourism and the governments of Campeche and Yucatán. The institute acknowledged that every one shoots occurred in areas open to the general public, with out blocking entry for different guests. In Calakmul, the group additionally visited Constructing II, a construction sometimes closed to vacationers however often made out there by advance coordination—one thing INAH mentioned was organized effectively forward of time.
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The assertion, nonetheless, additionally took purpose at a number of inaccuracies within the last reduce. Amongst them: opposite to what’s implied within the video, no drones had been flown inside El Castillo at Chichén Itzá, nobody descended from a helicopter, and nobody spent the evening inside an archaeological web site. INAH emphasised that its employees had been current all through the manufacturing to implement security and preservation protocols.
One of many extra theatrical moments within the video options Donaldson being handed what seems to be a centuries-old funerary masks. “Why is that this not in a museum?” he jokes on digicam. “Why is a YouTuber holding this?” In response to INAH, he wasn’t. “The one offered is clearly a up to date replica,” the company mentioned, including that no genuine artifacts had been dealt with or eliminated throughout the shoot.
Nonetheless, regardless of the “false assertions,” INAH struck a conciliatory tone, saying that content material like Donaldson’s might assist spark curiosity amongst youthful viewers in Mexico’s cultural heritage—as long as it’s adopted up with traditionally correct context.
