MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, put dozens of strangers through one of his outrageous tests: How long can people stay in a grocery store to win $250,000? One contestant, Juan Garcia, managed to do it and took home far more than he bargained for after spending over 200 days in the store.
Back in April, MrBeast uploaded a video to his channel titled "Last to Leave Grocery Store, Wins $250,000," and in the months since, the video racked up over 200 million views.
At the start of the video, MrBeast tells his audience he just bought a grocery store and uses the store's intercom to announce that the last person to leave wins the $250,000 prize pot (kept in a comically large gold shopping cart). Some shoppers immediately left with a bounty
of groceries that MrBeast told everyone were free; others began to strategize, building forts and stockpiling food.
After 67 days, with only four contestants left, MrBeast decided to shake things up and gave them an ultimatum: If they decided to stay, he'd restock the entire grocery store, and the four of them had to eat all the groceries – if they were able to do so, they could split a $1,000,000 prize. They decided to stay, and the video ended on a cliffhanger, leaving fans wondering where the new video would be for months.
Today, MrBeast and his team finally released the second part, titled "Eat Everything In A Grocery Store Win $1,000,000."
Garcia, one of the four contestants, quickly became the fan favorite. He was essentially a stand-in father figure for the young men competing for the prize. The April video's comments section was flooded with people praising Garcia's positive attitude and his ability to never let anyone see him sweat. "Juan is the example of every Hispanic dad that makes sacrifices and works hard for their family. He deserves to win," one comment read. "This was just a test of character. Juan's the true winner."
The experience was undoubtedly mentally taxing, and viewers can see the toll it took on the four men. Their mental fortitude paid off in the end – both physically and financially – as they all completed the challenge with a bit of help along the way.
For more than 130 days, the men were filmed as they tried to strategically cook and eat an entire grocery store's worth of food – ensuring none of it spoiled or was wasted, because if it did, the amount of calories the rotten food amounted to would be deducted from the total prize pot.
To keep the men from overexerting themselves while trying to eat millions of calories, MrBeast built a gym for the four men and hired a personal trainer and a nutritionist. Throughout the video, they also faced extra challenges to help them cut specific amounts from their goal. One challenge involved burning as many calories as possible within a 24-hour period. They burned over 200,000 calories, and the resulting food was donated to people in need.
Garcia left the grocery after exactly 202 days with a new ring for his wife, a new car, an excavator for his construction company, and his share of the prize pot, which came to $248,346. Not only did he walk away with a mountain of cash, but he's also got a whole host of new fans.
He was happy to hear all the support he's received from viewers, and that support translated into a massive fan turnout that stopped by the grocery store to cheer the guys on. He said he felt guilty for not being able to talk with them. "I feel sometimes bad because I know a lot of people came to the grocery store and asked for pictures, but I cannot," Garcia tells USA TODAY.
But the biggest question on everyone's mind will most likely be: What does he plan to do with these winnings? "I have a plan to build a house for my family," he says, for him, his wife, and their six kids – three of whom are in college.
His son, Angel Martinez, tells USA TODAY that he was proud to see his dad receive the amount of online love he did because now everyone can see what an upstanding man he's been all these years. Martinez says it was hard not having his dad in the house for over 200 days – he went into the grocery store on Jan. 27 and left on Aug. 16.
"It was definitely difficult not having my dad around, but we just had to go through it," Martinez said. "We would call him to do any little thing with the car or around the house; without him, we had to figure it out on our own."
While the men were filming in the grocery store, they attracted a large group of onlookers, including a YouTube group called Chicos Toxicos, which has over 700,000 subscribers. In a video they uploaded in May, they said Garcia inspired them and promised to support his family while he was filming.
Diego Noboa, a member of the group, told USA TODAY that they fulfilled their promise by donating $20,000 of their own money to Garcia's family over four months. Garcia's son, Angel Martinez, confirmed the donations.
Garcia says that he's kept in touch with the guys since they left the store in August.
Reyhan Dzeko, another contestant with whom Garcia formed a special bond during the challenge, speaks highly of their time together during simulated captivity. "We were just two dads stuck in a grocery store doing it for our families," he tells USA TODAY. "We honestly got really close in there and had the chance to get to know each other and each other’s families."
A touching moment in the video came between the two dads after their families visited, and Dzeko took it particularly hard to see his family leave, not knowing how long it would be before he saw them again.
During the challenge, Dzeko took it upon himself to help Garcia read and write in English. To cheer his teacher up, Garcia decided to show his progress by writing him a heartfelt letter.
"The letter showed me that my time in there was impactful," Reyhan said. "When we started, he was only able to write out three-word sentences, and then, reading that note, he wrote a whole paragraph from start to finish, which wasn’t possible a few months prior. It showed me that all of our hard work had paid off. It just made my heart really happy."
Although he's spent over 200 days away from his family, Garcia has no hesitation about doing another MrBeast video, saying, "If we get the opportunity to do it, we do it again."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How this MrBeast challenge winner won the hearts of fans – and $250K
