MrBeast says he would have paid Alex Honnold more for Taipei 101 climb on YouTube

YouTube star reacts after climber says Netflix payment was modest for live Taipei 101 free solo broadcast.

YouTube creator Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has said he would have paid climber Alex Honnold more than Netflix reportedly did if Honnold had performed his Taipei 101 free solo climb on YouTube.

The comments followed Honnold’s high-profile ascent of Taipei 101, which was broadcast live on Netflix on Jan. 24, drawing millions of viewers worldwide. According to reports cited by Dexerto, the climb was scheduled for Jan. 23 and marked one of the most prominent live extreme sports broadcasts on the platform.

In interviews after the event, Honnold suggested that his compensation was modest compared with payments seen in mainstream professional sports. Speaking to The New York Times, he described the payment as “embarrassingly small” when viewed alongside contracts earned by major league athletes. He added that he considers the payment to be for the spectacle rather than the climb itself, stating that he would have climbed the building regardless.

Online reports have estimated Honnold’s payment at around $500,000, though the climber emphasized that the climb itself was not motivated by money.

Responding to social media discussion around the reported fee, MrBeast said he would have offered a larger sum if the event had taken place on his YouTube channel. “I would have paid him more to do it on my channel,” Donaldson wrote in a post on Jan. 26, as reported by Dexerto.

Fans reacted by encouraging Donaldson to support Honnold’s future climbs, noting that Taipei 101 is one of the tallest buildings in the world. Others suggested additional skyscraper projects could follow.

Honnold has previously noted that securing permission to climb major buildings is one of the biggest challenges in planning such feats. MrBeast, however, has demonstrated his ability to gain access to restricted locations, including filming at the Pyramids of Giza after negotiating with Egyptian authorities.

The exchange has renewed discussion around compensation for extreme sports events streamed on major platforms, particularly as creators and athletes compare traditional media deals with opportunities on YouTube and other digital platforms.