YouTube Star Mr. Beast Says He Was Invited on Doomed Titan Titanic Trip
YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr. Beast, is known for his wild stunts and massive giveaways. The creator, who owns the platform’s second-largest channel, claims he came pretty close to a recent tragedy. Mr. Beast took to social media to claim he was offered a seat on the ill-fated Titan submersible trip to the Titanic wreckage. The vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, went missing on June 18. All five passengers are presumed dead.
YouTube content creator, Mr. Beast, says he was invited on the ill-fated Titan submersible
Before the official dive date, OceanGate Expedition CEO, Stockton Rush, was apparently courting potential passengers. At least, that’s what Mr. Beast and others are claiming. Just two days afte the U.S. Coast Guard announced a debris field for the Titan submersible had been located, Mr. Beast took to Twitter to insist he had a brush with the ill-fated dive to the Titanic wreckage.
In a Tweet, Mr. Beast said he had been invited on the dive but declined the offer. The tweet went on to say that it was scary how closely connected he was to the deadly expedition. He also shared a screenshot of a text message regarding the trip.
Twitter users want more proof from Mr. Beast
Some followers have questioned the authenticity of the screenshot the creator has shared. Several Twitter commenters pointed out that the screenshot shared on the platform showed a text that Mr. Beast sent to someone else, not the other way around. In short, the text bubble shown in the screenshot is blue. All iPhone users know that messages sent from the phone appear in blue in the conversation, while texts received from another iPhone user appear in grey text bubbles.
Since the chat box is blue, the message was sent by Mr. Beast, not received by him. The YouTube content creator has no other proof of his brush with OceanGate. Whether Mr. Beast connected with Stockton Rush or anyone else from OceanGate Expeditions remains unknown, but his story is gaining traction. As of print time, the tweet had been viewed more than 60 million times and retweeted 20,000 times. He’s not the only one claiming to have come close to joining the ill-fated mission to the Titanic, though.
Other potential passengers tell their tales, too
Mr. Beast isn’t the only person who claims they were offered the chance to dive to the wreckage of the Titanic with OceanGate Expeditions. An investor named Jay Bloom and his adult son, Sean, spoke with CNN about their brush with the Titan submersible. The father and son said they had met with Stockton Rush before the ill-fated expedition. They both had misgivings about the planned dive and opted out of going along.
Bloom told CNN he remembered thinking Rush had a “different risk appetite” before deciding against signing up for the trip. According to the investor, he met with Rush in March 2023, just three months before the dive. Bloom and his son told the outlet that the tragic disaster felt too close for comfort.
The Titan submersible, built and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, launched off a ship at 8:30 am on June 18. The sub planned to dive to the wreckage of the Titanic. A support ship lost contact with the vessel just over two hours later. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified of the missing vessel around 5:40 pm, three hours after the sub should have reemerged from the ocean floor. A search mission was launched. Several days later, a debris field, consistent with a “catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” was found near the Titanic wreckage. All those aboard are presumed to have been killed.
Onboard the submersible was company CEO Stockton Rush; Hamish Harding, an adventurer; Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French Navy diver and Titanic expert.
