In this 2023 YouTube video, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) and his crew (Karl Jacobs, Nolan Hansen, and others) embark on a series of wildly contrasting jobs to illustrate the gap between low‑pay and ultra‑high‑pay careers. They start with a $1‑a‑year gold‑panning experiment, then move to a $100,000‑a‑year dinosaur‑bone excavation for a museum, a $200,000 astronaut‑training session at NASA (including lunar‑rover driving and handling moon rocks), a flight‑training segment that culminates in piloting a real plane, a $1 million‑a‑year hand‑modeling gig with a professional hand‑model, a sponsor plug for the video game Immortals of Aveum, and finally a $10 million‑a‑year NFL stunt where MrBeast signs a two‑day contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, practices with the team, meets Tom Brady, and plays in a mock game. Throughout, the video blends comedic commentary, behind‑the‑scenes footage, and sponsor integration, while repeatedly emphasizing the absurd salary differences and the entertainment value of trying jobs far outside the creators’ expertise.
Chapters
I'm about to work this $10 million job as a professional athlete, and I'm going to show you the difference between this and getting paid $200,000 to be an astronaut. This is insane. Getting paid $100,000 to dig up real dinosaur bones. Oh my God. And so many other jobs, starting with the lowest paying job I could find, gold panning. That can make as little as $1 a year. But we're going to make millions. Statistically not. Basically, gold panners put dirt in this mechanism, and with enough shaking and water, all of the gold is filtered out to the bottom. But it's not very easy because after 5 hours of searching, I was definitely not rich. Oh, boys, I found gold!
Yo!
How much is that little nugget worth? That is— 2 cents. Exactly my point. You could do this for a whole year and only make a dollar. But luckily for us, we're going to be working jobs that pay over $10 million per year. But first, let's see what it's like to work a job that pays $100,000 per year.
Digging up dinosaur bones.
Bones for a museum. And yes, these are fake because they're all dead. So this is just one of our pits. Are these actually dinosaur bones?
They are.
I've been here 17 years. This is easily the largest bone that I've ever worked on in my career. This is your thigh bone right here, and it's over 4 feet tall. For comparison, here's that dinosaur next to 6 Carl stacked on top of each other.
Keep in mind, I'm 6'5".
These are mini jackhammers, essentially. How you doing it?
He has no idea what he's doing.
He has no idea. Now, this may come as a surprise, but we are god-awful terrible at this.
Whoops.
Be careful. It took us 5 hours to make any progress whatsoever. But even with us holding him back, with the help of the expert, we were getting somewhere. This is easily the largest bone that I've ever worked on in my career. And you let me and Carl touch that?
Absolutely.
What if we messed it up? Josh, how much does this weigh? Probably gonna be 2, 250 pounds.
Yep.
This is 1/10 the weight of Nolan's mom.
Oh wow.
Now because this bone is so ancient, we have to cover it in a cast before we pick it up, or else it could literally break in half. Let's So it doesn't fall apart when we lift it. 1, 2, 3.
Oh, yes. Highway, baby.
Good job. This is the first time any humans have ever carried this bone. Just YouTubers carrying a dinosaur bone.
Front of the table. 1, 2, lift.
Watch your head, Tom. And believe it or not, this dinosaur bone did find its way into a museum. But because museums are boring, let's head over to the $200,000 job, astronaut training with NASA. And my first mission, learn to drive the official lunar rover. This is what will one day be on the moon.
Yeah, this is how we're going to get around the surface of the moon.
Why are they letting me drive this?
Open the doors.
How do I work this thing?
Push forward on the stick.
Right now?
Yeah. Go for it.
Push forward.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Don't kill us. I'm scared. You're good. Oh, this is amazing.
Go ahead and twist.
To the right? To the right or left.
I don't care.
Oh my God, there are cars.
Is this street legal? Street legal around here.
Oh, this is amazing.
Why are we driving sideways?
I haven't figured out how to straight it yet. And even though I'm driving like I'm actually drunk, I still managed to get us to NASA's lunar training yard where the real test is going to be. Oh, we're off-roading.
Oh, God.
Oh, this is getting bumpy. You're going to let me drive it down this hill? Is there seat belts in this thing?
There's a seat belt we don't use right there.
Yeah, they've got seat belts they don't use. That's helpful. Whoa, that's way too steep. Oh, no way. Are we really going down? Can I get that seat belt now?
Oh, my God.
Wait, we're going down the hill sideways. Stop it.
No, no.
Lift your hand so they can see I'm driving. He's actually—
I'll get up and let— No, no, no. Sit there. No.
Go sideways in the crater? Sure.
Hold me, Karl. Hold me.
Landon, I'm just going to say it. You wouldn't survive on the moon. I reckon I could do it. Next in training, NASA showed me around their enormous space facility. Holy crap. This is the second largest pool on Earth. Which I'll be honest, it just felt like they were flexing on me, especially when they showed me the spacesuit.
As far as anybody's concerned, once you try on a spacesuit, you're an astronaut.
But of course, there was a catch.
When you go on a spacewalk, you have to wear a diaper.
You're in the suit for 12 hours.
Wow.
There you go.
Like an actual real adult diaper. Okay.
So be careful. This is a space artifact. It's flown on the space shuttle several times.
So real astronauts have worn this?
Yes.
Keep in mind that astronaut peed in this.
Have you peed in this suit?
I—
not in this suit, no.
Okay.
3, 2, 1.
When's the next mission?
What are you doing a year from now?
I can make time.
Okay. Okay.
And the final step of my training was the craziest thing I've ever done. They were going to let me touch the moon.
Now, now, lean back into it because it weighs 9,000 pounds.
This weighs 9,000 pounds? This is the largest collection of moon rocks on display anywhere in the world. I can't believe they're letting us do this.
You realize we're just a YouTube channel?
Yeah.
Oh my God. These are just straight up on the moon.
What are the odds you'll let me touch the Genesis rock?
Zero.
Yesterday we dug up a dinosaur fossil, so I'm an expert in this kind of stuff. Can I touch it?
No.
I tried. This material here is actual lunar soil.
No way, bro.
You're actually touching the moon right now.
Oh, that's wild. So that tube has dirt from the moon. It has not been opened since it came back.
And since you haven't checked, in theory, there could be an alien.
Yes. Well, it would be the first from the moon.
Wait.
From the moon.
You guys are lying.
And after we found out aliens were totally real, we headed to the stratosphere for our next job, where Karl and Nolan are going to fly a plane.
I've never flown a plane before.
We have no idea where we're going.
I don't know what we're doing.
Welcome to the first day of flight training.
I'm not joking. For the boys to somehow fly a real plane, all they have to do is land one time in this flight simulator.
All right, here we have our throttle. Pulling it back makes it go slower, just like that. Oh my God.
And after Nolan crashed—
Ah! Oh God.
And crashed and crashed—
You crashed the plane?
He eventually did land successfully, which for whatever reason gave him the keys to fly this real plane.
Yo, I'm freaking out. Hey, if you can't do this, Nolan, please, for the love of God, let them know now. Oh!
Oh my God, I'm gonna fly a plane.
Oh my God.
All right, here we go. You ready to go?
As ready as I'll ever be.
Full throttle. Approaching 60. Kind of wobbly, but now just pull back a little bit. We're taking off. Oh my God. Your life is in my hands.
He is literally controlling this entire thing.
Yes, he is, all by himself. Everyone else has ever caused a crash, right? Uh, well. Watch this, I'm gonna turn right. No. Turn right. Oh my God, we're sideways. I can't believe that I'm controlling this thing. Look, no hands. Oh, sweet Jesus! You moron! I'm gonna murder you! All right, we're gonna go over there in a minute. We're gonna go back and land. Oh my God, I forgot. That's the one thing that's always a challenge for people. All right, I'm descending.
My mental health is descending also.
This is the part I crashed in every time in the simulator. Oh God, we're gonna land right there on top of that runway. Oh my God, we're too close, right? Keep it pointed right down the middle.
Oh my God, easy.
Keep your arrows on. You gotta wait. Hold that. Just breathe. There we go.
We touched ground.
You did it, man. I landed a plane. Oh my God. He said I couldn't do it, but we're still here. You didn't kill me.
I was genuinely surprised that the job that pays $1 million a year is hand modeling, but only if you're one of the highest paid hand models in the world. She makes 5 times the average salary of a doctor by letting people take photos of her hands.
And her resume is stacked.
She's hand modeled for almost any brand you've ever heard of. Her hands are even insured for $1 million per hand. I can't wait to see this in action. So to start us off, she examined our hands.
I didn't know that today was going to be the day that I'd find new insecurities.
Okay, so immediately I can see the nails need work.
Of course.
Agreed. These hands suck.
Okay.
Look how much hair is here compared to Karl's. Can I get paid more for that?
The skin texture might be better here with these two.
Can you change me?
I don't know if I can work miracles. But I haven't seen your hands yet, Jimmy.
Your hands, like, glow.
That's crazy. Why are your hands so glossy?
I don't know. Are my finger structures good?
Yeah. No, they're very good, actually. But again, we've got cuticle issues, skin issues here, but that can all be fixed.
Our hands clearly needed work, so we had to prepare them to shoot, which was pretty easy for me and Karl. But for Laser, not so much. Oh, God. Bro, you can make a rug out of all that hair. This hair's been with me my whole life. But you got to do what you got to do if you want to make $1 million. And now that my hands are no longer disgusting, we're going to model for an actual magazine. And these photos are literally going to be shown on billboards all across America to promote these watches.
That's petrifying.
Yeah, no, no pressure.
Okay. I mean, the watch looks good.
I honestly thought this was going to be easy, but we were actually horrible at this. It looks like the watch is on a snake. Bro, this is so hard. Can I see the difference with you doing it?
Oh, what?
Unreal.
The product looks better because her hand doesn't shake as much. But being a hand model isn't all about wearing nice watches. Sometimes you have to model weird things. Why are you squirming?
Because I see a man holding a snake off camera.
Breathe, Karl, breathe.
Put your other hand out here and kind of support his head.
Of course I'll support—
One final thing I need to throw in the mix is Immortals of Aveum, the sponsor of this video. Just hold that right there. Okay, perfect. Now he's modeling the watch, a snake, and this game. Yo, look at that. That looks crazy. Immortals of Aveum is a first-person magic shooter where you play as a battle mage named Jack trying to save the world, Karl. Can he save me? This time I need you to model the Xbox version of the game with the scorpion.
No way, bro. You want to grab between there and here.
Is this actually safe for the animal?
Yes.
Perfect. Perfect. Get it, get it.
Go, go, talk, talk and go and talk about the game.
You can sling 25 different types of magic spells and unlock 80 different talents to customize your character to suit your playstyle. Karl, you think Immortals of Aveum are going to love that photo?
Immortals of Aveum, I hope you love this.
Just hold the scary animals and then we get to join the NFL for our final job. The people who created Immortals of Aveum also helped make the award-winning campaigns of Halo, Call of Duty, and Dead Space.
We love those campaigns. Oh, it's moving.
And the coolest thing is they put me in the game as a boss. And if you kill me in the game, you get more gold than any other boss the game gives you. Oh, nice. I got you. I got you. Just don't look. Immortals of Aveum is out now with a free trial on Xbox as well as PS5, and there's a free demo available on Steam.
I feel it under me. It's under my hand.
We were doing such a bad job that we had the hand model step in to ensure the sponsor would approve of the photos. Click the link in the description if you want to play Immortals of AVM right now. I'm retiring as a handballer. And even though our photos weren't great, we still got them on billboards all across the country. And now it's finally time for the job that pays $10 million per year. That's right. I'm about to literally join the NFL. This is literally my dream. And if you think this is all fake, here I am signing a real contract to become a literal player for the Buccaneers worth $10 million. It might say we're not going to pay it, but it at least says that dollar amount.
No, no.
Focus on the dollar amount.
Official.
Congratulations.
So for the next 48 hours, I'm officially a player.
You are officially a player.
I promise I won't let you down.
I promise he will let you down.
By the end of my contract, I'm going to be running out with the team on the field in front of 60,000 fans. The first step is weight training.
That might be too light. Let's go up.
Let's go up.
Easy.
I don't actually think they're paying me the $10 million.
I see you struggle. Are you a winner or are you a falcon? Easy. Yeah.
I've noticed they yell at you a lot when you're an NFL player.
Can you set it to whatever the strongest player on your team does?
I'm going to see if I can do one. He can do 12 of these? Holy crap.
He's not a normal human.
I would hate to be hit by him.
One more, one more. Yeah! Foot forward! Easy! Come on! Woo!
Why is the NFL so hard? How does this compare to their typical workouts?
Pretty pathetic.
Hopefully the lightheadedness goes away.
It will.
You get used to it.
OK. Up next was my first practice at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training facility. So naturally, I met my coach. How's it going?
How you doing, son? Good. And my new teammates. Meet you, man.
My name's Shaq.
My kids love you.
I love your videos. Oh, really?
The candy bars, the Karl Gummies.
Y'all ready?
Yeah!
And my new teammates couldn't believe I actually signed with the team, so I showed them my contract to prove it. Is this the same one you guys signed?
It looks like you got more money than me though. I ain't getting that much.
But if you read it, it says, "Unless canceled in 48 hours." For sure gonna cancel. Yeah, look at the parentheses for sure.
Hey, you official.
Welcome to the team.
I know.
Thank you. My new teammates over here. These guys make us look like children. They're so big. Look at the size comparison.
I'll be honest, I've never I've never played football before.
So they threw me on as kicker, which— Oh yeah! Oh, I was terrible at.
MrBeast, we need you out. We gotta get ready for tomorrow.
You're right, you're right, you're right. I'll QB. And since I've never played quarterback before either— And hike! I just threw one up as far as I could.
Oh! That's touchdown!
In case you didn't know, the team I just joined is the same team Tom Brady won the Super Bowl with. So I thought it'd be funny to surprise him.
Oh, we got him!
Tom! Oh, I almost got hit.
Team B, what's up, baby? What's up, T-B? What's up, bro?
Yo, what's up, buddy? I have a friend here You might literally die of happiness if you say I don't. You can't do this to me. You can't do this to me.
Oh, I'm dead. I'm dead.
After that, our practice just devolved into shenanigans.
Little man!
Oh!
3! Too small. Yeah.
You can go back to filming. All right, guys.
See y'all.
Some people still had some questions about my 2-day contract. So afterwards, the Bucs set up a press conference for me. We obviously have a big game. I'm expecting very serious questions only. Is this just a publicity stunt?
Why are you really here?
To make the best video possible. Yes, it's a publicity stunt. I clearly am not an NFL player.
Jimmy, how does it feel being on the new team?
It feels great, to be honest. They've accepted me way more than I thought.
How much playing time are you expecting?
Uh, none. And after explaining over and over again that it's just a stunt, I went to go get measured.
6'4"?
6'4.5". Carl, you're 6'5".
I'm 6'5".
Yeah, yeah.
These measurements are key so that my gear and my uniform are all custom fitted. This actually looks so good.
There we go.
And now that I'm suited up, it's time for the official game day. I still don't know why they're letting me do this, but hey, thanks, Bucks. Are you surprised they let me join the team?
Yeah.
That's my first football I've ever signed. Jimmy's about to come out any second now. They say if you get up by 100, I can play a play. Do me a favor and get up super high.
It's his first game and probably his last.
Definitely his last. How is this happening?
I'm screaming!
Since this is the only NFL game I'll ever be a part of, the team actually let me lead them out the tunnel.
Let's go, boys! Let's go!
Let's go!
Jimmy! That's our friend! Let's not get run over by the players.
Is this the best day of your life? This is the best day of my life, Jimmy.
I love you.
We're getting passed by the players.
Jimmy's an NFL player! Ow!
How's it going?
Let's go, boys!
I won't let you guys down, even though I probably won't get played up.
America! Let's play football! Yeah!
Huge shout out to the Buccaneers for making me an official NFL player. It's honestly a good thing I didn't play because if they hit me, I probably would have died. And I thought it was all over there until the Falcons made fun of me on Twitter. So in retaliation, I'm going to nuke their stadium.
