INDIANA, IN — One hundred Indiana State Police troopers took part in a 12-hour chase against YouTube creator MrBeast and four friends in a new video built around a $500,000 prize. The stunt, released Saturday under the title I Got Hunted By 100 Real Cops, follows Jimmy Donaldson and his group as they try to avoid capture until the clock runs out.
The challenge ended with the troopers collecting the money after they captured all five participants before the time limit expired. By Sunday, the roughly 20-minute video had drawn more than 42 million views, reflecting the scale of Donaldson’s audience and the reach of the production.
How the 12-hour challenge worked and why the prize changed hands
In the video, the setup is simple: if police caught all five runners before 12 hours passed, the Indiana State Police team would win $500,000. If even one person stayed free when time expired, Donaldson and his friends would keep the cash. That structure gave the chase a clear finish line and turned the whole exercise into a high-stakes endurance test.
The challenge was designed for video, but it still had to play out with real troopers, real equipment and a real deadline. Donaldson, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has built his brand around large-scale stunts and competition-based videos, and this one placed uniformed officers at the center of the premise.
The result was a clean win for the state police side, which reached the group before the 12 hours were over. The video framed the moment as both a competition and a spectacle built for Donaldson’s massive audience.
Indiana State Police says the production highlighted different parts of its work
Indiana State Police said the filming gave the agency a way to show several parts of its operations, including K-9 teams, emergency response units and the broader work troopers do across the state. In a Facebook post, the agency said it enjoyed being involved and presenting “a different side” of the department.
State police also said the troopers who participated did so while off duty. The agency was compensated for the use of its equipment during filming, according to its statement. Those details suggest the production was treated as both a media project and an official collaboration, rather than a standard enforcement action.
The agency’s public comments focused on the promotional side of the experience, emphasizing visibility and outreach more than the competition itself. The stunt put state police in front of millions of viewers in a format far removed from routine patrol work.
MrBeast’s audience and reach help explain the video’s fast growth
Donaldson is the most-followed creator on YouTube, with more than 514 million subscribers, and that audience helped drive immediate attention to the video. The title alone made clear that the premise centered on a dramatic search involving police and a large cash prize, two elements that tend to travel quickly online.
The video’s early view count underscored that reach. More than 42 million people had watched it by Sunday, just after its release. For Indiana State Police, that meant the challenge was seen far beyond the state and into a global audience accustomed to MrBeast’s elaborate productions.
The collaboration also shows how major creators continue to turn public institutions into part of entertainment-driven content. In this case, the department’s involvement gave the video an official backdrop while the creator’s massive following gave it instant scale.
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