MrBeast and Kai Cenat's $310K Twitch firework stunt turned two, and creators are still running the same playbook

Two years ago today, MrBeast joined Kai Cenat on Twitch, gave $310K away to 31 viewers in an hour, and appeared to accidentally blow up Cenat's bedroom with a professional-grade firework. The 'accident' was staged. The bedroom was a scale replica built in a field, and both stars watched the pyrotechnics from a concrete bunker. It was the most-watched Twitch broadcast of the week, and it was, functionally, an ad unit.

⚡ Key Takeaways

MrBeast and Kai Cenat gave away $310K in one hour on Twitch on July 3, 2024, then faked blowing up Cenat's bedroom with fireworks in front of 457,400 concurrent viewers.
The 'accident' was the ad unit: T-Mobile and Feastables both bought placement across the run, and the behind-the-scenes reveal was pre-planned as a second content drop the next day.
Twitch pulled the VOD within hours and warned Cenat's rep a permanent ban was on the table; his channel survived only after MrBeast produced footage proving the set was a replica in an open field.
The stream out-drew HasanAbi's simultaneous Trump/Biden debate coverage roughly 3-to-1, which is a real statement about what Twitch's algorithm rewards.
Two years later the stunt-as-ad-unit template is everywhere at the top of the market, and it's still one community-guideline call away from evaporating $310K in sponsor value.
Fanvault's take: the next 100,000 profitable creators run storefronts and paid DMs off 5K to 50K audiences, and at that scale an 8% take rate versus Fanvue's 15% or Fanfix's ~20% is the whole business.

What actually happened?

On July 3, 2024, Cenat and MrBeast ran a roughly one-hour joint stream that peaked at 457,400 concurrent viewers, per Streams Charts. They gave away $310,000 split across 31 winners while promoting T-Mobile and MrBeast's Feastables chocolate brand. Roughly halfway through, AMP's Davis Dodds walked on with a firework labeled 'for professional use only,' lit the pile behind the couch, and the room appeared to erupt as the talent fled screaming.

Twitch pulled the VOD within hours. Complex reported that Cenat's rep was told a permanent ban was on the table under the community guideline against activity that could 'endanger your life.' Cenat only kept his account after producing a MrBeast-directed behind-the-scenes reveal showing the whole set was a scale replica of his bedroom, built in an open field, with everyone safely watching from a concrete bunker.

The behind-the-scenes video hit TikTok and YouTube the next day and racked up millions of views on its own. Two sponsors, one manufactured controversy, and a reveal drop planned as a second content asset, all baked into one broadcast. Tubefilter published the full mechanical breakdown the day after, and it read less like a news writeup than a case study.

Why does this matter for creators?

The stunt was not a stunt. It was the ad unit. Two sponsors baked into a one-hour drop, engineered controversy designed to trigger algorithmic reach across TikTok and X, and a behind-the-scenes reveal that itself became a second content asset on a second platform.

The stream drew about 3x the audience of HasanAbi's simultaneous Trump/Biden debate coverage, per Streams Charts. Real politics was on Twitch that night. A staged firework prank beat it, which tells you everything about what Twitch's algorithm rewards and what sponsors will pay for.

"They told us ASAP, we can get banned for blowing it up. We didn't know this whole time. That's why the VOD went down. If anyone went to check the VOD, the VOD disappeared. I was on the verge of getting banned. I had to hurry up and tell my rep, the people that represent me on Twitch, I had to show them everything, I had to show them the whole set."
Kai Cenat, in his July 4 follow-up livestream, via Complex

Where does this go from here?

Two years on, the template is everywhere in the top-of-market creator economy. Big creators run stream-length or video-length productions with a manufactured 'is this real?' moment, brand integrations timed to the spike, and a reveal drop planned as its own asset. Every MrBeast team collaboration, every Kai Cenat AMP crossover, every megaproducer running with $500K budgets is a variation of the July 3 playbook.

The dependency is platform risk. Kotaku covered the same near-ban and what happens if Twitch says no next time. One community-guideline call, one sponsor pulling a placement over the 'endangerment' optics, and $310K in booked sponsor value evaporates before the giveaway lands. That's the model the whole industry is copying, and it's a leveraged bet on a single platform's mood.

What does Fanvault think?

Fanvault's read: the platforms still charging creators 15% to 20% for the privilege of hosting content are betting the whole industry stays MrBeast-shaped. It isn't. The next 100,000 profitable creators won't build pyrotechnic sets in open fields or hire behind-the-scenes crews to shoot the reveal. They'll run storefronts, paid DM lanes, and paywalled drops off audiences of 5K to 50K.

At that scale, the fee stack is the whole business model. An 8% take rate (versus Fanvue's 15%, Passes' 10% plus $0.30, or Fanfix's ~20%) is the difference between a viable small business and an expensive hobby. The Cenat stream is entertainment. The next decade of creator income is going to be built by people who don't have Feastables money.

The Cenat stream was a great watch. It is a bad economic model to plan a career around.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people watched the MrBeast and Kai Cenat firework stream?

The stream peaked at 457,400 concurrent viewers, per Streams Charts. That made it the second-largest peak of Kai Cenat's career at the time, behind his 721,700-viewer Kevin Hart and Druski collab from weeks earlier. It was also roughly 3x the audience HasanAbi pulled that same night streaming the Trump/Biden debate.

Was the Twitch firework really an accident?

No. The whole set was a scale replica of Kai Cenat's bedroom built in an open field, and Cenat, MrBeast, and their crew watched the actual pyrotechnics from a concrete bunker, per Kotaku. MrBeast posted the behind-the-scenes reveal to TikTok and YouTube the next day, which itself became a second content drop with millions of views.

Did Kai Cenat get banned from Twitch?

He came close. Complex reported that Twitch pulled the VOD within hours and told his rep a permanent ban was on the table under the community guideline prohibiting activity that could 'endanger your life.' Cenat kept his account only after his team walked Twitch through the full replica set and confirmed the whole stunt was staged in a controlled outdoor location.

How much did MrBeast and Kai Cenat give away?

$310,000 total, split into 31 individual prizes for viewers, over the course of a roughly one-hour Twitch broadcast, per Tubefilter. T-Mobile and MrBeast's Feastables both had promotional placement across the stream. The giveaway was the setup for the sponsored content, not the point of the broadcast.

Why does an 8% platform fee matter to smaller creators?

Because at 5K to 50K audiences, the fee stack IS the business model. On $10,000 in monthly creator revenue, Fanvault's 8% take leaves $9,200, Passes' 10% plus $0.30 per transaction leaves roughly $8,700 to $8,900 depending on order count, Fanvue's 15% leaves $8,500, and Fanfix's ~20% leaves $8,000. That $1,200 delta per month is the difference between paying rent from creator income and treating it as a side project.