YouTube creator MrBeast is no stranger to elaborate stunts. He's built his brand around raising money for charitable causes, issuing challenges to fans, and putting huge cash prizes at stake for whatever he's up to. It's no surprise, then, that Squid Game caught MrBeast's eye. The South Korean Netflix show tells the story of several impoverished people who compete in a series of deadly games with hundreds of other contestants who also hope to relieve their debts, and this challenge-based set-up apparently inspired the YouTuber.
Just like in Squid Game, MrBeast brought in 456 players for his series of games. Even with a cast that large, certain contestants took the spotlight. One of those players was Player 067. In the show, Player 067 is Kang Sae-byeok, a defector from North Korea who hopes to use the game's prize money to bring her parents to South Korea. The counterpart Player 067 in MrBeast's version of Squid Game not only proved central in MrBeast's YouTube video, but her rise to fame mirrors that of the actor behind the original Player 067.
Player 067's Newfound Fame
In Netflix's Squid Game, Player 067 is portrayed by Jung Ho-yeon. Although Jung didn't have extensive experience in TV acting before Squid Game, she was already notable thanks to a successful modeling career. In 2013, Jung appeared on Korea's Next Top Model, and later would became a brand ambassador for luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Squid Game took Jung to another level. Many considered her a highlight of the show, and as a result she gained 20 million Instagram followers in the weeks after Squid Game's debut, up from only a few hundred thousand.
The MrBeast version of Player 067 has experienced something very similar. In MrBeast's Squid Game recreation, Player 067 is Camilla Araujo, a college student and aspiring Instagram model. While Araujo wasn't nearly as famous as Jung Ho-yeon before participating in the original Squid Game, she still had a few thousand fans following her on Instagram. Now that she has appeared in MrBeast's Squid Game, Araujo has gained well over a hundred thousand Instagram followers.
The Influence of MrBeast
Araujo may have been a normal college student before MrBeast's video, but now she's a rising star herself. She's done some interviews about her time as Player 067 already, shedding insight on her fellow competitors and whether or not MrBeast scripted the entire event. Since then, Araujo has also started her own YouTube channel and expressed a love for content creation. It's clear that Araujo wants to parley her appearance on MrBeast's Squid Game adaptation into a greater career. Whether or not she'll succeed in the long run remains to be seen, but thanks to MrBeast she's off to a good start.
If any YouTuber could jumpstart Araujo's career as a model and content creator, it's him. At 84 million subscribers, MrBeast is a true YouTube heavyweight, so when he interprets an IP as popular as Squid Game, it's bound to get clicks. MrBeast's Squid Game video has well over 150 million views as of this writing, meaning lots of people have been introduced to the YouTube Squid Game's Player 067. The original Squid Game's Jung Ho-yeon will surely have an easy time finding new roles after her acclaim on Netflix, and it looks like Araujo could find similar opportunities on YouTube and beyond thanks to the help of MrBeast.