How The Beast Games Exposes The Ugly Truth About Stress And Survival

Sometimes, life gives you lessons when you least expect it.

While browsing for a show to watch one afternoon, I saw a new game show called, The Beast Games, and decided to check it out. 

 In just a few minutes, I realized this wasn’t just any game show.

It was a masterclass in how stress and competition can hijack your brain—and how you can take back control.

Let me break it down for you.

The Survival Brain in Action

The premise of The Beast Games is simple: Contestants compete for a life-changing $5 million prize. To make it even more tangible and real, the host stood on a literal mountain of money when addressing the contestants. 

But before they even get to the physical challenges, the show throws them into a series of psychological games designed to activate their survival brains.

What’s the survival brain? It’s the part of your mind that reacts to stress, fear, and scarcity.

When activated, it pushes you to fight, flee, or freeze. While this instinct is great in emergencies, it can take over and lead to anxiety, poor decision-making, and even selfishness in everyday life.

Since money is how we pay for our food and shelter in modern day society, any fears about money also activate your survival brain. 

This is why the being surrounded by a mountain of money that the contestants could see had such a powerful effect. It wasn't just a check in the mail. It was so close to them that they could almost touch it. 

The show triggered the survival brain with diabolical psychological twists:

Bribes that test values: 

Within 2 minutes of the show beginning, the contestants were offered a deal: take a smaller prize (1 million dollars) and leave the game. But there was a twist—they’d have to share that prize with anyone else who opted out. This option triggered feelings of scarcity (“What if I leave and only get a tiny share?”) and competition (“What if I stay and lose everything?”).

Sacrifice for the greater good:

Immediately after the bribes came another plot twist. The contestants were told the game couldn’t continue unless someone sacrificed themselves and left with nothing.

This challenge preyed on their sense of self-preservation while also appealing to their emotional brain, which values the greater good. Only those who are highest in emotional intelligence and NOT ruled by their survival brain in the moment would even consider such a thing. 

Fear of the Unknown: When contestants lost, they weren’t just asked to leave—the platforms they were standing on fell away dropping them into some unseen dark hole. This visual cue combined with hearing their screams when dropped, heightened the fear of failure for everyone watching, making them fight even harder to stay in the game and terrified of the consequences otherwise.

Although these twists were meant for entertainment, they were psychological experiments that showed how easily our brains can be manipulated under stress.

When Stress Takes Over

After the psychological games came the physical challenges, but the effects of stress were still front and center.

One task required contestants to stack colored blocks without letting them fall. Simple, right? Not when your survival brain is in overdrive!

Here’s what happens when your survival brain takes over:

Loss of Focus: The survival brain suppresses the part of your brain responsible for logical thinking, making it harder to concentrate.

Loss of fine motor skills: Adrenaline floods your system, and combined with anxiety, makes fine motor skills—like stacking blocks—nearly impossible.

Emotional Overload: Hearing the other contestants scream as they’re eliminated and dropped below their platform adds to the pressure, keeping your survival brain activated.

The result? Many contestants crumbled under the stress, while a few managed to calm themselves enough to focus and succeed.

The ones who were successful shifted out of survival mode and tapped into their logical brain.

The good news is that it's a skill you can learn too, and I can show you how. 

Rewriting Your Story and Rewiring Your Brain

Through my Bespoke Brain System, I teach clients how to switch from survival mode to thriving mode.

You can learn to calm your mind, reduce anxiety, and make decisions with clarity—even in high-pressure situations.

If you’re tired of stress making life harder than it needs to be, let’s talk. Together, we’ll rewrite your story so you can feel safe, nurtured, and fulfilled.

Book a complimentary consultation HERE, and let’s start creating your calm, balanced, and happy life today.

Dr. April Darley is a Lifestyle and Leadership Advisor who specializes in helping innovative thinkers achieve their goals without sacrificing their health, wealth, and freedom. Through a combination of techniques, you'll learn how to balance leadership and life while developing a growth mindset.