YouTuber MrBeast has announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend, Thea Booysen.
The 26-year-old, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, proposed on Christmas Day, sharing photos of the heartfelt moment he went down on one knee.
Known as the world’s most popular YouTuber with an impressive 340 million subscribers, MrBeast revealed the proposal took place while Thea’s family was visiting.
Thea Booysen, 27, originally from South Africa, has her own YouTube channel, TheaBeasty, boasting nearly 40,000 subscribers. Now residing in the U.S., she is also a Twitch game streamer and a published author.
In an interview with People magazine, MrBeast explained that despite his reputation for extravagant stunts, he opted for a “private and intimate” proposal.
The couple shared festive photos and footage of themselves, alongside their dog, wearing matching MrBeast-branded Christmas jumpers. They also revealed they are not planning a large wedding, keeping the celebration low-key.
“We’re thinking of doing it somewhere on an island where we’re far away from just about everybody,” Thea told the magazine.
“We’re not going to try and have a big, extravagant wedding. It’s going to be nice, but it’s certainly going to be intimate [with] close family and friends.”
Thea has reportedly defended the YouTuber in the past against several allegations made against him last year.
When he investigated grooming accusations involving his former co-host Ava Kris Tyson—claims MrBeast later dismissed as “baseless”—Thea allegedly stated on her channel that she “wouldn’t be with him” if the allegations were true.
The two were recently seen together at the red carpet premiere of MrBeast’s new series, Beast Games.
Inspired by Netflix’s hit Squid Game, the series is touted as the largest live game show ever, featuring 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million (£3.5 million) prize.
However, the show, created for Amazon Prime rather than his YouTube channel, has been embroiled in controversy.
In September, legal documents were filed in the U.S. on behalf of participants who claimed they were “shamelessly exploited” and subjected to sexual harassment.
While neither MrBeast nor Amazon has officially addressed these allegations, MrBeast posted on X in November, stating that the claims were “blown out of proportion.”
The series, which began releasing weekly episodes on December 19, has also faced significant criticism from reviewers.
In a two-star review, The Guardian described it as “ugly and tasteless,” Decider accused it of “taking advantage of people’s greed,” and gaming website IGN called the show “shallow,” “dull,” and “almost entirely devoid of anything to get invested in.”
In a post responding to IGN’s review on X, MrBeast said it was “sad one person who doesn’t like me can just label something a thousand people poured their lives into a 2/10 when it’s clearly not”.
He’s said the series continues to be popular on Amazon around the world.