British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shahzada Dawood and her son Suleman, diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate president Stockton Rush are the five people who perished in the Titan tragedy last week in their quest to to be able to see the ruins of the Titanic up close.
A tragedy that ended their lives, but they could have had other names and surnames, as has become known in recent days, since they were not the only Rush candidates to board the OceanGate submersible. The president sent the invitation to more famous – and wealthy – faces such as ‘youtuber’ MrBeast, who refused to come on board and now reflects on how lucky he has been.
MrBeast -real name Jimmy Donaldson- is known worldwide for being one of the largest content creators on the Internet, with a YouTube channel that has more than 150 million subscribers, making him the most followed in the world. The influencer became famous for things like raffling $50,000 among his followers or organizing Squid Games in real time (less lethal, obviously) with 456 people and a prize of $456,000.
With such a legion of followers and his quips to entertain them, it is not surprising that Stockton Rush took notice of him to invite him to perform the great feat: dive to see up close the remains of the most persecuted ship in the world.
The content creator declined OceanGate’s invitation, which now makes him reflect on what happened: “I said no. It’s scary to think about what could have happened.”
His followers, for their part, are happy about his refusal, so that he can continue making content. “We’re happy you turned it down,” Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, told him. “Looking back, it was a good decision,” said another of his followers, with some even daring to make a montage of how the cover image of the video that would have resulted from the experience could have been, given the tendency of the ‘youtuber ‘ to share it all.
The youtuber has barely managed to escape, and in one of his messages he claimed to “appreciate life”, so it is almost certain that he will multiply the projects he claims to have to solve the problems that affect the world, such as hunger. For now, the American claims to have donated a good part of his millionaire fortune to those who need it most, which, according to Forbes, could exceed 100 million euros.
