@glennganges Published Feb. 20, 2026, 1:30 p.m. ET Where to Stream: Beast Games Powered by Reelgood More On: Beast Games ‘Beast Games’ Season 2 Episode 9 Recap: Let’s Go To The Phones ‘Beast Games’ Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: For a Few Dollars More ‘Beast Games’ Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: Between The Buried And Me ‘Beast Games’ Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: Top Ten(se) Maybe this will be addressed next week, during the Season 2 finale of Beast Games. But as it is right now, the show’s Episode 8 decamp from Beast City to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia feels weirdly irrelevant. Because couldn’t you construct an enclosure full of soundproof glass pods, surrounded by garish purple neon like it’s a gamer’s fever dream, literally anywhere? The pods have money counters for each player where the names of the stores would be, if this were the decommissioned mall atrium it also very much resembles. We’ll have to see if the move to the Middle East means something. But in the interim it kinda makes us miss Beast City.
Whatever our thoughts on this setup, it’s home for Season 2 Episode 9 (“Trust Nobody”), which features the final ten players dialing for dollars and desperately bribing each other on the way to determining the last six spots. That’s right. After 40 days of competition, after outlasting 190 other players, surviving both Captain Bribe and the show’s mini-Survivor, after being buried alive and giving up Master of Coin status for a secret 500K payday, everything that has occured – alliances built and busted, sacks of cash changing hands, and Monika and Jim’s Beast City love affair somehow avoiding every X to only grow stronger – has led to this. MrBeast addresses the pod people. “The only way to move on is to get other players to vote for you.” Let’s go to the phones.
Auguste says he figured something out. Everyone has the cash they earned last episode piled in their pods, with the readout total above. Except for one pod, which reads zero. “Monika is lying,” he tells us, and we know he’s right. “She took a bribe; she has money.” His first call is to Monika, who immediately denies his allegation. (Smoothly; her gameplay is always on point.) Auguste’s second call is to Nick, his all-dude alliance bro, to share his suspicion. And his third call is to Jim, whose gregarious nature almost gives away his girlfriend’s secret. Auguste tries to use that, calls Monika back. (“Jim pretty much told me.”) And while his hunch is totally right, and we love Auguste’s confidence here, it doesn’t convert into votes. Beast Games even shows Nick saying he’ll vote for Auguste before cutting to him voting for Tyler. The latter’s integrity during the grave-flopping “fair share” challenge, not to mention the cute overload of his kids invading Beast City with hugs, has put Tyler through to the final with a total of 8 votes. He will watch the remainder of the proceedings from the foot of the $5,000,000 pyramid.
Guards, put another 30 minutes on the board! In Round 2, Nick says he’ll work to push Auguste through, while the latter starts the bribing with $5,000 for Cory. 5 grand? Chump change. Because Hannah is out here blowing every dollar she has for a crazy push to the final. Like gifting $28k for each to get Monika and Jim’s votes. She basically upends her own bag. But Hannah says you gotta be willing to give it all, and credits her cube life talk with Beast Games OG and Season 1 winner Jeff Allen, who advised boldness in these later rounds. Hannah becomes your second Season 2 finalist.
Suddenly there are no phones to go to. In Round 3, players bolt from pod to pod to secure votes face-to-face – “It’s a lot easier to lie to someone over the phone,” MrBeast says – and the confidence of Auguste has curdled into desperation. Please don’t vote for Monika and Jim like ever, he pleads with Kady in her pod; “They screwed everybody.” This is while Monika, with the steady confidence in her decision-making she’s shown from the beginning, is playing for the next round. But Auguste and his moves are cooked again, because Jack has deployed the Hannah strategy, turning the spigot on his pod’s money hose and spraying it all over the place. Bribes for days was his strategy as a Team Smart survivor, and it wins out. Jack beats Cory, the next closest player, 5 votes to 2.
Beast Games is always basically about the money, but with no Smart or Strong challenges or any other leverage left, cash now rules everything around them. “This game is brutal,” Cory tells MrBeast. He had upheld integrity as his vow, but if he’s gotta buy votes, so be it. Cory gets to it while Jim declares a spend-a-thon on what he calls “Operation Sugarmama,” aiming to push Monika through to the final. Kady, to her credit, stands up to his aggressive guilt-tripping, and sticks by her vote for Auguste, while Brett pre-sells his next round vote to Cory. Ten bribes are made in Round 4, with over $160,000 moved from pod to pod, player to player. And in the end it’s Auguste who finally makes the grade. He spent every dime to do it.
Episode 9 is running out time. There’s gonna be a last Beast Games tease before we learn the full complexion of the Season 2 finale. With Tyler, Hannah, Jack, Auguste, and Cory secure, five players remain for only one available spot, and MrBeast in his giddy way confuses the issue, jamming everything we just watched into one make-or-break round. Phone calls, pod pleads, and face-to-face gambits are all in play, but so are bald-faced lies.
Brett immediately makes his offer. $25,000 for all, guaranteeing his spot, or $30,000 each to secure three votes. But his isn’t a quick win. While Kady ends up voting for Brett, even though Jim and Nick accepted his cash, Nick also accepted $33,000 from Monika. And besides, Jim tells Beast over the phone, “This is my way of getting even.” Brett took $250,000 in Episode 8, more than his fair share? Well, Jim will eat Brett’s 30K for lunch and lie about his vote. “He’s crazy to think I’d vote against my girlfriend.” With the Beast City lovers on one side and Brett and Kady on the other, Nick hangs his head. Once again, he’s become the decider.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.
