@glennganges Published Feb. 24, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET Photos: Prime Video ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps Where to Stream: Beast Games Powered by Reelgood As Beast Games Season 2 enters its final countdown era, with just one episode left until we find out which single contestant walks away with millions of dollars in life-changing cash, true love has actually already won. Beast contestants Monika Ronk and Jim Bentayou entered Season 2 as separate members of Team Strong, found each other in the wilds of the show’s purpose-built Beast City landscape, and forged their relationship, even as challenge after challenge threatened to tear their romantic alliance apart or X them from the game completely.
Monika and Jim are currently both in the Top 10, so the pressure is on as the latest edition of Beast Games comes down to the wire. We caught up with the couple to find out what it was like connecting in the chaos of the early rounds, how Beast gameplay skews your brain, what Monika was thinking when she straight-up told the audience she was lying, and what their new reality as a thriving couple in real life could mean for their future in reality show life.
DECIDER: Let’s go back to the beginning. Because there were 200 contestants, you’re both Team Strong, and you don’t know each other going in. So what was the expectation like?
JIM BENTAYOU: I mean, honestly, when you show up, you have no idea what to expect. We didn’t even know how many people were going to be there at first. We were thinking it was going to be like Season 1, with 1000. And we showed up and they made this big announcement that there were 200 people. And we’re like, gosh. Like, it took them how many episodes to get to 200? We’re already top 200! Like, this is insane. So you don’t know what to expect.
MONIKA RONK: I will say for myself, going in, once you arrive and you see all of the contestants there and who the other competition is, it really is this big mixed bag of people. They have, you know, people who are married, people with family, people who are single and going into the show. Jim and I were both actually single, and I never thought ‘Hey, I’m gonna go here and I’m gonna look for a boyfriend,’ or you know, some love interest. But I never ruled it out, after stepping in there and seeing all of the competition, but we met each other really early on, clicked, and then never left each other’s side.
Yeah, it seemed like by Episode 3, you guys were officially an item, right? Like I was calling it the ‘Beast City love affair.’
JIM: There was a lot of time in between challenges. They make it look like it was just one day, like, yeah, we show up the next episode, we’re together. But it was a lot more to it than that. You spend a lot of time behind the scenes together. And I think there was like two weeks between the first and second episode, so it wasn’t just like we’re together. Like the way we would have time in real life, I guess, to get to know someone, right? And honestly, in real life, I don’t think two weeks is a ridiculous time to make it official. I think that’s pretty reasonable.
MONIKA: So I will say it was after the second challenge. We came back, he came back from Bluff, and I came back from the Balance challenge, and we didn’t know if one or the other was going to make it through. And so once we reunited in Beast City, it was at that moment that he, you know, kind of professed his love, asked me to be his girlfriend, make things official. And we were just both so elated to see each other again that, I mean, I had no hesitation whatsoever.
That sort of speaks to what occurred later, when your families arrived, and you’re both trying to describe this sort of walled city concept. The decision-making and truthfulness and trustworthiness and all these things are skewed or bent inside of the Beast City landscape.
JIM: In my personal opinion, I always felt like Beast City mirrored the real world. I think Beast Games mirrors who we are as people outside of the games. It mirrors, you know, how much you’re willing to sacrifice for money. That’s what the games are about. And so that’s the truth to me. It never really felt like I was playing a game. I always felt like, ‘Okay, this is real, this is real money, and these are real people, and I’m gonna play authentically and true to who I am.’
MONIKA: I think contrarily, I felt like the experience was the complete opposite of real life. I knew what was on the line at the end of the day. You know, you either go home with nothing, or you can go home with some cash, and just the experience of not having any social media, electronics, no access to a clock or a radio station to listen to music. It’s really just this strange parallel universe you find yourself in. And like Jim said, time passes by super quick. A day feels like a week, and a week feels like a month. So you do get into this thought pattern that I don’t necessarily have in real life.
Monika, can we call it your “evil genius” moment? “I’m lyinnnnng,” on the rope hang versus Bryleigh? Were you going into that with a sense that you’d make this bold tactical play?
I would say yes. I think before the Strong challenge, you can see two groups, right? The girls trying to make an alliance with me, and then pretty much just the rest of the boys and I, at that point, after spilling the beans to the boys, already knew where I aligned myself. So I wasn’t necessarily sure what it would take up on that rope to get the result I wanted. But, you know, long story short, I decided to use dialogue as a strategy and say ‘If I can make these promises to her, will she fall quicker?’ You know, what can we do to just end this faster? We were up there so long. It was about 45 minutes, probably, and I wanted it to be done. So I started trying to strategize. And I definitely knew that my promises were false. And, you know, I just want to say I have Carl up on my platform behind me, you know, cracking jokes and so like he’s making me smile, and I was having a good time up there.
In the episode, it sort of played like, truly, it’s this evil moment. But I guess in context, it’s not really like that to you, right? You’re just thinking, again, ‘OK, I’ve got to make some decisions for gameplay up here.’
JIM: I don’t want to speak for you, but I feel like it seems similar to what Ian did when he was on the pole at the island, with Ethan. Ethan could have held on there much longer, but Ian was in his ear and he was saying, ‘You’re never gonna win against us. So it was tactical to get him to fall.
That’s an interesting thing, when you put tactics against financial gain. Like when it just boils down to that. Because Ethan eventually ended up taking a bribe in that challenge. Monika, when you finally accepted MrBeast’s $500,000 bribe, when that happened, I mean, he seemed genuinely shocked. Like he said, and let me quote this, because he’s like, ‘It’s the biggest brain play in Beast Games history!’
MONIKA: Okay, so he was…I don’t know if shocked is the right word, but he was excited. He was very excited when I chose to take the bribe and reveal that I wanted zero of the actual money split, yeah. And I could have been a little more strategic in that decision. You know, maybe if I took some of the money split, people wouldn’t question why I took zero. But I ultimately really cared about Jim, Hannah and Kady, and I felt like I had mine at that point, and so I wanted the people who stood behind me to have a better chance at leaving with more.
That really came through on the show. Do you think that that play puts you on the Mount Rushmore of Beast Game-rs of all time?
MONIKA: I don’t know. I think a lot of people have varying opinions. Some people really enjoy the gameplay. People you know, think it was a bit snaky, right? I have had a lot of comments calling me the female version of Akira. Everybody would agree or not, but I try to not only win the challenges, perform well, but you get to see my strategy evolve later in the episodes, right? And people are going to critique anything you do in the games.
JIM: The deal is, it’s a hard game. Beast Games is a really hard game, especially in the Top 10. And so people looking and saying, Oh, why would you take zero? Obviously, you know, you sold the coin. Like people can say whatever they want, but only a select 20 people ever have been in this situation. How can you critique someone when she’s the only person to ever be in this? It’s all new material, right?
MONIKA: Yeah. And I will say, if there was a scenario in which I was not bribed for the coin at that moment, I probably would have just taken my fair share and left the three people behind me with theirs, yeah? And it seems hard, yeah. I mean, I felt like I had mine. I didn’t want to be greedy. Maybe it wasn’t the most strategic decision to make, but I wanted Jim, Hannah and Katie to have as much as possible.
JIM: I got an extra 20k out of it! I’m not complaining.
So what’s up with you guys next? Are we gonna see ‘couples only’ entrances to, like, The Amazing Race or something?
JIM: Oh, I would love that! We’ve talked about The Amazing Race. I know I personally would love to go on Big Brother, right? There are a lot of shows that I think we’d be great on. We also have a YouTube channel where we’re gonna post weekly videos. I’m taking her on a bunch of dates, and we’re really excited for people to see what we do in the real world and how we actually interact.
What’s the celebrity portmanteau for Jim and Monika? Is it Mim? Jimika? We’ll work on that as we go forward here.
MONIKA: I will say as for shows, The Amazing Race and The Challenge are two that we have our eye on. And personally, this doesn’t have to be a duo thing. It would be really cool if it was, but I would love to apply for Survivor. I think I could crush some of those challenges. And, you know, maybe form some really strategic plays there.
JIM: I think Survivor would be really cool, but more than anything else, more than any other show, we want to do more Beast stuff.
Oh man, maybe he’ll bring you guys back, like the OG’s! We’ll have to see what Beast Games Season 3 holds, right? I appreciate you guys taking the time to speak with me today.
MONIKA & JIM: Hey, we appreciate you. Thank you. Okay, thanks, Johnny. So long. Thanks, Johnny. Yep.
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.
