How old is MrBeast now? Born in 1998 in Kansas, Jimmy Donaldson is currently 27-28 years old, but his story is that of someone who literally dedicated half of his life to YouTube before becoming famous.

The crazy part is how it all started. Military family, constant moves, then his mother and older brother C.J. settled in Greenville, North Carolina. Jimmy attended a private religious school, but even then, people described him with one word: obsessed. He wasn’t the type to fixate on one goal. No, he literally filled his entire life with it.

In 2012, he created MrBeast6000, uploading Minecraft and Call of Duty videos, just like PewDiePie did in those years. But here’s where it gets interesting. For five consecutive years, this guy obsessively studied YouTube algorithms. He would wake up, order food delivery, then sit at his computer all day learning from other creators. His classmates thought he was autistic, so focused he was.

His mother was not happy at all. She only found out about Jimmy’s passion from his graduation album. She practically forced him to enroll in the local college, but the guy didn’t attend a single class. He dropped out in the first semester and focused on YouTube. Result? His mother kicked him out of the house.

His first real success came in 2017, five years after creating the channel. At 18, he decided to do something completely crazy: count to 100,000 in front of the camera. Over 40 hours straight, counting aloud. At the end of the video, he only said, “What am I doing with my life?” That video hit 27 million views. By May 2017, he had already surpassed one million followers.

From there, the rest is history. Silly challenges that grab attention: mug walls, the longest English word read aloud, insanely expensive fireworks, giant Lego towers built with cranes, deserted islands. Every video gets tens of millions of views. He posts one or two videos a month, and over the past five years, every single video has reached at least 10 million views. Jimmy’s obsession hasn’t changed; he just found a way to turn it into something incredibly profitable.