Entertainment
MrBeast Jimmy Donaldson gets engaged to influencer Thea Booysen
Today I’m going to … get engaged: YouTube star MrBeast is engaged to fellow influencer Thea Booysen, a.k.a. the future MrsBeast.
The “Beast Games” host, 26, who is the most-subscribed-to YouTuber, proposed to his girlfriend of two years on Christmas Day and revealed on New Year’s Day that they were affianced.
“Ya boy did a thing,” he wrote Wednesday on Instagram, sharing a photo of himself down on one knee presenting an engagement ring to Booysen in their living room. The online content creator, whose YouTube channel boasts more than 341 million subscribers, shared additional photos of the proposal, which included the couple wearing matching MrBeast holiday sweaters and family members looking on.
Booysen, 27, also posted about the engagement, sharing a post-proposal video clip and showing off her new ring — a round-cut diamond on a rose gold band with additional diamonds on each side.
“Jimmy ❤️💍” she captioned the clip, referring to her fiancé’s birth name, James “Jimmy” Donaldson.
In an interview with People, the couple said Booysen’s family flew to North Carolina from South Africa to celebrate Christmas with them. Donaldson said he wanted to include Booysen’s family in the “momentous occasion” because she’s very close to them.
“We were opening presents, and then for the very last present he asked me to close my eyes because it was a surprise,” Booysen said.
Donaldson said that he intentionally dropped a large box to make noise before presenting Booysen with the real gift with the ring inside.
“And then I went down on a knee and proposed,” he said. After Booysen opened her eyes, she “of course said yes” and was “extremely excited,” she told People.
Donaldson, best known for his viral challenges, affinity for blowing things up and elaborate and exorbitantly priced stunts, flouted expectations with the intimate proposal.
“My friends thought I would want to propose in a very public way, like some sort of spectacle at the Super Bowl or somewhere else really big like that, but I knew that I wanted it to be the opposite, to be really private and intimate,” he said.
Likewise, the popular public figure is planning to make their wedding a private affair.
“I don’t take much vacation because of how hard I work, so I definitely want to make sure that the wedding will be a time to celebrate with her and spend time with friends and family who we really enjoy being with. It will be the ultimate way to take some time away and enjoy things,” he said.
Booysen, who said that getting married at this point is “just a formality,” suggested having their nuptials on an island “far away from just about everybody.”
“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,” she said.
Donaldson and Booysen met in 2022 while MrBeast was visiting South Africa. The two had dinner with a mutual friend and she was disarmed by the YouTuber’s down-to-earth nature and intelligence. They “vibed instantly,” he told People.
They made their red-carpet debut at the Kids’ Choice Awards in April 2022. Although Donaldson planned to propose in 2023, the couple opted to wait until Booysen — who has a bachelor’s degree in law — completed her master’s program. Booysen posted in November about fulfilling her dream and graduating with a master’s degree in human cognitive neuropsychology from the University of Edinburgh.
The couple’s engagement, which comes weeks after the premiere of Donaldson’s much-maligned Prime Video reality series “Beast Games,” capped an eventful but controversial year for the high-earning content creator. Donaldson last year was blasted for using “inappropriate language” in his early videos and faced scrutiny over his channel’s philanthropic efforts, the Associated Press reported. The YouTuber also was criticized over the workplace culture on his show and hit with allegations of dangerous on-set conditions, which he has denied.
In September, “Beast Games” contestants sued his production company and Amazon for sexual harassment, failure to pay minimum wages and negligent infliction of emotional distress, among other allegations.
In late December, Rolling Stone reported that Donaldson, along with singers Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson and celebrity chef Guy Fieri, were among the celebrities with whom the Pentagon entered production deals to boost the military’s image with Gen Z.
Movie Reviews
Culpa Tuya (Your Fault) Movie Review: A guilty, albeit predictable, pleasure
Picking up right where the first film ends, Culpa Tuya pushes Nick and Noah deeper into infatuation, while their parents, William and Rafaella, attempt to drive a wedge between the step-siblings. Enter Sofia—a seductive and ‘more suitable’ match for Nick—and the tension escalates as Noah struggles with the emotional toll of his long-distance relationship. But the drama doesn’t stop here: lingering personal trauma and vengeful figures from their past add further strain to the couple’s bond.
Despite its label as a young adult romantic drama, the Culpa series seems to grapple with genre identity. Where Culpa Mia leaned into erotic territory, this sequel’s intimate scenes feel less organic, much like Noah’s tenuous relationship with her university counsellor, Michael. The thriller elements, teased in the first film through Noah’s menacing father, expand in the sequel with the arrival of Nick’s obsessive ex-girlfriend and estranged biological mother. Yet, the film never fully commits to any of these genres, opting instead to flirt with each one without anchoring itself in any. Perhaps, in embodying the unpredictability of Gen Z relationships—where infidelity feels almost inevitable—it stays truest to its young adult roots.
With interesting subplots and conflicts being created from all ends, Culpa Tuya errs a little too much on the side of caution. At the end, it still only manages to do what all other romantic dramas do, which is throw a spanner into a smooth-sailing relationship. The lead pair keep doubting each other while fighting their own demons, but not once do they try to understand their respective trauma. The continued use of ‘baby sister’ as a pet name from Nick—despite their long-term relationship—feels uncomfortably cringe.
Culpable for its predictability, the film still manages to shine through from time to time. A surprising revelation and an unresolved ending set the stage for a potentially more refined and gripping third instalment, expected in 2025. However, rekindling the chemistry between the leads is essential, as their dynamic feels notably less intense here than in the first film. Despite its flaws, Culpa Tuya remains an irresistible guilty pleasure. Sometimes, the fun of watching a film also comprises finding fault with it—and that’s perfectly all right.
Entertainment
Neil Young reverses decision on canceled Glastonbury performance
Neil Young is back on the bill at Glastonbury.
Three days after announcing that he’d pulled out of a planned performance at this year’s edition of the venerable English music festival, the 79-year-old rock legend said Friday that the gig was “happily” back on his touring itinerary and that he and his collaborators “look forward to playing.”
Young had written Tuesday on his website that he and his band the Chrome Hearts “were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
On Friday, Young updated his post and blamed an unspecified “error in the information received” for his cancellation.
“What a start to the year!” festival organizer Emily Eavis wrote on Instagram shortly after Young’s announcement that he’d reversed his decision. “Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury. He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.”
According to the Guardian, Young tussled with the BBC — which the paper said has partnered with Glastonbury for nearly three decades — when he headlined the festival in 2009 over how much of his set it could broadcast.
In March, Young put his music back on Spotify after pulling his catalog in 2022 to protest what he described as vaccine misinformation spread by podcaster Joe Rogan.
Young announced Friday that he’ll issue a previously unreleased album called “Oceanside Countryside” on Feb. 14. The LP was recorded in 1977 and features two sets of songs: one performed solo by Young and one performed with accompaniment by Ben Keith, Rufus Thibodeaux, Karl T. Himmel, Joe Osborne, Tim Drummond and the Band’s Levon Helm.
Movie Reviews
Rex Reed’s 2024 Movie Review Roundup: A Masterclass in Blistering Honesty
Rex Reed’s scalpel was particularly sharp in 2024, slicing through 43 films with the kind of ruthless precision only he can wield. This was the year he likened Mean Girls to “cinematic Covid,” torched Longlegs as a “dumpster fire,” and suggested that Cash Out had John Travolta so lost, “somebody stage an intervention.” For those seeking unfiltered truths about Hollywood’s latest offerings, Reed delivered—though not without a handful of pleasant surprises.
His ratings reveal a critic tough to impress: 28 percent of films earned 1 star, while 5 percent received the graveyard of zero stars. Horror films bore the brunt of his wrath—Longlegs and Heretic were sacrificed at the altar of his biting prose. Yet, amid the wreckage, 5 percent clawed their way to 4 stars, with dramas like One Life and Cabrini standing out for their emotional gravitas. Biopics, historical narratives and character studies fared best under his gaze, suggesting Reed still has a soft spot for films anchored in strong performances and rich storytelling.
One of the more controversial reviews? Reed’s glowing praise for Coup de Chance, which he called “Woody Allen’s best film in years.” In an industry where few dare applaud Allen publicly, Reed’s unapologetic endorsement (“unfairly derailed by obvious, headline-demanding personal problems”) was as bold as ever. Interestingly, the most-read review wasn’t the most positive—The Last Showgirl dazzled readers, perhaps more for the spectacle of Pamela Anderson’s Vegas reinvention than the film’s plot. It seems Reed’s audience enjoys his kinder takes, but they revel in his cinematic eviscerations just as much. When Reed loves a film, he ensures you know it—just as he ensures the worst offenders are left gasping for air.
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