Elon Musk Causes Stir After Announcing He Will Join Mr Beast’s 100 Men vs 1 Gorilla Challenge

In the wake of a brutal financial quarter that saw Tesla’s profits collapse by 71%, it appears Elon Musk is finding new ways to lighten the mood—this time, by throwing himself into one of the most absurd online challenges of the year. The billionaire tech titan has once again shocked the internet, not with a new electric car or AI breakthrough, but by announcing his willingness to take part in the viral “100 Men vs 1 Gorilla” challenge that has taken the platform X by storm.

With a single tweet, Musk sent social media into a frenzy: “Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?” It was classic Musk—sarcastic, daring, and provocative in all the right ways.

The viral challenge began as a simple online joke. User @DreamChasnMike posted a thought experiment on X, asking whether 100 men could realistically defeat one gorilla in combat, provided they were all "dedicated to the sh*t." The absurdity of the idea was magnetic.

Within hours, it turned into a full-blown internet event. As the post racked up hundreds of millions of views, debates erupted across comment sections and quote tweets. Was it possible? How would it play out?

Would organization and teamwork trump raw animal strength? People created memes, animations, and hypothetical battle scenarios. But most of all, the community waited to see which influencers would lean into the trend.

It didn’t take long for Mr. Beast, the reigning king of YouTube challenges, to weigh in. Known for pushing the boundaries of reality entertainment with increasingly outrageous stunts, Mr. Beast shared a mock thumbnail image titled “100 Men vs a Gorilla” and added a simple caption: “Need 100 men to test this, any volunteers?”

This half-joke, half-invitation sent a ripple through the influencer community.

Fans began tagging celebrities, billionaires, and YouTube stars they wanted to see participate. And then came the tweet that blew the roof off the internet: Elon Musk said he was in.

The timing of Musk’s comment couldn’t be more curious. Just days earlier, he had wrapped Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, which was one of the most brutal and tense of his career. Investors were spooked, analysts were unimpressed, and social media was flooded with criticism about the company’s future.

Tesla’s stock dipped dramatically, and questions about Musk’s leadership across his empire—from Tesla to SpaceX, Neuralink, and X—were mounting. But Musk seemed to pivot emotionally, if not strategically. After months of fire-and-fury political rants and DOGE-related bureaucracy, he started posting more lighthearted updates: Starlink satellite memes, Grok AI jokes, and now, talk of brawling alongside 99 strangers against a gorilla.

It was, in some ways, a bizarre return to form. Musk has long thrived on chaos, controversy, and internet spectacle. But this challenge touched a different nerve—a comedic one. It was absurd enough to disarm critics and yet just credible enough to intrigue fans. Could Musk actually appear in a Mr. Beast video?

Would the challenge be real or CGI? Would it involve actual people or just simulations? Nobody knows for sure, but the internet was captivated. Memes flooded in. AI-generated thumbnails showed Musk with a bruised eye, clutching a banana like a weapon. One post read, “Tesla Cybermen vs Gorilla: Coming 2025.” Another joked, “Neuralink now training gorillas—Elon better be careful.”

What’s even more interesting is how this challenge shifted the tone around Musk himself. For much of early 2025, he had been viewed as increasingly erratic, divisive, and consumed by political warfare. His Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) role, while once exciting, had soured in the public eye.

His public spats with politicians and his campaign to slash federal bureaucracy made headlines for all the wrong reasons. But this tweet—this ridiculous, comedic little tweet—seemed to hit a reset button on his image. Suddenly, he wasn’t a man unraveling under pressure. He was the old Musk again: cheeky, unpredictable, and willing to risk bodily harm for a laugh.

Supporters quickly rallied behind him. Some hailed the move as genius PR. “Only Elon can distract the internet from Tesla’s collapse by agreeing to fight a gorilla,” one fan posted.

Others saw deeper meaning. They speculated that Musk’s participation symbolized the chaos of modern leadership—that sometimes, survival means doing the unexpected. Of course, critics weren’t far behind. Animal rights activists slammed the idea as unethical, even in joke form.

Others accused Musk of hiding behind gimmicks while Tesla workers face layoffs and morale slumps. “Maybe he should be fighting a union contract instead,” one post jabbed.

Still, Musk wasn’t fazed. His online engagement remained consistent. He liked posts about strategic gorilla takedowns. He responded to a fan’s joke strategy about using banana peels for distraction.

He even reposted a 3D simulation of the gorilla battle, commenting, “Would need a flamethrower for this.” Whether the challenge ever materializes or not, Musk had already won the engagement war. In a media landscape hungry for levity, this was gold.

What also can’t be ignored is how the Mr. Beast brand benefits from Musk’s involvement. The YouTube titan, who already boasts record-breaking viewership, now has one of the most polarizing public figures potentially tied to his next stunt.

It’s the kind of high-stakes collaboration that could eclipse even his most expensive videos. And while there’s no confirmation that the challenge will go from meme to reality, the buzz is too big to ignore. With Musk involved, anything feels possible.

Will it be filmed in a Tesla factory? Will Grok AI be used to strategize against the gorilla? Will Starlink drones stream it live?

At the heart of this story is something more profound: the power of absurdity in the age of burnout. Elon Musk is a man who’s been accused of stretching himself too thin. His companies span energy, transportation, communication, and even brain-computer interfaces.

Yet here he is, volunteering to be gorilla bait for the internet. And somehow, it doesn’t feel like a breakdown. It feels like performance art—raw, ridiculous, and perfectly timed.

This isn’t the first time Musk has leaned into meme culture to control his narrative. He sold flamethrowers under the Boring Company label. He named a Tesla car model sequence “S3XY.” He turned a Dogecoin joke into a financial strategy. This latest antic fits right in.

And as the internet’s collective attention flickers from disaster to distraction, Musk seems to understand something others don’t: sometimes the best way to reset the story is not with a press release—but with a punchline.

So will we really see Musk in a ring, squared up with a gorilla and 99 brave (or foolish) men? Probably not.

But that’s not the point. The point is that, for a brief moment, he’s reclaimed the narrative.

Not as a CEO on the defensive, but as a showman, an agent of chaos, and the one man mad enough to tweet his way back into everyone’s good graces. “Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?”—in Musk’s world, that line is less a joke than a mantra. And the world, tired and scrolling, can’t look away.