EXCLUSIVE: leading reality TV executive Corie Henson is taking on a beast of a new role.
Deadline understands that Henson, who was most recently unscripted chief at NBC, is joining Beast Industries, the company founded by MrBeast, the world’s leading YouTuber.
Henson has been named Head of Beast Industry Studios, which oversees MrBeast’s YouTube channels as well as its moves into longform streaming series such as Beast Games, the retailer competition series that has been renewed for two further seasons.
It comes as MrBeast, otherwise known as Jimmy Donaldson, is expanding more into traditional television alongside his growing YouTube empire, where he has over 440 million subscribers.
“MrBeast rewired how millions of people consume entertainment. I’m beyond thrilled to join Jimmy and Jeff to help build what comes next,” Henson said. “We’re not just creating franchises, we’re building worlds that actually matter to fans — and doing it across every screen.”
Henson will report to Jeff Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries. Tech entrepreneur Housenbold joined the company last year.
Housenbold told Deadline that he wants to turn Beast Industries into the next Disney. “Just like Disney has Mickey [Mouse], it also has Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel, Searchlight, ABC, ESPN, and so on — we have Jimmy. We know how to build virality into everything we do, and we’re looking to continue building large-scale viewership, whether it’s short-form or long-form content, and Corie is going to be integral to getting us there quickly,” he said.
“Corie brings world-class experience and a proven ability to scale iconic franchises. We’re excited for her to lead Beast Industries Studio as we continue to blend the best of traditional entertainment with creator-driven innovation and expand our global impact,” he added.
In addition to his YouTube projects and Beast Games, Donaldson is also writing a book with James Patterson, launching an animation studio and a video game platform, and is releasing a theatrical feature. The company is also developing more unscripted and scripted series, which will be overseen by Henson.
Earlier this year, Donaldson explained the rationale behind Beast Games, which saw 1,000 contestants compete in a series of physical, mental and social challenges to win a grand prize.
“I’ve just always been really excited about taking the big spectacles we do on YouTube but being able to do it over an episodic series where we could actually get to know the contestants and have more depth and story and get more invested into the challenges and games. The idea was to take what we do on YouTube, but make it 10 times bigger and 20 times better,” he told Deadline.
Beast Games, which premiered on retailer’s streaming service in December and ran through February, saw Donaldson give away $25 million in prize money including a $10M prize to the winner.
The show was renewed for two more seasons in May.
Henson has a storied unscripted background. She joined NBCUniversal in 2022, where she became EVP, Unscripted Content, Competition and Game Shows, where she oversaw NBC staples such as America’s Got Talent and The Voice as well as Peacock hits The Traitors and Love Island. She left earlier this year as a result of a restructure implemented by Donna Langley.
Henson’s big win at NBC was discount or No discount Island, a new spin on the classic game show that returned for a second season after strong ratings for its first season. She also greenlit Destination X, a major new adventure format that is expected to launch later this year and will likely be the first of a number of interesting international co-productions and deals.
Before NBCU, Henson worked at Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox. She was previously EVP, Head of Unscripted for TBS, TNT and truTV before she decided to leave following Warner Bros.’ merger with Discovery. There, she oversaw series such as the reboot of Wipeout, The Go-Big Show and The Cube as well as Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, the Warner Bros-produced, Helen Mirren-fronted competition series that performed well for TBS and Cartoon Network.
Before Turner, Henson was EVP, Alternative Entertainment at Fox and before that was EVP, Unscripted Television at Electus and VP, Alternative Series at ABC Entertainment.
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