Transcript for:
Highlights of an Epic Cave Expedition

I don't normally do intros like this, but I'm currently descending hundreds of feet into a cave that runs over five kilometers deep into the Earth, and whether we like it or not. As soon as my friends and I touch the ground, we are officially stranded here for the next seven days. That might have been the scariest thing I've ever done. First things first, we got to get really far away - from where we rappelled down.

  • Why? If it storms, this entire area could flash flood, fill up like an ocean, and potentially drown us all. Which is why we're going deep into the cave to set up base camp. Oh, this is just wicked. Dude, this is like a different world. This cave entrance may be beautiful, but looks can be deceiving. We didn't know it yet, but the next seven days will by far be the hardest of our entire lives. Worst idea ever. All right. It's going to get dark in a couple hours. If we don't have a camp, we're screwed. Okay? You don't have any idea where you're going. We're just looking for flat ground to set up camp. Upon entering the mouth of the cave. We stumbled upon an area with high enough elevation to protect us from any flash flooding, meaning that it was perfect for camp. - Perfect is a crazy word.
  • Good enough, is what I would use. Good enough for camp. We spent the rest of day one grabbing our supplies that we were dropped with. Each one of these bags weighs like 80 pounds. And as you can see by the footage, we spent around four hours. This is very hard to traverse. Getting all of it back up to our base camp. All right, we've got some lights on in here. Our supplies are finally at our home base. And if you point the camera over there, you'll see it's pitch black. It took all day. And so we set up the bare minimum for camping grounds. We drilled holes to hang up some ropes. Grab this. Pull yourself up. It looks like the ropes will be able to support hammocks. And with the help of our survival guide, Joel, we hung our hammocks. This thin rope is what holds up my hammock? Yeah. Ate some dinner and prepared for a very cold night one. Not gonna lie, this hammock is way more comfortable than I thought it would be. Hey! Oh, God. Why is my head so big, bro? This cave is 2.5 kilometers deep, and we're basically camping at the entrance. Tomorrow, we have a lot of exploring. How'd you guys sleep? - Horribly
  • I didn't. It's a very perplexing environment. The caves constantly dripping water on us from above. So we put a tarp over us. But even still, the water's dripping into our hammocks. I have an idea. Let's make our shelter actually good. I say we connect these tarps so we stay dry while we're sleeping here. That's literally genius. I'm not just a YouTuber, okay? My hammock gets out right here. Are we serious right now? This is where I just got out of bed. And we didn't realize it at the time, but this hole is almost 40ft deep. So while Shawn and I got started on the super tarp, Mack and Karl went to see how dangerous this hole was for themselves. You see my hammock up there? That is where I slept. Now look at this. And because everything looks the same, and it's probably pretty hard to follow us in this cave. On this map, you could see our home base and how far they're moving away from it. - All right, Mack. It's been real, bro.
  • Bro, this is crazy. Well, the boys are randomly exploring. Me and Shawn actually have to work on the camp. Why is there a sleeping bag over here? Because it smelled like pee. Lesson number one, don't rent your sleeping bags. Why did we rent sleeping bags? Why did we not just buy sleeping bags? We're zip tying the tarps together to create one mega tarp. Don't mind me just trusting this rope with my life. And meanwhile, Mack and Karl were still in a hole. Oh my God, Mack. And eventually they finally made it to the bottom. We're supposed to be working on camp. We just want to show how dangerous camp was. Just don't fall. It's a skill issue. Oh, okay. And even though they should have been on their way back, Karl and Mack insisted on seeing how deep they could go. Bro, this just looks so crazy. You think you can make it through the river? But little do these two know, this river actually runs throughout the entire cave. Which means we'll be spending some time in it. Oh, there they are. - Tell me you guys cooked.
  • We cooked. That's right. - A new home, am I right?
  • Let's go. - We now have a roof.
  • Look at this. I'm not going to lie, you actually kind of cooked. And we moved the fire pit to this little cove we found. What do you think? - It's warmer.
  • It's cozy. These rocks trap the heat here and block the pee from the rocks above. It's not pee. - What do I call it?
  • I don't know, maybe rain or something. But it's not rain. It's rock. Hey, point it up, do you see clouds? No. You see rocks. It's not rain. - Rock pee.
  • Rock pee. Rock pee, fine. All right, it's rock pee. And after a much drier night of sleep, we decided to have Joel, our survival expert, help us get all the way to the end of the cave. - Cave!
  • Cave! - Cave!
  • Cave! - Cave!
  • Cave! Cave! Let's see how deep in the cave we can make it. Now, keep in mind, we are still just at the beginning of this massive cave. And our goal is to make it all the way through it, without dying, of course. Oh, my gosh, this is kind of steep. You ain't seen nothing yet. We're going deep in the cave. - All right boys, suck in your guts.
  • This is where things get tight. I don't actually think I'm going to fit. The interesting part about cave exploration is one second you're barely fitting through cracks in the rock. Oh, my God, this is so tight. And then the next, you're in a massive chamber so big that in order to see it all, we had to do this. Oh my God. I can actually see now. This is awesome. This thing is bright. Well, look at how cool this is. Yeah! - So bright I can't even look at it.
  • I'm getting blinded. Oh, no. Oh, no. In hindsight, we probably didn't use that the most effectively. Lead the way. And so we continued on. Feel free, there's a really good handle up the top there. And then you can sort of swing a foot around onto this one. Yeah, yeah, perfect. Joel, the best caving guide ever. No one's died yet. All right, guys, this is where things get interesting. What? What is this? So from this point on, wetsuits. We're going for a swim. Yesterday, Mack and Karl were joking about doing this, but the rest of this cave adventure takes place in a freezing river. Oh my gosh, this is insane. Meaning wetsuits are the only way to not get hypothermia. Why are we doing this? This is a once in a lifetime experience. Because you die after you do it. So in order to get to the end of the cave, we have to hop in this river and fight the rapids through this tiny hole in the rocks and carefully squeeze our way through. Take your time. It will take your feet behind you a little bit. All right. I'm getting in the river. You wanna follow the wall around to the left. It’s so cold! You got it, Jimmy. I don't know if I fit. Jimmy, I need you to pull yourself up out of the water. Oh my God. What's crazy about doing this, Oh, it's so cold. Is when you're completely submerged in freezing cold water. Gripping onto the rocks becomes incredibly hard. Oh, my gosh, that was crazy. Mack, Karl, let's go. I'm scared, bro. You got this. - Bro.
  • Keep going. Look how crazy this is, dude. And even though this obstacle was difficult, it's nothing compared to what's up ahead. We did it! - Cave, cave, cave.
  • Cave, cave. Hey, boys, we're now 10% done. Which means we've only scratched the surface of this expedition. And we still have over two kilometers remaining to reach the end. As you can see, it rains in this cave 24/7. So I'm making a chill spot for us to hang out and not get wet. I wonder what I would look like if I wasn't here to build all this. Pretty sure they'd just be sleeping in a pile on a wet rock. It's important that we keep moving now that the bodies are wet. Temperatures are going to drop quickly. Why is this so difficult? The worst part is, every inch we go this way is an inch. we got to go that way to get back to camp. Our next obstacle may be out of the water, but that doesn't make it any easier to get through. Is that a spiderweb? Spider? I don't see the spider. That means it's probably on us. It's on you. It's on you. I hate my friends. This cave is like a MrBeast video. The further you go, the harder it gets. Just straight up. If we didn't have Joel, I'd be dead. And after three hours, Joel had some bad news for us. The water is too high, and we've taken too long. We're gonna have to turn around for today and head back to camp. I disagree. You can't disagree with the safety expert. I disagree. Well, we can't really disagree. It turns out we wasted way too much time filming and playing with flares, to the point where we now had to restart and attempt this mission another day. Shawn, we're back. What'd you do while we were gone? Hopefully nobody gets wet now. - I didn't even know we packed lights.
  • Yeah, they're awesome, right? Sadly, we only made it 20% through the cave today. But mark my words, we will go the distance in a future day. - I doubt it.
  • That's not going to happen. We might rest on day four and then on day five, try to go all the way to the end of the cave and see what's there. Day three was a lot of fun. I'll see you guys tomorrow. And after a third miserable night in the cave the next morning, we only had one thing in mind. A hot shower would literally save my life right now. Oh, showering would be awesome. I haven't showered in three, four days. As you can imagine, showering inside a cave isn't easy. We had to hike all the way back to where we rappelled in to safely reach the riverbed. Oh, no. Oh my God. I feel my brain. I've never felt my brain like this. My forehead is frostbite. Let's use the drone to dry our heads off. - Come here, drone.
  • Stop, stop! It's actually working. Yeah, it is working. Who needs a hairdryer when you have a drone? And after we dried off, we sat down with Joel to plan our journey. - What is this, Joel?
  • This is the map of the cave. Last time we had to stop because of the fast moving water. But the rains have been slowing, so we might just get a window to reach the end by tomorrow. This is going to be wild. First, we'll need to pass some of those same rapids from yesterday. Dive off massive cliffs and avoid jagged rocks. And if we can make it past all that, we will finally make it to the beautiful glowworm chamber. Don't tell us what that looks like. - I want us to be surprised.
  • Do you think we're going to make it? No, let's not play that game. We're all going to make it. With tomorrow's plan thoroughly mapped out, we've rested up and made Feastables s'mores to regain our energy. Everyone cheers! Joel's about to have his first Feastables s'more. All right, Joel, be honest. That's good. - Joel approves?
  • Joel approves. Why didn't we whip this chocolate out earlier? This just got, like, ten times more fun. Guys, for real, if you've never tried s'mores with Feastables, you're really missing out. Tomorrow we're going to explore the entire cave. We'll see you guys then. So we tried to sleep as much as we could and prepare for tomorrow's journey to the end of the cave. We're about to embark on one of the most dangerous journeys of my life. Because of our experience from day three and focusing less on filming, we were able to make progress way faster. Ooh, this water's cold. Just like the other day, bro. Nice bro, easy. And to ensure our best chance of survival. In addition to Joel, we brought another survival expert with us. This is where we had to stop on day three. How are we doing? We're making much better time! Behind us, it's pitch black. Where do we go? This area gets narrower, the currents strong. So we're going to use the walls and gonna climb our way along. So here we go. Oh, God. Yeah. Jump to that first rock, There's a couple of good rocks around the corner as well you can get a hand onto. - It's so dark down here.
  • There's no bottom right now. My feet aren't touching the ground right now. Because we couldn't reach the ground. This meant that if we let go now, we could get swept away by the strong current directly beneath us. Joel, what are we doing? I would go into here if you can. That's a good one. I can't even see where I'm going, Joel. The current is taking me away. How do I do this? You've got to get yourself in there and it's going to get way gentler. - I go in here?
  • Yeah, in the hole. Yeah! Well done. This might be the most insane thing we've ever done. We are much deeper in the cave than we've ever been. And we're now approaching our first serious obstacle. Basically, the water's recirculating, so if you fall in, it takes you to the bottom and it keeps you there. If we fall, we would die. - Yeah.
  • Okay, so death is on the table? This is just not what I thought I was signing up for. Well done. Yeah! Over! - So now I put my foot here?
  • Yeah! Correct. - Oh, yeah.
  • Woo! Caving is a lot harder than I thought. You can tell how strong this river is because it created this entire cave. And fun fact, we're not as strong as a cave. I'm barely as strong as a human. Well, fortunately for us, rather than Karl leading this expedition, we've got the literal avenger, Joel. And just to prove how much of an expert he is, this man literally flexed on us by jumping off a cliff. Oh my god. You're crazy. Who else is a bit crazy? Surely one of you guys are keen. I'm crazy. No shot, you want to do that. What are you talking about? I'm doing it right now, baby. Let's go, Joel. Godspeed, Mack. After everything Jimmy's put me through, this ain't that scary for me. Three. Two. One. Are you doing it? No. We've got to keep going or we won't hit the end. Oh my God. We go downstream? Why are we always fighting the current? I might just start drifting away. I might just give it up. There are sharp rocks underneath the water. You cannot see them. So watch your step. - Oh my God.
  • It's getting deep again. I can't, I need to put my feet on something. And if the sharp rocks weren't enough of a challenge. It seems like with every step we took. Bro! I can't see anything. This is terrifying. The caves became darker, tighter and ruthless enough that we began to question if we could even get to the finish line. This is exhausting. This cave is about to get a lot harder. And I have something I need to show all of you. Joel, can I see your bag? Thank you. You know what you've been carrying? What have I been carrying? The brand new... MrBeast Lab Swarms. I'll be honest, guys. As you can see, because of what I've been going through for the past five hours, I'm clearly in no shape to tell you about this right now. And so, a month after we filmed this, I built an entire cave set threw on my Future Jimmy name tag, and then said: hey, Future Jimmy here, and I'm going to tell you about my brand new toy line up, MrBeast Lab Swarms. It's a collectible toy line with over 119 uniquely designed characters that you can collect. And the coolest part is to find out which character you got. You pour water into this tube, shake it up, and the swarms will appear in front of your very eyes. And to demonstrate the product, I made this giant life sized version of the swarms tube, fill the tube with water. You won't need this much water. This is just a giant tube. All right. And now that this is filled with water, Mack's going to give it a little shake. Is it shaken up enough? I think it's shake it up enough. Then you pour out the water. Do the honors, Joel. And out of the water will be revealed. which two swarms you got. This is the rarest one, the hyperchrome. That I only made a thousand of. Joel, you can have it. - You can have that one.
  • Who does Karl get? I only have two. If we didn't just stop with the swarms. We also made these action figure panthers that are in these briefcases and this mutator that, just like the swarms, has a really cool reveal when you buy it. Where do I buy them? I'm glad you asked, MrBeast's Labs Toys are now available everywhere in the world you buy toys. They're all out now. Go give them a try. And after more brutal trekking throughout the cave, we finally arrived at the glowworm chamber. Man, this better be worth it. All righty team. Welcome to the glowworm chamber. Holy crap! That is crazy. Dude, this does not look like it's Earth. All of the lights you see here are actually created by tiny bioluminescent glowworms. That kind of looks like the Milky Way galaxy. At this moment, this view honestly made that trek worth it. While making it to the glowworms was definitely worth the trip, our journey was still not over because we had to go all the way back to base camp. It's almost day six. They're not back and I'm exhausted. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep though, just worried with them being gone so long. The trip back is way easier because we're just floating with the current. Now, because you guys have already seen the trip, we're going to expedite the way back. But seriously, this whole journey took so long. We crossed into day six before reaching camp. Shawn. What's up guys? I was starting to get worried. Happy day six Day six. Let's go. All we had energy to do was thaw out by the fire and finally eat some food. That was a very adventurous day. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Or later today, it is day six. Yeah, maybe today, I don't know. Despite being physically obliterated from our excruciatingly long hike, no matter what I did, I was really struggling to fall asleep. I spent seven days in solitary confinement, seven days buried alive, seven days on a raft. And I'm going to be honest, I think this is harder than all of those. You're constantly soggy and cold. I just keep hitting my body on these hard of rocks and it hurts. 90% of the time this cave is miserable. But between me and you... - Jimmy!
  • Yo! Karl, can you see me? That's the world's brightest flashlight. There are moments of fun in this cave. From conquering rapids 300ft underground. With me and the boys laughing in our hammocks. All the misery is worth it. Because when you're in good company. Let's make whale noises. This wet, cold, rocky, miserable cave can easily transform into the most beautiful trip of our lives. We cannot leave until everything is picked up. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Let's get out of here. And after our journey back to the mouth of the cave. Oh, it looks so good up there. We had one more surprise for Joel. Before we head out, Joel, as a show of gratitude. We got you 50,000 New Zealand dollars. So it's ten grand for every human you didn't let die. Oh, gosh. Thanks so much, Jim. Let's go. Joel! We love you, Joel. Now that we got that out the way, let's leave. After seven long days, we're finally leaving.