He’s known as the child genius, so let’s meet Purdue’s Jack McKenna from Beast Games
He's sure he's walking away with the $5 million
Jack McKenna is the kind of person who makes you go, “Wait… how are you this accomplished and also brave enough to throw yourself into reality TV chaos?”
He’s a 20-year-old Purdue University engineering student with a childhood track record that screams “academic overachiever,” and now he’s one of the faces popping up on Beast Games.
The vibe shift is iconic in itself. Jack has gone from late-night study sessions and big aerospace dreams to high-pressure games, cameras everywhere, and a $5 million prize on the line.
Jack is known as the child genius
John ”Jack’ McKenna is an electrical and computer engineering student, and Mensa accepted him when he was 15. That’s the kind of detail that makes the nickname make sense, right?
The “child genius” label isn’t just reality show branding, it’s rooted in his actual background.
He’s also been open about having big, specific goals. He wants to work in aerospace one day, and that dream started when he was little and just… kept growing.
Purdue’s profile frames him as someone used to pressure, long nights, high standards, and that constant push to perform. Which, if you think about it, is basically the perfect training plan for a show where everything is designed to test your limits.
Jack’s story isn’t just about Purdue and Mensa, he actually graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Albany in 2023, and his hometown was buzzing when his Beast Games casting went public.
He told his alma mater that he originally made his audition video “mostly as a joke,” but that joke turned into reality when he was chosen from a staggering 400,000 applicants to join Beast Games season two.
In fact, CBA shared updates on his journey, from dropping his summer internship to fly out and film the show, making him something of a local celeb before he even hit the screen, per Times Union.
Now he’s on Beast Games
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Player 58 Jack was picked from a jaw-dropping 400,000 applicants to be one of just 200 contestants on season two, which started airing in January 2026, with a $5 million grand prize and new episodes dropping weekly.
But what really makes Jack’s run feel surreal is how secretive it all had to be.
He said he went the entire fall semester without people knowing he’d been cast, and he told classmates he was doing a “medical research study” to explain why he disappeared.
Even the production emails didn’t say “Beast Games,” they reportedly called it “summer camp,” and his parents got daily texts reassuring them their “camper” was safe.
Filming itself was intense, too. He was away for over a month, with no phone, no contact with the outside world, and not even a clear sense of the day or time, just you, the challenges, and the same group of people 24/7.
Per an interview with Purdue University, Jack says those accelerated, high-pressure friendships can feel as deep as relationships that normally take years. And emotionally?
He compared some of the lowest moments to “failing a final, times a thousand,” which is so dramatic, but also… engineering-student relatable.
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