Five Guys Turns Crew Games Into Prime Video Docuseries

A Burger Chain Goes Prime Time

There's something quietly moving about watching a company turn its own break room pride into prime-time television, and that's exactly what Five Guys has done. The burger chain has partnered with Connor Schell's Full Day Productions, a Words + Pictures company, and Lost Tribe Creative to release On The Line: The World Burger Games, a five-episode docuseries now streaming on Prime Video. It follows competitors from local qualifying rounds held around the world all the way to the championship stage of the Five Guys Games, and it does so with an eye toward the people, not just the potatoes.

How a Simple Thank You Became a Global Event

To understand why this matters to a burger chain, you have to go back to 2013, when the Murrell family first dreamed up the Games as a simple thank you to the crew members who keep the stores running. It was never meant to be a spectacle. Founder Jerry Murrell put the evolution plainly: "The games began as a thank you to the people who make Five Guys what it is. Now, I'm watching crews from across the world compete on a brand new stage. I honestly don't have words for it." That's the heart of this story, a family gesture that grew legs, then wings, and eventually found its way onto a streaming platform most people associate with blockbusters, not burger joints.

The Skills of the Shift, Sped Up and Spotlighted

The competition itself is built around the small, precise rituals that make a Five Guys order come together: the potato race, the cheese race, and the dressing and quality-control race. These are the skills crew members already use every shift, just sped up and put under lights. Collin Orcutt, who brings experience from Any Given Saturday and Omnivore, served as showrunner, while Charissa Thompson hosted the finale episode, sitting down with competitors both before and after each event. What strikes me most is that the Games remain open to any Five Guys employee. No invitation list, no pre-selected favorites. Just whoever shows up ready to compete.

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Telling a Story Beyond Competition

The people behind the camera seem to have understood what made the tradition worth filming in the first place. Full Day Productions President David Chamberlin said the studio saw "an opportunity to tell a story that goes far beyond competition," adding that "this series is about the people who bring Five Guys to life every day; their pride, dedication, camaraderie and the incredible culture they've built across the globe." Lost Tribe CEO Jason Saffran echoed that sentiment from a different angle, reflecting on "the level of intensity and pride each competitor brings" and calling the chance to document "these crew members' journeys from their homes around the world to the big stage" as "profound and electrifying as the games themselves." Put those words next to Jerry Murrell's own disbelief at watching his family's small gesture go global, and you start to see a company trying, quite earnestly, to give its frontline workers the same spotlight usually reserved for professional athletes.

The Terminator Takes the Belt

That spotlight had a real winner this year. The 2026 Five Guys Games wrapped on May 13 at The Theater at MGM National Harbor in Maryland, a venue that says plenty on its own about how far this tradition has traveled from its trade show floor beginnings. Jonathan Martinez, a competitor from Poughkeepsie, New York, known to fans as "The Terminator," took the title, defeating past champions to claim the belt along with a $100,000 check. A six-figure prize for a workplace cooking contest is not a small gesture, and it tells you Five Guys is putting genuine money behind the idea that frontline talent deserves recognition at scale.

Bringing the Celebration Home

The celebration isn't staying confined to streaming, either. Five Guys is inviting media to attend one of three watch parties held at store locations around the country, honoring local finalists who competed in the Games. Space at each event is limited, and media hoping to attend are asked to RSVP through Christine Cube to secure a spot. It's a smart pairing, really: a national streaming release that reaches a wide audience, balanced against small, local gatherings that let regional finalists feel seen in their own communities rather than only through a screen.

A Story Still Unfolding

Some details are still missing, including how local qualifying rounds choose their winners, how many competitors took part worldwide this year, and what the remaining four episodes beyond Thompson's hosted finale will actually show. Those gaps don't change the shape of the story so much as leave room for it to keep unfolding. What began in 2013 as a family's way of saying thank you now carries a championship belt, a six-figure prize, and a Prime Video series behind it, and if this year's rollout is any indication, Five Guys isn't done finding new ways to let the rest of us watch its crews shine.