Teaser for Netflix’s ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’

The hugely popular thriller series has become a reality show competition, in which players compete for $4.56 million.

Did you watch ‘Squid Game’ on Netflix? Many people did, so there’s a good chance.

But did you see the show and think to yourself, ‘hhhm… the chance to win a lot of money while putting my mortal life at risk certainly seems like something I want to do!’

You’re in luck –– and you (probably) don’t have to put your life on the line to do it. Because Netflix has a reality show competition version of the show, with the first season headed our way in a couple of months. The first teaser for the show is now online.

What was the story of ‘Squid Game’?

Created by movie writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk, and first on screens in 2021, the Korean thriller series is threaded with emotionally resonant drama and violence, and topical social critique.

In Season 1, 456 cash-poor contestants are invited by a mysterious organization to compete in a series of children’s games – with deadly consequences – to win a piece of the ₩45.6 billion prize pool (around $38.5 million).

Our way into this world is Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, who gets the player number 456 and ends up discovering that the chance to escape financial dire straits comes with some very dangerous caveats.

The series quickly become Netflix’s most-watched show, with the company estimating that subscribers worldwide streamed 1.65 billion hours of the show in the first 28 days of its release.

It inspired many Halloween costumes based on the contestants’ numbered green tracksuits and the orange jumpsuit/face mask combination sported by guards on the show.

It won’t shock you to know that Season 2 is in production.

How is ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ different?

Here’s how Netflix describes the show…

“456 real players will enter the competition show in pursuit of a life-changing reward of $4.56 million. As they compete through a series of games inspired by the original show –– plus surprising new additions –– their strategies, alliances, and character will be put to the test while competitors are eliminated around them.”

So, yes, essentially the same thing, only with less chance of death or discovering that (spoiler alert for the three people who haven’t watched the show) that not everyone is quite who they seem.

But from the sounds of it, there were still issues…

What were the reported problems on the set of the show?

According to reports in Britain’s The Sun Newspaper and Rolling Stone, contestants faced “inhumane” conditions.

Four players recalled how a two-hour game lasted up to nine hours in freezing temperatures, with one claiming he suffered a herniated disc and a torn knee tendon during production. Another participant claimed to have developed pneumonia and an ear infection.

One described a situation in which a woman was “convulsing on the floor” while other contestants remained frozen in place, scared of being eliminated.

A health and safety assessment concluded that the producers needed to do a better job planning for risk but that no further action was required.