Add Squid Game: the Challenge to your watchlist
In 2021, South Korean drama Squid Game became a cultural phenomenon — so much so that viewers were desperate to join in. So two years later, a reality show version was created called Squid Game: the Challenge, bringing the deadly games to life with real members of the public competing.
Now, its second series is in full swing, with almost 110,000 people from around the world applying to be one of 456 people chosen to compete for a prize of $4.56 million (about £3.5 million). People are clearly dying to play it — without the actual dying part. All you can hurt in this version
is your pride, as RT can confirm after our own visit to the set.
In every other way, however, it feels authentic. Upon entering the vast dorm, my mouth falls open — it’s huge, and looks identical to the series. Soon I’m kitted out in the iconic tracksuit, with intimidating masked guards watching my every move as player 255.
The reality series has had the blessing and help of Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, but while his drama ended with series three, The Challenge has no plans to call game over. “We’d like to go on for as long as possible,” says executive producer Stephen Yemoh. “As long as we can keep finding new, interesting games and 456 people who are willing to put a tracksuit on and come and play.”
With that, I zip up my green jacket and face a host of games, some from the TV show, some newly created. Ready or not…
MINGLE
In Squid Game series two, players stand on a spinning carousel for Mingle. When it stops, a number is called out and they must form groups of that number and enter the surrounding rooms, then close the door. Onscreen it’s chaotic and dangerous, so when replicating it, the health and safety briefing, as with all the games, was paramount. Stephen Yemoh says, “We had soft closing doors to make sure no one was trapped in any way.” Anna Kidd adds, “The games go through rigorous testing, internally and with supporting artists.”
SLIDES AND LADDERS
In one of the new games created for the show, players are put in pairs and roll a dice to progress on the board. If they land on a ladder, they go up, and if they land on the dual slide, one transports them further down the board, while the other eliminates them. There are also cards to choose that reveal either an advantage or a disadvantage, with only six teams able to progress. “It couldn’t be flat,” says Kidd, “but if it was vertical, it’d become too big. Our amazing games designer Ben Norman came up with the idea of making it on stepped platforms.”
DEATH BY SQUIB
Even though the players are eliminated rather than killed, Yemoh explains, “The deaths are so iconic in the actual drama that we needed to visually replicate that, but also make it feel fun and playful.” A special effects company created a pressurised canister for the “squib”, resulting in a burst of black ink (instead of red blood) when a player “dies”, like I did here. “We tried 17 different versions of the nozzle, including a star shape and a triangle, and 12 different versions of the type of T-shirt we needed for it to go through the outfit.” The players have never been explicitly told to act dead, but they always “take their moment” for a theatrical exit. I certainly couldn’t resist.
SQUID GAME STAIRCASE
In the second series of Squid Game, the players staged a revolt against the guards, leading to an intense shootout on the pastel staircases. In this series of The Challenge during the Mingle episode, inspired by the drama, the players actually refuse to continue the game at one point, but the team behind the reality show was able to watch series two before release on Netflix, so they were prepared for this eventuality. “We often thought about the revolt, so we had plenty of contingencies in place,” says Stephen Yemoh.
