Millions of dollars, hundreds of contestants: we answer the big questions about Squid Game: The Challenge

The streamer's most watched show is now being turned into a stomach-churning game show
Elizabeth Gregory23 October 2023

Netflix's hit show Squid Game, which centres around a dystopian gameshow, is being turned into a nail-biting version that fans can play for themselves. Thankfully, the IRL edition differs in a few key ways from the original.

In Squid Game: The Challenge, which will be landing on Netflix on November 22, hundreds of contestants will be fighting tooth and nail to win a life-changing million-dollar prize. Sets have been exactly recreated to imitate scenes from the hit show, and by all accounts, it looks like it's going to be a thrilling watch.

Here we answer all the big questions about the upcoming series.

Why is Netflix releasing a new Squid Game game show?

Squid Game is still Netflix's most-watched show of all time with 265.2 million viewers tuning in for the gruesome game show. There is a second series in the works and a spin-off virtual game came to London in late September. It was only really a matter of time before a real-life game show made it to our screens.

Obviously there's no bumping off?

Obviously.

So how is it going to work?

The streamer has actually done a brilliant job of managing to conjure up suitable amounts of peril. Focusing on the carrot rather than the stick, the game show will be offering a prize of $4.56 million. It's the most amount of money that has ever been offered on a game show, and it's so much money that people are likely to play as if their lives really were on the line.

People have lost their minds for far smaller sums of money (Big Brother 2023's £100,000 prize money comes to mind).

So true. How many contestants will there be?

Just like in the TV show, there will be 456 contestants.

That's a massive number of competitors.

It really is. But the game show will be including the series' famous 'Red Light, Green Light' game, where candidates have to run across an arena and freeze every time the giant doll, Young-hee, turns around. Turns out, it's near-impossible to stand still under such high-stress circumstances and half the contestants left the game at that stage.

What will the remaining contestants have to do?

By the looks of the trailer, they will have to complete the same Korean children's games that feature in the show, such as the biscuit challenge, the marble game, and the final bridge challenge. There are also some new additions: there is a giant 'claw game', in which contestants have to try and pick up blue bears, and a game where contestants are stood in tiny boats on a human-sized board game. There's no sign of the tug of war game.

What about all the fighting in between the games?

Again, judging by the trailer, it looks like there's going to be plenty of tension in the dormitory room. We see a crowd of the contestants fighting over a tray of burgers and chips, making allegiances, pulling faces, and even crying.

How does it look aesthetically?

It looks exactly the same: contestants wear green tracksuits, there is the colourful stairs set, the blue cloud playground set and the money is being held in a giant sphere in the sky. The pink faceless men are still running the show.

Squid Game: The Challenge will premiere on Netflix on November 22

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