A worldwide phenomenon in the midst of a global pandemic, that is what Squid Game is. The South Korean survival series immediately became a hit on Netflix that it brought in a second season and a reality show immediately after the end of the first installment of the series. This time, it is arriving on the streaming platform into a real-life competition titled Squid Game: The Challenge and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk brings everyone to the set of the reality TV show.
Squid Game: The Challenge will be similar to the original series sans the macabre deaths of the competitors because, of course, it's a reality TV show and to have real-life deaths in it could actually be a crime. With 456 contestants, same as that in Squid Game, the players would have to survive until the end as they vie for the $4.56 million cash prize, the largest single cast prize ever given in the whole history of television and game shows. For ten episodes, these players would battle it out where their friendship will be tested, personal beliefs challenged, and will to win be pushed to the limits.
In a behind the scenes clip released during Netflix's Geeked Week 2023, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk toured the set of Squid Game: The Challenge with Anupam Tripathi who was from the cast of Squid Game Season 1 and there, they witnessed what the 456 contestants would have to go through for half a month. There were bunk beds that one would barely fit in and there, all Hwang Dong-hyuk could say was that "Even sleeping is a challenge." Check out the behind-the-scenes clip below:
Was the set of Squid Game: The Challenge safe?
Over the course of filming Squid Game: The Challenge, the participants of the game not only suffered through uncomfortable beds and draining challenges but there were some who were actually injured during the production of the series. As revealed in a report from BBC, it was confirmed that there were three people injured during the filming of the reality show in the UK. Deadline also reported that Squid Game: The Challenge had to undergo Britain's Health and Safety Executive to keep the safety on set. By the end of the production, it was with only a small number of injuries and the show managed to push through until the winner gets to the end.
Squid Game: The Challenge arrives on Netflix this November 22, 2023.
