Squid Game: The Challenge, is a Netflix original reality game show that was released on the streaming platform on November 22, 2023. This show is based on the very popular Netflix original drama from Korea, which was all about ruthless eliminations right from the start. The original show has received cult status and has managed to create a huge impact on the current pop culture.
The original drama is filled with plenty of games and thrilling eliminations, which would decide the fate of the many participants who enter with only one aim. They will either stay in the game, get eliminated, or, worse, get killed (faux killing, obviously). Everyone intends to remain alive by the end of countless laborious games, tasks, and tests. All the games are identical to the ones presented in the original series, and it is exciting to watch how the reality show is recreated and has been turned into entertaining, if not ruthless.
In Squid Game: The Challenge, there is a lot to take away from the show. The only aspect that tends to worry every participant in the show is the elimination or being randomly killed for doing the task wrong. The game offers a whopping USD 4.56 million to the winner, who will be chosen from 456 participants. All of them come from various social and economic backgrounds. Their end goal is to win the cash prize and change their lives for good. The entire Squid Game: The Challenge is designed to test the survival of the fittest theory.
Keeping in mind the Korean drama, the players are also wearing the same old green uniform to make sure the show mimics the original one in many ways. The makers of this reality show made sure not to miss out on any attribute in a bid to offer a tribute to the original show. There is already a nostalgia factor to it, which could have been the reason it was brought back on Netflix as a reality game show. The first game is named “Red Light, Green Light,” and the entire setup is replicated. Case in point: the height of the large cartoonish female doll placed at the end of the large open space, which appears like the backyard of a home. All 456 players participated in this game for the first time, and they had a fair idea of how this game works. The doll became a huge part of pop culture as well after the original drama and played a crucial role in this game.
“Red Light, Green Light” began with the announcement regarding how the game would work and why the participants needed to be in tally with the queue to make sure they were not removed from the show. This was the only game in the entire show where the players were removed solely based on the rules of the game. No random participant was asked to choose anyone from the huge crowd that had gathered for elimination. The players understanding of the game was the key to the game and the luck that followed. The participants would have to run across the entire space between them and the doll in under five minutes. They would have to sprint as the doll started playing a song and would have to stop once the music ceased. Any movement noticed by the motion detector of the contestants from the control room run by the soldiers in the red suits would be eliminated by shooting black ink at them. In the original show, the people were ruthlessly killed for being unable to adhere to the rules of the game.
In Squid Game: The Challenge, this round was for eliminating as many people as possible, as the show made sure not everyone made it through. Not everyone was able to pass the threshold of the finish line in under five minutes. The show also focused on a player named Trey and his mother, who were excited about finishing this round on time.
Many were getting eliminated as the finish was getting closer, and there was tension created if Trey’s mother could finish the game owing to her age. As she had luck and skill despite her age, Trey and his mother could finish the first round, cross the line, and reach the other side along with many others. The players who survived the race were moved to a dorm, where the number of eliminated players from the last game was put on display. After the elimination, the number of people who remained in the show had come down to 200+, and it was enough to run the next lineup of games.
As per the rules set by the game and the show makers, with every elimination, USD 10,000 would be added to a giant orb suspended in the middle of the dorm, and the amount of money accumulated by the end of the show would be equivalent to the prize money allotted to the winner. The money being accumulated in front of them would be a good motivator to get players to nominate people for elimination. Even though there would be bonds and friendships that would be formed, eventually all the players would have to be selfish at some point and find the courage to eliminate those who were a threat to them if asked.
The game has only begun, and the players will also be given tests restricted to the dorms that would either provide them with some advantage or be the cause of their elimination as well. Squid Game: The Challenge had already begun, and there was no turning back for everyone who chose to join this series of ruthless games that would eventually offer them hefty prize money. We’re sure the readers are looking forward to more games and tasks involving elimination.
