Courtesy of Netflix
let the games begin. After The Squid Game premiered on Netflix in 2021, it quickly became one of the streaming giant’s biggest shows thanks to the bizarre and enthralling premise of 456 players competing for a multi-million dollar prize in a series of deadly games. Now, Netflix is turning the scripted series into a reality (but much less deadly) show. Squid game: Challenge. And judging from its first trailer, it’s as crazy as it sounds.
The trailer begins with a familiar setup: an empty, warehouse-like room filled with bunk beds. “Attention all players, it is time for the next game. Please enter the game hall immediately,” a voiceover is heard directing the contestants. The trailer offers a glimpse at the first challenge, a direct replica of the “Red Light, Green Light” game show.
“This is a brutal game,” says one contestant.
While players appear to form teams and may be friendly at first, they are also there to win, and trusting others can be fatal when directions involve choosing two players to eliminate. “This game has to be played with strategy,” says another player. One competitor also warns: “I’ll be your best friend, but I’ll definitely let you down.”
It looks like a fierce competition in the clip, and as Rolling Stone reported, former contestants claimed that the experiment was “cruel”, “rigged” and conducted under inhumane conditions. “It was the most cruel, meanest thing I’ve ever been through,” one former contestant said. “We were a human horse race, and they treated us like horses in a cold race [the race] It has been fixed.”
Despite the allegations, Netflix and joint production studios The Garden and Studio Lambert denied claims that the game had been fixed in a joint statement, saying: “Any suggestion of competition rigging or claims of serious harm to players are simply not true.”
The statement added: “We have taken all appropriate safety precautions, including aftercare for the contestants, and an independent arbitrator oversees each match to ensure it is fair for everyone.”
