Squid Game: The Challenge reality show controversy, explained
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Squid Game is back – well, in reality show form at least. Netflix dropped a first taste of Squid Game: The Challenge, the new competition game show inspired by the smash success of the brutal Korean drama.
The reality show sees a whopping 456 real players – the same number as recruited in the drama, making the reality show one of the largest ever mounted – from across the globe compete in the hopes of cashing in on the $4.56 million prize money.
The show is comprised of a series of challenges and tests, many of which fans will recognise from the dark drama and a few new ones to keep competitors on their toes.
However, since the reality show began rolling cameras on the endurance test at the start of 2023, the production has been blighted by reports of bad conditions on set.
The first challenge on the show takes its cue straight from the drama with a game of Red Light, Green Light – complete with a massive orange-clad, pigtail-sporting doll replica from the show. But reports of the challenge have detailed how filming took place over several hours amid a cold snap in the UK, which reportedly led to a number of cast members requiring medical attention.
The allegations first emerged in January 2023, when The Sun reported contestants had been stretchered off in the frigid airplane hangar where filming took place, after having to pass long periods at a time holding frozen positions as part of the game, while temperatures dipped below zero.
One contestant told the publication it was "like a warzone" and that fellow players "left in tears". Another said: "Even if hypothermia kicked in then people were willing to stay for as long as possible because a lot of money was on the line."
Other publications followed up with similar comments from some of the 259 contestants eliminated during that initial challenge, voicing complaints about the conditions.
Squid Game: The Challenge players told Variety that production members had said the game would take "roughly two hours to play and shoot" but that in reality it became "an almost seven-hour ordeal for some". Facing plummeting temperatures and a physically demanding challenge, Variety also reported that several players were said to have collapsed.
A contestant called John spoke with the publication and likened the show to a "Bear Grylls survival show" adding that he and the other players would not likely have "gone through with it" if production "had told us it was going to be that cold."
A former contestant told Rolling Stone: "It was just the cruellest, meanest thing I've ever been through." She added: "We were a human horse race, and they were treating us like horses out in the cold racing and [the race] was fixed."
"All the torment and trauma we experienced wasn't due to the game or the rigour of the game," another former player added. "It was the incompetencies of scale – they bit off more than they could chew."
In the wake of the accusations from competitors on the show, Deadline reported that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had contacted the show's production company Studio Lambert, which is also behind Gogglebox and The Traitors, regarding concerns over the conditions during the challenge set pieces. HSE ultimately decided not to take any further action on the matter but did remind Studio Lambert to "plan properly for any risks".
Netflix, Studio Lambert, and The Garden released a statement to Vanity Fair in February 2023, stating: "We care deeply about the health of our cast and crew, and the quality of this show. Any suggestion that the competition is rigged or claims of serious harm to players are simply untrue.
"We’ve taken all the appropriate safety precautions, including after care for contestants – and an independent adjudicator is overseeing each game to ensure it's fair to everyone."
In the lead-up to the show's release on Netflix, those behind the scenes have publicly addressed the reports over the set conditions. Show producer John Hay spoke with EW and said some of the anonymous accounts published were "not accurate".
"It was a big, complicated shoot, and it was quite cold and it took quite a long time for all these adjudication reasons," Hay said, referring to how the 456 players were judged and eliminated for moving during the game.
"But it's incredibly important to us to do these things safely and with due care for the welfare of our players. We did absolutely everything appropriate, and it was a very small number of people who were treated for medical issues, but some of the reports that were given anonymously by those who were eliminated were not accurate."
He also went on to stress that the players' mental health had been a top priority on the production throughout its run, noting that they scaled up their welfare team in accordance with the high number of contestants on the show.
Squid Game: The Challenge is available to stream on Netflix, with new episodes weekly.
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