Squid Game: The Challenge Trailer: Watch Real-Life Contestants Fake Die and Battle for $

September 2024 · 5 minute read

You’d think that volunteering to go on a reality TV series based on a show about a deadly competition would mean you were prepared to at least fake die — but based on the new trailer for “Squid Game: The Challenge,” that thought didn’t occur to every contestant.

In the new promo for the unscripted show, which debuts Nov. 22 on Netflix and will roll out new episodes through Dec. 6, 456 people are competing for the $4.56 million prize being offered, just like it was in the first season of the streamer’s Korean-language hit “Squid Game.” Of course, in this game, people’s lives aren’t actually on the line — but they still get fake “shot” during a game of “Squid Game’s” most iconic activity, Red Light, Green Light, and go tumbling to their “death” off a bridge in a later challenge. And being fake-killed is still shocking, as the first one “hit” goes “Oh, shit!” when they realize what’s happened.

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(What’s going on behind the scenes here: When a player is “killed,” a squib full of black ink goes off under the contestant’s shirt. The players wore special vests with air compression chambers that made it look like the squibs exploded.)

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The “Squid Game” game becomes even more realistic later in the trailer, when remaining contestants are asked to vote to “eliminate” two of their own.

Per Netflix’s logline for the competition, “456 real players will enter the competition show in pursuit of a life-changing reward of USD $4.56 million. As they compete through a series of games inspired by the original show – plus surprising new additions – their strategies, alliances, and character will be put to the test while competitors are eliminated around them.”

The competition series has been mired in controversy after contestants required medical assistance during the shoot, which took place in the U.K. during a surprise cold snap. Variety reported at the time that a number of contestants — who were not paid for their participation in the series — collapsed on set from a combination of cold and fatigue.

“Squid Game: The Challenge” is executive produced by Nicola Brown, Tim Harcourt, John Hay, Toni Ireland, Anna Kidd, Stephen Lambert, Louise Peet, Nia Yemoh and Stephen Yemoh.

The Netflix competition series hails from Studio Lambert and The Garden.

Watch the trailer for “Squid Game: The Challenge” below.

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