While we wait for the second season of the popular series Squid gameNetflix launches this week Squid Game: The Challenge, a new reality show inspired by the global phenomenon. The goal? Complete a series of challenges to win $4.56 million, the highest prize ever awarded in a televised competition.
It’s hard to miss Squid Game (or The Squid Game, in certain French-speaking territories), the Korean TV series that swept the planet when it arrived on Netflix in 2021. The first season broke listening records for the platform, where more than 265 million viewers eagerly followed the adventures of 456 contestants who were willing to risk their lives to win an impressive sum of money.
But that was pure fiction. Today we are turning the concept into reality.
Children’s games
The premise is essentially the same: 456 candidates from all over the world are brought together in settings identical to those in the popular TV series and have to undergo various tests. These, in turn, are all inspired by children’s games, such as the now famous 1-2-3 Sun, performed under the murderous gaze of a giant puppet.
All players have the same goal in mind: to claim the impressive $4.56 million prize pool awarded to the last man standing.
Small clarification: The word “survivor” should be used lightly. Candidates are obviously not deterred once they fail a test. They will simply be removed from the game. But their elimination is still reminiscent of that of the hit series, thanks to a simple but effective visual process: an ink cartridge located under each of them’s sweater bursts to indicate their expulsion, mimicking a hemoglobin explosion.
Courtesy of Netflix
Different problems
Some might believe that episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge will be accompanied by a strong sense of déjà vu. And given the similarity of the proposed challenges, they’re not entirely wrong. However, since the topics are very different, the atmosphere conveyed here has nothing to do with that of the TV series.
The danger of a violent death certainly does not hang over them. But these “real” people see the hefty sum of $4.56 million as the promise of better days for their loved ones and themselves. And we become emotionally engrossed in various participants, particularly this mother-son duo, exactly knows that at some point one of them will have to return home without their partner.
In short, Squid Game: The Challenge will not replace a second season of the television phenomenon, whose release date has not yet been announced by Netflix. But we devoured the first five episodes of this new reality show even faster than the good old Squid Game. Therefore, there is a risk that fans will have to wait a few more – or several – months, depending on how eager the platform’s managers are.
- Reality TV Squid Game: The Challenge starts on Netflix on Wednesday.