Squid Game was a huge hit on Netflix. Now the streaming provider wants to build a real franchise and has announced a reality show called “Squid Game: The Challenge”.
The South Korean series “Squid Game” is Netflix’s biggest success so far. The reason for this is a finely tuned interplay of convincing characters, exciting background stories and unexpected brutality. Main character Gi-hun is heavily in debt due to his gambling addiction when he is invited by a mysterious organization to play brutal and, as it turns out, deadly games. The winner gets a hefty prize money, the participants, like Gi-hun, come from precarious backgrounds. The result of this premise is almost a fictitious field study of the social behavior of people as a group. After the second season was officially confirmed, the streaming provider now wants to expand the successful concept and has announced a reality show based on the death games. Participants in “Squid Game: The Challenge” can look forward to a whopping prize money.
Reality show Squid Game: The Challenge officially announced
With 1.65 billion streamed hours in the first 28 days after release, the first season of “Squid Game” is the most successful Netflix production of all time. In mid-June 2022, Netflix not only announced a second season, but also the reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge”. In the new format, 456 people should also fight for prize money. Netflix throws a proud 4.56 million US dollars into the ring! According to their own statements, this is the largest sum that has ever been won in a reality format. That’s not entirely true, the “X Factor” has already had contracts worth 5 million US dollars, but the participants in the planned Netflix show will get the money directly. And either way, it’s an insane amount!
When we can expect the show is not yet known. However, there is already an official teaser for “Squid Game: The Challenge”. Ten episodes are planned so far – one more than in the fictional series.
How is Squid Game: The Challenge supposed to work?
The crucial question now is, of course, what exactly the reality format should look like. There are six rounds in the original. In each round, the participants have to face a different game, based on well-known Korean children’s games, until there is only one left. This is to be taken literally in the South Korean series, as participation ends fatally for the vast majority of players.
Of course, nobody will die in Squid Game: The Challenge. However, it is likely that the makers will follow the original both visually and in the selection of the games. The teaser also suggests that. It talks about the “greatest risk”. So Netflix seems to be planning something spectacular and is also directly calling for a large casting. the registration is global and not limited to English speaking countries, however proficiency in English and being at least 21 years old are required.
By the way, the idea of transferring the games to reality is not entirely new. For example, there are already some comparable formats on YouTube, but they are of course intended more as a fun event. The best known is certainly that of YouTuber MrBeastwhich already has over 250 million views (as of June 2022).
Also interesting: All information about “Squid Game” Season 2
The original Squid Game games
If you orient yourself in “Squid Game: The Challenge” to the games of the fictional series, there is primarily the difficulty that the players would already know about the special features of the games. In round 2, for example, they could then choose simpler forms or form particularly strong groups in a tug-of-war. One of the charms of the original is that no one knows what up front choices might turn out to be beneficial.
These are the games in Squid Game Season 1:
- Round 1 – Red Light Green Light: Probably the most iconic game from the series is Red Light Green Light. Within five minutes, the participants have to cross a room. They are only allowed to move when the light is green or is announced as such. If the light is red, everyone must stand still.
- 2nd round – the honeycombs: The players can choose from four shapes – triangle, circle, star and umbrella – and then have to punch this shape out of a sugar plate. If the plate breaks, or even a piece of the mold breaks off, it’s game over for the person.
- 3rd round – tug of war: Several teams compete against each other in a tug of war.
- 4th round – the marble game: Two players each have to compete against each other and take the marbles from the other player within 30 minutes.
- 5th round – the stepping stone game: In advance, each player must choose a number up to the amount of the remaining participants. In the selected order, a staircase must be climbed, of which some steps are not load-bearing. Again, there is a time limit in the series.
- 6th round – the squid game: The remaining participants must now compete against each other in a battle on a playing field in the shape of a squid, whereby a distinction is made between attacker and defender. The attacker(s) must reach the squid’s head via the body, the defender(s) must prevent this.
Partly heavy criticism of the reality show
The announcement caused a wide media echo. While many are asking directly how to register for Squid Game: The Challenge, there are also clear criticisms. The main point: The reality show contradicts the core message of the original. This is to be understood as a critique of society and, above all, of capitalism, as intended by the creator Dong-hyuk Hwang. Running the whole thing as a regular game undermines the spirit. Many vent their anger on social networks:
Many just don’t like the idea of producing such a brutal and bloody original as a reality format. How exactly “Squid Game: The Challenge” should look like and whether this criticism is justified in the end remains to be seen. So far no further information is known, TECHBOOK will keep you up to date on the planned reality show.