There are lots of reasons why Netflix shouldn’t have made Squid Game: The Challenge. One of the biggest indicators of its wrongness is that people are genuinely asking, at least via search engines, whether the contestants actually die in it.
Squid Game: The Challenge is a reality competition series inspired by the hit Netflix show Squid Game created by Hwang Dong-hyuk. In the original show, 456 players participate in a deadly competition in hopes of winning a cash prize. Most of these players are in debt and, thus, agree to compete in a series of children’s games for the prize. However, the price of losing is death, and there can only be one winner. The series isn’t actually about a game show but is a dark and powerful critique of capitalism, inequality, exploitation, and unfair competition.
That’s why viewers protested Squid Game: The Challenge, as it completely misses the point of the original series and even embraces one of the very things it criticizes: exploiting people for the entertainment of the rich. Despite its problematic premise, the show has proven to be a hilarious and intense reality show. Even as it gains more traction, though, some viewers may be curious what exactly it entails.
So, do people die in Squid Game: The Challenge?
Given that Squid Game has such a grisly premise and Netflix made it into a game show, some viewers really have to ask: Do the contestants also die in Squid Game: The Challenge? When a powerful multi-billion dollar company starts striving to be the real-life game makers from Squid Game, people are going to have these questions. Fortunately, no one dies in Squid Game: The Challenge, and it adapts the deadly games from the original to make them non-lethal. For example, in Red Light Green Light, instead of actually being shot as in Squid Game, the contestants have ink pouches attached to their uniforms that explode all over their clothes to denote their elimination.
Although no one died when filming Squid Game: The Challenge, some contestants did reportedly sustain injuries. The Red Light, Green Light game was filmed in freezing temperatures over a grueling six hours. There were reports of contestants fainting and suffering from hypothermia from the unsafe conditions. In fact, two contestants are taking legal action against Netflix and seeking compensation for the injuries they sustained during filming. Other concerning details have also arisen, involving the contestants being poorly fed and locked inside a crammed dormitory for hours with no windows or sense of time.
So, Netflix may not have brought the deaths from Squid Game to real life, but it seemingly did bring back the hellish living conditions. While no one actually dies in Squid Game: The Challenge, it’s understandable that it may create a sense of unease and suspicion from audiences because nothing about recreating a deadly fictional game show in real life sounds like a good or safe idea.
(featured image: Netflix)
