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Netflix's 'Squid Game: The Challenge' Breaks All the Rules of Reality TV

Nov 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM EST

On first impression, it's difficult to fathom how Squid Game: The Challenge—a game show version of Squid Game—could ever work. Watching contestants compete without the threat of imminent death all but misses the point, right?

Yet Netflix's new spin-off of the thrilling Korean drama not only succeeds but triumphs in bringing to screens one of the most compelling TV competitions of the decade. Rather than focus on humans' survival instincts to keep viewers on the edges of their seats, The Challenge hones in on our ambitions and ruthlessness.

The 456 contestants who gather at the start line for the infamous Red Light, Green Light game aren't being sprayed with bullets for their failure to stay still on the swift turn of the sinister giant doll's head. Instead, black ink is seen exploding across the losing contestants' chests as they feign their own fatality and forfeit a $4.56 million jackpot—the largest cash prize in reality television history, according to Netflix.

Amateur dramatics aside, the 10-episode show makes much of the spectacle of it all with slow-motion footage and an emotive soundtrack as we see the contestants do whatever it takes to become the sole winner of the life-changing prize pot.

As each millionaire-in-waiting—hailing mostly from the U.S. and Europe—falls by the wayside, a $10,000 stack is dumped into a giant ball hanging ominously above their expansive dormitory. As the numbers whittle down and we get to know these contestants, they're ultimately reduced to numbers. And cold, hard cash.

Often, moments after a contestant is embraced as a hero or sneered at as a villain, they're mercilessly cut loose for failing a challenge, or simply being voted out by a competitor in moments that test their morals and game-playing tactics.

"That was probably one of the biggest challenges—how do you cope with the fact that your heroes keep disappearing?" executive producer Stephen Lambert, of production company Studio Lambert, told Newsweek of working on the new show. "But we took heart from the fact that some very successful dramas, like Game of Thrones or Band of Brothers have heroes [who] suddenly disappear."

"The fact that prize money was so big, gave the whole thing an intensity," Lambert added. "Obviously, it wasn't the same as people being killed, but it certainly made it different to any other kind of elimination show."