Squid Game Reality Show Contestants Blast Series as "Cruel" And "Rigged"
Squid Game is a dystopian story that features a gaggle of unfortunate souls looking to pay off debts and/or win enough money so that their problems will be a thing of the past, and the series became one of Netflix's biggest surprise hits when the first season arrived in 2021. Now, the streaming service is aiming to capitalize on the show's success by creating a reality show that sees participants compete in far-less deadly games for cash. Unfortunately, it would seem that troubles have arisen during the production of this unique series.
Last year, Squid Game was confirmed to receive a second season, though new details about the smash hit's return have been few and far between. Netflix, however, was so confident in this new series that they hinted at the idea of a "Squid Game Universe", with many fans scratching their heads when the streaming service announced that a live-action reality show was being created that would mimic the games in the series. Of course, considering that the games of the original Squid Game would see many contestants murdered if they lost, the new reality show would obviously have to be quite different, though it seems that there is still plenty of drama behind the scenes when it comes to The Challenge.
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In speaking with the outlet Rolling Stone, participants, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that they felt as if the challenge had been "rigged", with said contestants sharing the following:
"It was just the cruelest, meanest thing I've ever been through. We were a human horse race, and they were treating us like horses out in the cold racing and [the race] was fixed."
Another anonymous contestant stated that the streaming service might have bit off "more than they could chew" when it came to the scale of the reality series:
"All the torment and trauma we experienced wasn't due to the game or the rigor of the game. It was the incompetencies of scale — they bit off more than they could chew."
The article also alludes to the idea that social media influences were perhaps given a "leg-up" in the contest, potentially being "pre-selected" to move up the ranks of the game no matter their placement in previous rounds. This is far from the first time that drama has emerged during the filming of Squid Game: The Challenge as earlier this year, it was reported that several contestants had to be treated for injuries they received during the filming process.