Netflix Releases First Trailer For Squid Game: The Challenge Reality Show

Netflix has released its first trailer for Squid Game: The Challenge, based on the original thrilling South Korean drama. There were previously reports of problems on the set of the upcoming reality competition, but Netflix denies this and is forging ahead. Read on to find out more about Squid Game: The Challenge and watch the first trailer for the reality show series.

Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge reality show

In the trailer for Squid Game: The Challenge, one of the contestants can be heard saying, “This is a savage game.” And it looks and sounds savage indeed from our first peek at a trailer for the show, based on the original South Korean series Squid Game.

Judging from the trailer, the high-stakes reality competition series might look the same as the original. It features a familiar environment on set, including the scary “Red Light, Green Light” doll, as well as identical tracksuits and stacked-high bunk beds.

Moreover, unlike the original, the trailer emphasizes friendships between the cast members. One pair of contestants seems to embrace, while another competitor tells someone, “You’re the brightest light in here.” This stands in stark contrast to the controversy that is surrounding the new show.

Big prizes on the Netflix reality show

However, some things are more familiar, including the fact that there are 456 players and a $4.56 million reward. This is the largest sum ever for a reality TV show prize. Meanwhile, when the Squid Game spinoff was announced in June 2022, it received mixed reactions, due to the fact that the fictional version warns against a society that pits contestants against each other to win a cash reward.

While, unlike the original, the reality show doesn’t have contestants being killed off, reports came out in February of chaos on the set. Speaking with Rolling Stone about their experience, some contestants said the game was filled with “torment and trauma.” They further said the competition was “rigged” from the start to favor competitors who were influencers.

“It was just the cruelest, meanest thing I’ve ever been through,” one of the former contestants said. “We were a human horse race, and they were treating us like horses out in the cold racing and [the race] was fixed.”

Another explained that they were forced to play the “Red Light, Green Light” game, where an evil doll swivels to shoot moving players, in freezing temperatures. They even claimed that these conditions led to at least 10 people collapsing on the set.

Meanwhile, in a statement from Netflix, Studio Lambert and The Garden (the studios behind the reality show) said that claims the series was “rigged,” or potentially put contestants in “serious harm” were untrue. They added:

We care deeply about the health of our cast and crew, and the quality of this show. Any suggestion that the competition is rigged or claims of serious harm to players are simply untrue. We’ve taken all the appropriate safety precautions, including aftercare for contestants—and an independent adjudicator is overseeing each game to ensure its fair to everyone.

About Squid Games: The Challenge on Netflix

According to the synopsis, the new Netflix reality show, Squid Games: The Challenge, blends games from the original South Korean show with “surprising new additions.”

Rather bizarrely, the trailer is backed by the Sammy Davis Jr. hit “I gotta be me.”

Readers can watch the first trailer here:

The reality show Squid Game: The Challenge will premiere on November 22, 2023, and episodes will air weekly through December 6.