Netflix's most-watched series, Squid Game, is returning to the streaming service in a new form: in June 2022, streaming giant Netflix will host a battle between poor contestants in a death game for a chance to win 45.6 billion won! The company announced that it has planned a reality contest based on Hwang Dong-hyuk's chilling K-drama about a royal-style tournament. This reality version thankfully removed "death" from the series, with 456 players participating in games taken directly from the series and several new events inspired by the show. Also included in the history-making prize money of $4.56 million were.

Squid Game: Squid Game: The Challenge has received mixed reactions from the public since day one, with fans of the original show questioning whether the executives who approved "Squid Game" to become a reality show really understood the series' anti-capitalist themes The question has been raised as to whether the executives who approved "The Squid Game" for a reality show really understood the series' anti-capitalist themes. And earlier this year, reports accused the reality show of being "inhumane" on set, with contestants claiming that the show was "rigged." (Netflix and the show's production company, Studio Lambert, denied the claims at the time.) This fall, after months of controversy, this high-stakes survival game will appear on the streaming service. Here's what we know about Squid Game: The Challenge (and for those wondering about Squid Game's highly anticipated second season, we'll keep track of all the updates here).

The 10-episode reality series will premiere on Netflix on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 and air weekly through December 6. The official description of the show, which streamers are calling "the biggest competition ever," says: "Compete through a series of games inspired by the original show, plus amazing new additions." "Their strategies, alliances, and personalities will be tested as rivals drop out around them."

As the official trailer says, Squid Game: from the bleak, candy-colored facility where workers in red suits run the game, to the contestants' green numbered tracksuits, to the vast fields and the supersized Yong Hee dolls that await them, The Challenge is an aesthetic of the original series is painstakingly recreated. The video begins with hundreds of players beginning a round of "Red Light, Green Light," a glimpse of the new game that seems to have been inspired by claw machines and battleships. One of the contestants can be heard saying, "It's a barbaric game," and the clip also focuses on the quick bonds and subsequent betrayals that form as players team up and fight with each other as the round progresses. The biggest question the trailer answers: contestants who are eliminated receive black paintballs in their chests, not bullets.

In January 2023, the British tabloid The Sun published one of the first reports about the series. It claimed that the contestants had to stand for hours in minus 3 degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit) during the filming of the "Red Light, Green Light" round, adding that paramedics rushed in to help at least ten people who could not stand the cold. a month later, Rolling Stone magazine published an exposé in which four unnamed contestants corroborated early reports, and sources claimed that the competition was rigged from the start. One source said of the show. We were a human horse race and they treated us like horses in a cold race and [the race] was fixed."

Netflix and UK production companies Studio Lambert and The Garden said in a statement at the time: "We care deeply about the health of our cast and crew and the quality of this show. Any suggestions that the competition is rigged or claims of serious harm to the athletes are simply untrue. Safety measures are in place, including aftercare for contestants." "Independent referees oversee each match to ensure that it is fair for everyone.