‘Squid Game: The Challenge’: Contestants Called Filming Conditions ‘Ridiculous’ and Like a ‘Warzone’ 

The real-life Squid Game might not be as deadly as its fictional counterpart, but filming wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience, according to some participants. Squid Game: The Challenge — Netflix’s reality show version of the mega-popular Korean scripted series – debuted on Nov. 22. The show features hundreds of participants competing for a $4.56 million prize, the largest in reality show history. While there are no grisly eliminations, some contestants say their experience on the show was far more intense than they expected. 

‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ contestants described ‘inhumane’ filming conditions 

In January 2023, 456 people converged on an airplane hangar north of London to film Squid Game: The Challenge. The contestants were participating in a version of the Squid Game’s Red Light, Green Light game. Filming took place during a cold snap, and at first, contestants were allowed to wear coats and had hand warmers. But eventually, they had to shed their outerwear and were dressed only in the signature Squid Game jumpsuits. 

During the “red light” phase of the game, players had to hold their poses for as much as 15 minutes, anonymous cast members told Variety. Before long, people started “people were dropping like flies,” one person said. 

The unnamed player said the conditions were far more intense than people expected.   

“It’s not like we signed up for Survivor or Naked and Afraid,” she said. “The conditions were absolutely inhumane and had nothing to do with the game.”

One contestant described the atmosphere as being like a “warzone.”

“I’ve never been that cold for that long a period in my life. We couldn’t feel our feet or our toes. It was ridiculous,” another player said, adding that contestants weren’t allowed water or bathroom breaks. 

Netflix and Squid Game: The Challenge producers denied contestants had been seriously harmed during filming. In a statement to Variety, they said they had “taken all the appropriate safety precautions, including aftercare for contestants.” 

The ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ set took on a ‘prison yard chemistry’ 

Half of the Squid Game: The Challenge contestants were eliminated during the Red Light, Green Light game. The 200+ players who remained after the first day of filming were then thrust into an immersive Squid Game world, spending all their time on a set designed to mimic the one seen on the original show. Crew members stayed as invisible as possible by dressing as either guards or players, which made the game feel all the more real, set designer Mathieu Weeks told The Telegraph.  

“The dorm took on a prison yard chemistry. It seems such an unnaturally strange environment, to have that many people living, sleeping, eating, hanging out the whole time together. There was never any let-up for them,” he said. 

The goal was to make the reality show version of Squid Game feel as much like the real thing as possible (minus the death, of course). 

“We did create the world very accurately, “ executive producer Stephen Lambert said. “I mean, obviously people aren’t being killed. But there is a sense in which the guards are slightly intimidating. It’s all done by people accepting the authority of the game.”

New episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge release weekly on Netflix through Dec. 6. 

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