The victor of Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge has been unveiled, concluding a competition involving 456 participants vying for an enormous cash reward.
Caution: This article contains spoilers for the show’s finale.
Inspired by the Korean dystopian series Squid Game, contestants engaged in iconic challenges from the original show. The winner’s prize, totaling $4.56 million (£3.66 million), is believed to be the largest cash award in the history of reality television.
Among the challenges featured in the series was “Green Light, Red Light,” where participants had to dash across a line while a massive doll of a girl sang. When the singing ceased, participants had to halt or risk being eliminated. While the initial series featured characters being shot, the spin-off utilized radio-controlled exploding dye to eliminate contestants.
In the final episode, streamed on Netflix, finalists Sam Wells (Player 016), Mai Whelan (Player 287), and Phill Cain (Player 451) stood as the last competitors. Mai, a 55-year-old born in Vietnam who later moved to the US, emerged as the winner. She spent two decades in the navy before transitioning to work as an immigration adjudicator and eventually retiring.
Prior to her triumph, Mai emphasized the role of meditation in coping with the challenges. “That’s all we have,” she said. “You need to make connections and friendships, but at the same time, you need time to yourself to reflect and ground.”
While Netflix has renewed the reality show for a second series, legal claims have arisen from some participants seeking compensation for injuries they allege they suffered during the show, including hypothermia and nerve damage.
A spokesperson for the show issued a statement, stating, “We take the welfare of our contestants extremely seriously.”
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