Anyone who’s seen the scripted drama Squid Game can safely assume that the reality show based on it would be similar. Of course, the real-life contestants won’t need to pay with their lives for losing the game, but they certainly shouldn’t expect the competition to be a walk in the park. That’s why, when they complained about their horrible experience while filming the show, the internet was less than sympathetic.
One former contestant of Squid Game: The Challenge complained, “Imagine you’re playing ‘Red Light Green Light’ for six hours. What game is that? This isn’t a game. The fun is now gone. You can’t tell people they have to stand in below-freezing temperatures in just a tracksuit and two pairs of socks. Come on.” We can’t speak to the temperature, but in terms of taking six hours to film the game — that’s just how reality TV works. Another contestant claimed that the freezing portion of the Red Light, Green Light game lasted up to 30 minutes at a time.” Someone came on the [microphone] and said to hold our positions because the game is not paused. After that, people were dropping like flies.” Once again, this is how reality TV is done — they need to have people frozen while they move the cameras around and get shots of each contestant’s face. A third chimed in, “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.”
The production companies — Netflix, Studio Lambert, and The Garden — have responded, “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 it’s fair to everyone.”
So, was the filming truly done under inhumane conditions? Or are some contestants just sore losers? We’ll just have to watch Squid Game: The Challenge to find out!