
Squid Game: The Challenge, a spin-off reality show of the 2021 Emmy Award-winning K-drama, has been released on Netflix, and the first reviews are in. The follow-up to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s 2021 wildly popular series, the new show takes creative inspiration from the chilling surviving drama, which saw 456 contestants risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games, from Red Light Green Light to Dalgona Sugar Honeycombs and Marbles to Hopscotch, for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion prize.
Squid Game, Netflix’s most-watched show across all languages, attracting more than 142 million member households and 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks, took the world by storm with its unprecedented success in 2021. Emerging as a global phenomenon, the Lee Jung Jae, Park Hae Soo, Gong Yoo, and Wi Ha Joon, among others, starrer bagged 14 Emmy nominations and won six, including best lead actor in a drama series for Lee Jung Jae, who played contestant Seong Gi Hun, a former gambling addict, also known as Player 456.
Inspired by the original series, Netflix‘s new offering brings 456 contestants together to play the same children’s game for a cash prize of $4.56 million. As many as five episodes of the reality series have dropped, which see each player push their limits to go to the next round through a new challenge. While the format of the game, from the number of contestants to the set-up, is similar, there’s no bloodshed, and thankfully so, in Squid Game: The Challenge.
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Four more episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge will drop on November 29, with a finale in line, which is scheduled to be released on December 6. The first reviews of Squid Game: The Challenge are in, and netizens so far have had mixed reactions to this reality TV version of the critically successful Korean drama. Many users took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to condemn the show as they expressed their displeasure over its messy production, while a few also appreciated it for engaging plot twists and ruthlessness.
“Already 5 minutes into #SquidGame and I’m already annoyed! The fact that they Americanized this is beyond me! I wanna see the OG’s it gave a real storyline…432 is hella annoying,” one X user wrote.
Already 5 minutes into #SquidGame and I’m already annoyed! The fact that they Americanized this is beyond me! I wanna see the OG’s it gave a real storyline…
432 is hella annoying pic.twitter.com/g9ZRjBXACt— ✨✨ Let all your pain be champagne 🥂 (@BrooklynCreme) November 22, 2023
“WTFFFF is that #SquidGame #Netfilx Do not watch it yall, it’s just wack since the beginning,” wrote another user.
WTFFFF is that #SquidGame #Netfilx
Do not watch it yall, it’s just wack since the beginning😳 pic.twitter.com/2NotDSSXB3— 𝓜𝒾𝒸𝒽𝒶ℯℯ𝓁 (@mr_loneelyy) November 22, 2023
“One episode in and damn this shit is ruthless I love it #SquidGame #SquidGameTheChallenge,” wrote another X user.
https://twitter.com/MatthewFedele/status/1727488967782674466
One netizen mentioned, “#SquidGameTheChallenge is so unpredictable…..nobody’s a main character.”
#SquidGameTheChallenge is so unpredictable…..nobody’s a main character pic.twitter.com/ULONNOavNJ
— Theluverticusfiles (@luverticusfiles) November 23, 2023
A fourth netizen added, “No this show is actually so good and production is so messy because why can’t they at least finish their food before presenting them with MARBLES!!???”
No this show is actually so good and production is so messy because why can’t they at least finish their food before presenting them with MARBLES!!??? #SquidGameTheChallenge pic.twitter.com/Hle6zYP8du
— Maria (@BlackWeebxo) November 23, 2023
“The ending of episode 5 of #SquidGameTheChallenge is one of the greatest plot twists I have witnessed since the season 1 finale of The Good Place,” another netizen added.
https://twitter.com/RandomSisco/status/1727479324993794372
For more updates, stay tuned to Koimoi.
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