A Squid Game: The Challenge contestant has revealed what it was really like filming the game show, as it launched on Netflix after months of anticipation.
The spin-off is based on the record-breaking Korean drama but sees 456 real contestants battle it out for a whopping $4.56million cash prize.
The show includes the same challenges without the deathly consequences of the original, with games such as Red Light, Green Light, Honeycombs and Hopscotch all making a return.
One of the contestants has now shed light on what it was like filming the show at London’s Wharf Studios.
Lorenzo Nobilio, 26, told BBC News: ‘It felt like it was real – it didn’t feel like you were in a fictional place.’
Inside scoop: Lorenzo Nobilio (right) was a contestant on Squid Game: The Challenge and revealed what it was really like to film the show
Battle: The show, which is based on the original Korean drama, is now available to stream
He added that the Red Light, Green Light challenge was the most gruelling of the entire show, and took seven hours to complete.
In the original programme, it is the first challenge the contestants face and is the moment the characters realise they will be killed if they fail.
A giant doll stands at the front of the arena as contestants try to creep forward and are shot if they are caught.
The spin-off also has a 13.7ft-high ‘Young-hee doll’ but the players are taken out by radio-controlled dye instead.
Lorenzo continued: ‘I made it past the line in seven hours, that was a very long time, but it’s called Squid Game: The Challenge, it’s not an all-inclusive holiday in the Canary Islands.’
The players wear zip-up green tracksuits just like the original show and each person’s elimination adds $10,000 to the prize pot.
The substantial prize will mean TV watchers should see the same of levels of competitiveness as though the players’ lives were really on the line.
In the original show, the contestants are all in debt and play children’s games to win a huge cash prize.
Big competition: The reality competition show features a whopping 456 competitors
Familiar games: Some challenges from the original show will also make an appearance including Red Light, Green Light, Sugar Honeycombs and Hopscotch
Stop! The infamous Red Light, Green Light was filmed for a reported seven hours, with some contestants hitting out at the show for poor filming conditions
Though they are originally shocked by the fact they will be killed if they lose, soon their desperation for money leads to a deadly competitiveness between them.
Contestants have previously spoken out against the new spin-off show, complaining about the conditions they were made to film in.
They stressed that they had not signed up for a Bear Grylls or Naked and Afraid type show and were shocked by filming conditions.
Describing playing Red Light Green Light, one contestant told Variety: ‘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.’
A second alleged conditions were ‘absolutely inhumane’ elaborating that four individuals had passed out during the game’s second round.
The claimant said they could see one girl faint, hearing her head hit the floor, adding: ‘But then someone came on the [microphone] and said to hold our positions because the game is not paused. After that, people were dropping like flies.’
In a statement, Netflix and the show’s producers Studio Lambert and The Garden said that ‘while it was very cold on set — and participants were prepared for that — any claims of serious injury are untrue.’
They continued: ‘We care deeply about the health and safety of our cast and crew, and invested in all the appropriate safety procedures.’
Squid Game: The Challenge is now available to stream on Netflix.
Feeling real: A giant doll caught the players out with radio-controlled dye
Deadly: The players will put everything on the line to claim the whopping prize pot
