Squid Game, The Challenge: behind-the-scenes drama, giant studios and crazy filming schedules

Predictably, making a real-life version of Squid Game was a massive undertaking, with 456 contestants, a $4.56 million cash prize, a giant doll, and weeks-long stints in the game show
Squid Game: The Challenge
Netflix
Elizabeth Gregory13 November 2023

Netflix's hit 2021 series Squid Game unnerved and tantalized millions of viewers worldwide by putting the full range of less than estimable human emotions under the microscope.

The fictional Korean game show followed 456 contestants who were put into the world's most high-stakes game: the prize winning was 4.56 billion won (£28.2 million), but the penalty for losing was death. With so much to gain and so much to lose, the contestants morphed into crueller, lying, cheating, back-stabbing versions of themselves as they fought to the death to win the life-changing sum of money.

Now the show has been turned into a real-life gameshow, which is landing on Netflix on November 22. Obviously no one is getting killed off, but there is cash prize of $4.56 million – the most that has ever been put up for grabs on a game show – and the show's contestants don't half get scrappy as they go head to head to win.

With 456 contestants to house and feed, millions of pounds at stake, and the need to recreate Squid Game's massive and now iconic spaces, it was a huge undertaking to recreate the game show. Here are five wild facts about the making of the major new series.

1. Once players entered, they never left

Netflix

In order to create a real sense of drama, The Challenge was filmed over 16 consecutive days in a massive studio in London, which had been designed to perfectly recreate some of the iconic rooms from the series. There were six huge sound stages that were interconnected, so the contestants never ever left the game – except upon elimination.

2. Filming Red Light, Green Light was chaos

Netflix

Red Light, Green Light was one of the stand out scenes from the series. All 456 participants were placed in a huge room and had to run to the other side, freezing still during the moments when a giant plastic doll turned to look at them. Turns out, it is near-impossible to stand completely still under such phenomenal pressure, and hundreds of contestants were killed off instantly.

Recreating this scene was a mission. It took the production team three months alone to build the 4.2 metre, life-size doll, whose exoskeleton was 3D-printed.

Red Light, Green Light was the only game filmed in a different space – contestants were taken to Europe’s largest indoor space, Cardington Studios, which was, happily, just up the road in Bedford. The giant hanger was about 100 meters x 40 meters, requiring players to wear tracking devices, and requiring microphones to be placed around the room as well as attached randomly to contestants.

The production team went for black blood rather than red – as a reference to squid ink. Players wore vests with air compression chambers that would explode and release the black liquid when they got hit.

3. The piggy bank was really full of cash

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

We hate to ruin the illusion, but the giant piggy bank that hangs from the ceiling of the contestant's dormitory in the series was in fact computer generated. In The Challenge, the production team decided to make a real-life version of the huge bowl for the very first time. It helped drum up the drama, constantly reminding the players about what they were fighting for. But it was a massive endeavor: the piggybank was filled with real cash and weighed over 800 kg at its peak – a whopping 126 stone.

4. The Dalgona challenge cookies were a nightmare to make

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Remember the cookie challenge from the series? Well, The Challenge recreates a version of the nail-biting game. But of course this meant that the biscuits all had to be specially designed and baked – and creating a perfect recipe wasn't half a difficult task. Traditionally, the Korean Dalgona cookies are made of honeycomb, but due to the inconsistency of the results, the show's development chef had to opt for a different recipe. After much testing they managed to make a biscuit that snapped properly, didn't get sticky or soggy, and were uniform and size and shape.

5. There were proper guards, and they learnt choreography

PETE DADDS/NETFLIX

One of the scariest parts of Squid Game – other than the murderous participants – was the faceless, unfeeling guards who mechanically and abruptly ended people's lives. The new real-life game show is apparently guided by a team of these terrifying wardens, and, the actors actually went through special training, learning choreography in order to be able to morph into the robotic pink men.

Squid Game: The Challenge will premiere on November 22

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