Review: Netflix's Real-Life Spinoff Can't Recreate Squid Game's Allure

In Squid Game: The Challenge, contestants don't really risk their lives.

The original, fictional show Squid Game was gripping because every character's financial life was dire. Contestants were willing to die playing marbles or tug of war just for the chance of winning a prize. They even had the opportunity to leave once they knew they would likely die, and most of them returned to the games anyway. Making it even more harrowing were the masked, obscenely rich people watching the life-or-death struggle like it was the Super Bowl.

In light of the show's spectacular viewership—over 142 million households watched in the first month of 2021 alone—Netflix decided to make the fake reality show into a real one. In Squid Game: The Challenge, the grand prize is a reality-show record of $4.56 million (although much of that will be lost to taxes).

The Challenge starts with 456 contestants. Obviously the show can't kill real-life human beings, so they eliminate people basically by bursting a ketchup packet on their chest. (Talk about lower stakes.) There is some interesting trickery and deception between the contestants, but the fact this game show even exists indicates that the creators completely misunderstood the point and attraction of the original Squid Game.