Squid Game: The Challenge - It’s brutal and manipulative, and one of the best reality shows in years

Squid Game was a surprise smash when it debuted on Netflix in September 2021. The often gruesome Korean horror-thriller was a pointed satire of consumer culture and Korea’s class divisions. But it also featured a scene that instantly became a meme in which a giant creepy doll smiled and sang as dozens of screaming people in green tracksuits were gunned down – a sequence that went viral on social media, in particular TikTok, and the internet. Within a few days, a global audience was watching and Netflix’s share price had spiked – and the streamer had its most emphatic hit since Stranger Things.

Three years later, a second series is reportedly in the works without a confirmed release date. Never mind – Netflix has fired up the bandwagon with the gripping and often inhumanely tense reality show Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix, Wednesday, November 22nd) – a febrile mash-up of Squid Game 1.0 and Big Brother on growth hormones.

It’s hugely enjoyable – one of the best reality shows of recent years. One reason is that it really does encourage participants to take the gloves off as they recreate the challenges from Squid Game, in which people, who don’t know each other, partake in a cycle of deadly trials on a mysterious island. With an ultimate victory prize of $4.56 million (€4.1 million) – $10,000 for each of the 456 entrants – the players are very much in it to win it. Mind games, light thievery, toxic masculinity – if it helps carry them to victory, the volunteers are up for it.

Their first challenge is the similarthe original is Red Light, Green Light. There’s that giant doll again, still singing in that creepy child-like voice. In Squid Game 1.0, those failing to stop on “red” were gunned down. Here, it’s just a spatter with a paint gun – followed by immediate removal from the game.

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Squid Game: The Challenge obviously can’t come close to the gory jinks of the source material. However, it retains many other aspects of Squid Game – for instance, the green tracksuits and the dystopian guards with their black face masks.

To this it adds Big Brother-style mind games – one early face-off involves survivors of Red Light, Green Light deciding how to approach the infamous Dalgona Candy challenge, where hopefuls use a needle to pry umbrella and triangle shapes from a honeycomb disc. Even before the challenge starts, things turn vicious, and it’s fascinating to watch ordinary people crumple under extraordinary pressure.

Squid Game: The Challenge comes on the heels of 007: Road To A Million, the globe-trotting Brian Cox Amazon quiz that riffs on James Bond. That show is less successful: it’s Cox’s most underwhelming outing since that Virgin Media ad. But it further proves how determined streamers are to milk their biggest brands.

In a way, it’s a shame the trend didn’t catch on sooner. Imagine a mash-up of Game of Thrones and Family Fortunes. What about Mr Robot meets Murphy’s Micro Quiz-M? Mad Men crossed with Winning Streak? It looks like we’ll never know what might happen if Don Draper and Marty Whelan were in a room together – but, nevermind, Squid Game: The Challenge is a more than worthy consolation. It’s brutal, manipulative and unflinching – everything you could want from a decent night’s bingeing.