Seeing as how people died in the fictional show, it's only right that the reality version makes a few changes. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the biggest differences between “Squid Game” and its reality competition spin-off, “Squid Game: The Challenge.”
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00:00 "Attention all players."
00:02 "The first game is..."
00:07 "Red Light, Green Light."
00:10 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest differences between Squid Game and its reality competition spin-off, Squid Game The Challenge.
00:19 Beware, spoilers abound.
00:21 Number 10, Location.
00:29 While Squid Game The Challenge features familiar set pieces from the original Netflix series, you may be surprised to know where it was filmed.
00:36 The scripted series is set in South Korea, and as such, was filmed in and around the East Asian country, including Daejeon, Seoul, and Incheon.
00:44 Taking place in Korea and featuring Korean language, the location added a true authenticity to the proceedings.
00:55 Squid Game's reality show counterpart, however, filmed exclusively in the United Kingdom.
01:00 Per Netflix, contestants were housed in the Wharf Studios, located in Barking, England.
01:05 They occupied six sound stages over 16 days.
01:15 The only additional location was for the infamous Red Light, Green Light game, which took contestants to a former Royal Air Force hangar in Bedford, UK.
01:23 Oh my God!
01:25 This place is nuts!
01:27 This is incredible!
01:29 Number 9, Contestants.
01:32 As with Squid Game The Challenge's filming location, the contestants that make up the show are in great contrast to the ones featured in the Netflix scripted series.
01:40 Squid Game features 456 heavily indebted players vying for a life-changing cash prize.
01:47 (Speaking Korean)
01:56 These participants hail from South Korea and are portrayed by a stellar cast of South Korean actors.
02:02 Squid Game The Challenge, on the other hand, has 456 players from around the world, with the vast majority from the United States and the United Kingdom.
02:10 Oh, yo!
02:12 Yo!
02:14 Oh my God!
02:16 Oh my God!
02:17 And while many are in financial need, plenty are not.
02:21 The reality competition cast even includes TikTok and Instagram influencers.
02:25 I'm hoping it's like Italian food, parmigiana, pizza, arrabbiata, penne alla matriciana.
02:32 A far cry from the burdened participants in the original series.
02:36 (Speaking Korean)
02:40 (Sobbing)
02:42 (Speaking Korean)
02:44 (Speaking Korean)
02:46 Number 8 Prize Money
02:48 As with the show it's based on, the Squid Game reality series boasts a large cash prize for its winner.
02:53 Here are the results of the first game.
02:56 (Cheering)
03:03 In fact, it currently stands as the largest amount of money offered on a TV game show ever.
03:09 Players compete in a series of child-like games for a whopping $4.56 million.
03:14 Of course, in the scripted Squid Game series, Sung Gi-hun and company competed for $45.6 billion won.
03:21 That prize pot in US dollars amounts to $38.6 million.
03:25 Meaning, the real-life game show's jackpot is $34.04 million less than the prize offered in the OG drama series.
03:33 But something tells us that the reality show contestants did not seem to mind.
03:37 (Cheering)
03:44 That's it.
03:46 And somebody here's gonna win that.
03:48 Number 7 No Front Man
03:50 (Speaking Korean)
03:54 As mentioned, Squid Game The Challenge has plenty of familiar set pieces and callbacks to the scripted series.
04:00 The players even don replica green tracksuits.
04:03 (Speaking Korean)
04:11 In addition, you'll also see the show's now iconic guards,
04:14 fully decked out in their signature pink hooded jumpsuits and permeated masks hiding their identity.
04:19 However, one presence that is missing, at least from the first half of the series, is the nefarious front man.
04:25 (Speaking Korean)
04:30 This baddie, played by Lee Byung-hun in the TV series, oversees the games.
04:34 It's possible the high-ranking figure may show up in later episodes or in follow-up installments,
04:39 but for now, the front man's ominous authority does not factor into the reality game.
04:44 (Speaking Korean)
04:48 Number 6 Player Testimonials
04:51 A reality TV staple, the Player Testimonial or Confessional,
04:55 features a contestant talking directly to the camera in a private setting.
04:59 (Speaking Korean)
05:04 It's a device used to provide exposition or added commentary,
05:07 and is a signature part of shows like Survivor and Big Brother.
05:11 And, just like the rest of TV's reality output,
05:14 Squid Game The Challenge uses the testimonial technique to great effect.
05:18 (Speaking Korean)
05:27 This, of course, is not something that was utilized in the Squid Game scripted series.
05:31 But why would it?
05:32 The game played in that series was not for a TV audience,
05:35 but rather a cabal of wealthy VIPs who watch for their own twisted enjoyment.
05:40 Regardless, the confessionals in Squid Game The Challenge go a long way in getting us,
05:44 the viewer, invested in the players in the game.
05:47 One of the biggest things I plan on doing, if or when I win the money,
05:51 I would actually donate a portion of it to a kidney donor assistance center
05:56 because I actually donated my kidney to my brother.
05:58 Turns out that one of the biggest differences between Squid Game and Squid Game The Challenge
06:05 has nothing to do with what happened on screen.
06:08 Don't look at anybody else, don't worry about anybody else, and make sure you get to that line.
06:12 While the former was a labor of love,
06:15 with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk writing a 10-year plus time frame to get his passion project made,
06:19 Squid Game The Challenge was a rather hurried production chock full of controversy.
06:24 Speaking to various entertainment outlets through anonymity,
06:27 some players described "inhumane" filming conditions.
06:30 I start hearing players fall to the floor, they're dropping like flies.
06:35 This included allegedly being forced to play the red light, green light game
06:39 in sub-freezing temperatures where many people passed out.
06:50 The reality show also came under fire for allegations that it was "skewed toward high-profile participants."
06:56 Netflix and its producing partners have denied all the allegations, however.
07:00 It's definitely hard not having that respect and having to try to earn it
07:06 when some people are just naturally given that respect just based on what they look like.
07:10 Squid Game is beloved by a global audience for many reasons,
07:16 one of them being its strong social commentary.
07:19 It's very clear that the show carries an anti-capitalist message.
07:22 In fact, the games act as an allegory for the capitalist system,
07:26 where the underclass must compete against each other for money by working for the wealthy.
07:30 So in an attempt to capitalize on the franchise with this reality TV series,
07:44 you can argue that Netflix has completely ignored the original series' message or quite simply missed the point.
07:50 It was never meant to be about twisted childhood games in which people participate,
07:55 but rather a disturbing parallel to society at large.
07:58 Does this missing theme mean that the competition series will be any less fun to watch?
08:13 That's for you to decide.
08:15 Squid Game The Challenge features a very intriguing wrinkle to the games,
08:27 something producers describe as "pre-game tests of character".
08:31 Because they knew everyone had watched the original series and would know what to look for,
08:41 they used these pre-game moments to "play" with the contestants.
08:44 They made participants separate in order to drive alliances, or in some cases break them.
08:50 It became a frenzied exercise of where to go and who to trust before the game was even revealed.
09:09 These tests reflected the many personalities of the people in the groups and the tension between them.
09:14 These pre-game strategy scrambles served as a clever way to create drama in lieu of a script.
09:19 From Red Light, Green Light to the Dalgona Honeycomb Challenge,
09:33 many iconic games from Squid Game have been carried over into the reality competition spin-off.
09:39 But that doesn't mean there aren't new games afoot.
09:42 One pleasant surprise takes place when the contestants split themselves up
09:45 thinking they're going to compete in the tug-of-war battle.
09:48 As it turns out, they're thrust into a new game for the franchise,
09:59 a life-size version of Battleship, or Sea Battle.
10:02 Like the game it's based on, the playing field is separated into two different games,
10:06 where each team's fleet of warships is placed and marked, concealed from the other team.
10:11 The team's captains then take turns placing shots at the other team's ships.
10:22 The first team to sink two ships wins, with the opposing team eliminated from the game.
10:27 The twist with this version, however, is that if you are in a ship that is sunk, you are eliminated.
10:33 Whether your team wins or not.
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11:00 Number 1 - Not Life and Death
11:03 Without question, the biggest difference, and understandably so,
11:16 between Squid Game and Squid Game The Challenge is that no one dies in the reality series.
11:21 While this is a no-brainer, killings were actually a major part of the Squid Game drama series.
11:26 If a player was eliminated from that game, they didn't just lose the game, they lost their life.
11:32 Yup, the stakes were as high as they could be in the dog-eat-dog games of the OG series.
11:37 In this new challenge, however, players didn't have to worry about losing their lives.
11:41 But to create a visual representation of one's death in the game,
11:45 the players were equipped with color packs that exploded when they lost.
11:55 The sudden bursts may have been jarring,
11:57 but it was definitely better than the lethal alternatives seen in the original Squid Game.
12:02 What other differences did you find between Squid Game and Squid Game The Challenge?
12:14 Let us know in the comments below!
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