'Squid Game: The Challenge' Players Explain All of Those Dramatic Fake Deaths on the Show

The Gist:

• Squid Game: The Challenge features eliminations in every episode.
• The Netflix reality show spinoff is based on the Korean drama that took viewers by storm in 2021.
• Fans are calling out the Squid Game reality show eliminations for being overly dramatic.

The Netflix reality show Squid Game: The Challenge is life imitating art in many ways, since it's a spinoff of the drama/thriller Squid Game. But when players are eliminated, their “deaths” are so dramatic that you'd think they were actually killed rather than quietly escorted from the game, following their loss of a particular competition or test.

When players in Squid Game: The Challenge are eliminated, an ink pack goes off in their chest. This is to imitate the fictional characters being shot when they were eliminated in the original series. The reality show’s stakes aren't quite so high. But the players still act as though they're being killed off when their ink packs go off. And, according to some players from the inaugural season, there's a reason for that.

Player 191, whose real name is Manu, gives some insight into those dramatic Squid Game faux deaths in a TikTok video. He explains that producers didn't force anyone to make their ink pack fake deaths dramatic. However, he adds, he and other players were “incentivised” to be more dramatic and realistic when their ink packs went off, signaling their death in the game.

“Apparently, the more dramatic the death, the higher the chances of it being shown,” Manu says in his TikTok. “I imagine it's a mixture of visual aesthetics for the viewer, but also so you can actually understand who died.”

He also says that if he and the other players just “stood there” when they were eliminated, viewers would be confused. And he does have a point.

When players are eliminated in Squid Game: The Challenge, they remain on the competition field until the game or round is over. Then, they are escorted away by one of the guards. The series doesn't show where they go immediately following this. However, it is assumed that the eliminated players are sent home soon after.

They don’t really get to say goodbye to other players, unless of course they’re eliminated in one of the “tests” that occur between games. And we don’t see them re-enter the dormitory for what little belongings they have on their bunks. And since this isn't a reality show like Survivor or Big Brother, there is no competition for fallen players to battle their way back in. So, as far as we know, eliminated players aren't kept in sequester after they’re booted from the competition.

Watch Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix.