Netflix built a reality competition out of Squid Game, and the result is a strange, hollow thing. Squid Game: The Challenge takes the South Korean drama’s premise — 456 players, children’s games, one winner — and rebuilds it as a British reality series with a real $4.56 million on the line. The stakes are genuine. The dread is not.
Trailer, via Netflix.
456 Players and a Real $4.56 Million
The numbers are the pitch. Both seasons of Squid Game: The Challenge put 456 players on set, which the series claims is the largest cast in reality TV history. The source also states this was the largest cast and single cash prize in reality TV history at the time. The first five episodes dropped on 22 November 2023, episodes 6 through 9 on 29 November, and the finale on 6 December.
Netflix wanted scale and got it. Applications opened in June 2022 with a YouTube announcement, followed by a final casting call in September 2022. About 81,000 people applied. The service insisted contestants be English-speaking. The pool skewed American, twenty-something and male.
Studio Lambert Builds the Sets
The Netflix original came from a collaboration between Studio Lambert and the Garden, with Studio Lambert leading physical production in the UK. That detail matters more than it sounds. The show is a British reality series based on a South Korean drama.
The Top 10 Run, by the Numbers
Squid Game: The Challenge was No. 1 on Netflix’s Top 10 English-language list for its first two weeks. It drew 20.5 million views in week one, 11.4 million in week two, and 6.6 million in week three — more than 224 million hours watched inside the first 21 days.
The drop from 20.5 million to 6.6 million across three weeks is the more useful figure. Curiosity, not devotion.
Season 2 and the VIP Turn
Season two’s first four episodes arrived on 4 November 2025, episodes 5 through 8 on 11 November, and the finale on 18 November. On 10 July 2025, Netflix renewed the show for a third season. Then, on 3 March 2026, the service announced that season three would be retitled Squid Game: The VIP Challenge and would feature 8 celebrity VIP players.
That last decision is the tell. The show began by casting 456 ordinary people. Three seasons in, it is adding famous faces.
What Actually Holds Up
Here is where Squid Game: The Challenge lands. The scale is real and the prize is real, and those two facts carry the first stretch of any season further than the writing deserves.
But the show has no argument. The original is a dystopian survival thriller. The reality version keeps the games and leaves the rest behind. What is left is a competition defined by the size of its check.
Ranking what the show gets right, in order:
- The prize — $4.56 million, the largest single cash prize in reality TV history at the time.
- The cast size — 456 players, a real logistical achievement for Studio Lambert.
- The release schedule — splitting seasons across weeks.
- The premise — borrowed wholesale, and thinner every season.
The Score
Squid Game: The Challenge is a competent, watchable adaptation. It builds the sets and fills them. Whether it has anything to say once they are full is a question the show has not answered.
Key facts
- Score: 5.2/10 (Metacritic 52/100)
- Prize: US$4.56 million
- Cast: 456 players per season
- Season 1: first five episodes 22 November 2023, episodes 6–9 on 29 November 2023, finale 6 December 2023
- Season 2: first four episodes 4 November 2025, episodes 5–8 on 11 November 2025, finale 18 November 2025
- Renewed for season 3: 10 July 2025
- Season 3 retitled Squid Game: The VIP Challenge, with 8 celebrity VIP players, announced 3 March 2026
- First 21 days: over 224 million hours watched
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