by Thinus Ferreira
Netflix's reality game show version, Squid Game: The Challenge, based on the Korean hit series Squid Game with 456 contests from all around the world, has been branded "absolutely inhuman" by contestants who are speaking out in a new report about the horrific treatment they've been subjected to by the producers.
Produced by Studio Lambert and The Garden and filmed in the United Kingdom, the British press last month revealed the horrific real-life treatment of contestants who were left in a massive aircraft hanger in Bedford as freezing temperatures plummeted, with some contestants collapsed while they were forced to stand still for hours.
Netflix put out a statement about how much the streamer "deeply" cares for the contestants on the show and admitted that while it was very cold "participants were prepared for that".
Studio Lambert and The Garden in a statement said "We care deeply about the health of our cast and crew, and the quality of this show. Any suggestion that the competition is rigged or claims of serious harm to players are simply untrue. We’ve taken all the appropriate safety precautions, including after care for contestants – and an independent adjudicator is overseeing each game to ensure it’s fair to everyone."
In a new deep-dive, Variety reports that contestants are pushing back on Netflix underplaying the horrible on-set treatment, saying what really happened in Squid Game: The Challenge is "definitely not as minimal as is being conveyed by Netflix".
The industry trade spoke to contestants who were part of Squid Game: The Challenge who revealed that while they were told the one game would take two hours to film at Bedford’s Cardington Studios, a large former aeroplane hangar north of London, it turned into a 7-hour ordeal which saw contestants collapse from the freezing cold.
A contestant told Variety that "The conditions were absolutely inhumane".
About playing one of the Squid Game games where contestants had to stand in below-freezing temperatures holding poses, a contestant says one "just buckled, and you could hear her head actually hit the ground. But then someone came on the [microphone] and said to hold our positions because the game is not paused. After that, people were dropping like flies".
Another contestant said: "You can’t tell people they have to stand in below-freezing temperatures in just a tracksuit and two pairs of socks".
