TV & Movies

How are players eliminated in Squid Game: The Challenge?

Daisy Phillipson
Players in Squid Game: The ChallengeNetflix

It’s safe to say the real-life contestants of Squid Game: The Challenge aren’t ruthlessly killed if they don’t pass the games – so, how exactly are players eliminated?

Squid Game: The Challenge has been described as the “most gripping” television since The Traitors, and for good reason – across ten episodes, a record-breaking 456 players have battled it out for the chance to win an eye-watering $4.56 million. 

The Netflix competition series also brings together many of the elements that made Squid Game so popular, recreating the iconic games with epic set pieces and additional tests and challenges to keep players on their toes. 

But one thing you definitely won’t be seeing is contestants being killed if they don’t pass one of the games. So, how exactly are players eliminated in Squid Game: The Challenge?

How are players eliminated in Squid Game: The Challenge?

In Squid Game: The Challenge, although it might look like eliminated contestants are shot by paintballs in the games ‘Red Light, Green Light’ and ‘Dalgona’, they’re actually wearing ink pads under their shirt that activate and explode – as if they’ve been shot. 

While in Squid Game, players are ruthlessly shot to death with real bullets if they don’t pass a game, in The Challenge, they get off easier. So, for ‘Red Light, Green Light’, if the installed motion tracking system detects any movement, the ink packet – also known as a squib – bursts.

Players in Squid Game: The ChallengeNetflix

As explained by Netflix: “When the motion sensors, cameras, and game arbiters determine a player is eliminated, the squib bursts, indicating to the player that, without a doubt, their time in the game is over. 

“The squib is also used in Episode 2, during a game called Dalgona. In Dalgona, when any player breaks the interior shape of their dalgona candy (instead of removing it cleanly), the squib goes off, and the players lie on the ground until the game is complete.”

For other tests and games, eliminated contestants are simply escorted out of the building – which doesn’t quite have the same dramatic effect.

In Part 2 of the show, the remaining players must cross the treacherous Glass Bridge. Players who stand on the wrong side end up falling through the glass tile – although they land to their safety, rather than falling to their deaths like the OG series.

Squid Game: The Challenge Episodes 1-9 are available to stream on Netflix now, with the finale dropping on December 6. You can check out our other coverage below:

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