TV & Movies

Squid Game’s Mai has one major regret from The Challenge

Daisy Phillipson
Mai in Squid Game: The ChallengeNetflix

Squid Game: The Challenge Player 287, Mai Whelan, may have come out a winner, but she’s got one major regret from her time on the competition show. 

Although Squid Game: The Challenge recreated many of the same iconic games from the original Netflix series, the producers wanted to give everyone a chance, and so additional tests and adjustments were made to ensure the players wouldn’t have to solely rely on their physical abilities. 

It’s why Warships replaced Tug of War, and rock, paper, scissors replaced the final Squid Game. Though it proved divisive with viewers, numerous challenges were either down to luck or allegiances, all of which culminated in Mai being named winner of Squid Game: The Challenge – and the $4.56 million prize pot. 

Though she’s over the moon to be crowned the champion, there’s one major regret she has looking back. 

Squid Game’s Mai has one major regret from The Challenge

In her post-win interview with Netflix’s Tudum, Mai explained that it still stings that she had to betray her close friend Roland (Player 418) during the Circle of Trust game in the penultimate episode.

To refresh your memory, in this game, players sat in a circle and put blindfolds on. One player was selected at random and tapped on the shoulder, at which point they had to quietly take their blindfold off and place a present on the desk of any player they wanted. 

The player with the present would be eliminated – unless they could correctly guess who put the present there. Mai ruthlessly chose her “dear friend Roland,” explaining that “people will think that it wouldn’t possibly be me.” 

She added: “I love the guy, but also I have to save myself first.” 

Mai and Roland in Squid Game: The ChallengeNetflix

Speaking to Tudum, Mai said, “If I were to see Roland right now, I would say, ‘I’m sorry, buddy,’” adding that eliminating him was “the hardest decision” she had to make in the competition. 

Elaborating on her choice, she explained: “I picked Roland because he trusts me so much. I braided his hair, and I was playing mother to him [in the game]. I didn’t want him to be eliminated, but at the same time, if I were to put the box on anybody else’s desk, then they were going to pin it on me.”

So while she feels bad about it, Mai knows that she needed to do what she could to stay in the game. “It’s an individual game, and this close to the end, you just have to make a decision.”

One decision she has no qualms about was putting Ashley (Player 278) up for elimination in the dice test. Ashley quickly became one of the “villains” of Squid Game: The Challenge after she refused to play along with the team’s rules in Glass Bridge, leading to the downfall of fan favorite Trey (Player 301).

In the dorm test that followed, players simply had to roll a dice – if they got a six, they went home. They were given the option of nominating themselves or another player, and while everyone chose to nominate themselves, Mai – who went first – chose Ashley due to her actions on Glass Bridge. 

Mai and Ashley in Squid Game: The ChallengeNetflix

Speaking about the dice test, Mai said, “I stand by my decision… Even though I [was one of the only people] who comforted her at the end of Glass Bridge, I was disappointed in her because she seemed like a very strong person.

“For her to just stand still and not do anything [at first] made me feel like I couldn’t trust her in a team. So if I had to eliminate anybody, then yeah, it would be her.”

Squid Game: The Challenge is available to stream on Netflix now. You can check out more of our coverage below:

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