Squid Game contestant from controversial scene claims he was told to 'pretend' on show

Squid Game: The Challenge features some pretty controversial moments as contestants compete to take home its whopping $4.56 million (£3.62 million) prize, but Netflix has been forced to respond after one of the show's contestants claimed it wasn't all real.

The competition show, which is now streaming on Netflix, sees 456 real-life contestants taking on the South Korean TV show's iconic challenges.

Squid Game quickly became Netflix's most-watched show ever when it was released back in 2021. The fictional thriller saw hundreds of cash-strapped contestants risk their lives to compete in a series of seemingly simple games for a tempting prize.

One of the show's most recognisable games is the Dalgona cookie game, in which contestants had to use a needle to carve an assigned shape out of a toffee cookie.

If the cookie broke, they were eliminated.

Netflix

As Squid Game: The Challenge took on the iconic game in the show's second episode 'The Man with the Umbrella,' it made a memorable moment out of contestant number 299, Spencer Hawkins.

Having been told to form four lines, the first player of each was brought into a room and told they must decide how the shapes depicted on the cookies would be split among the contestants.

After much deliberation, Spencer took the fall for his line and agreed to pick the umbrella, arguably the most difficult of the shapes.

Those given the tricky challenge were left less than impressed with his decision and Spencer broke down on camera as he dealt with the guilt of his choice.

One moment later in the episode saw him seemingly offer a fellow contestant a hilarious look after they broke their cookie.

However, Spencer claims there was more to the 'funny' moment than the show depicted.

Netflix

He says: “Only one-fourth of the room was actually competing at a time. The other three-fourths were asked to pretend and just move their fingers around like they were working on a cookie.

"I was doing a bad job pretending and just watching others try to compete — that’s what was going on in this moment.”

A representative for Netflix has since told LADbible: "All players competed in the Dalgona challenge. Players were filmed in small groups to ensure good coverage and accurate adjudication of every single participant."

And, despite a rather emotional time on the show, Spencer stands by his decision to pick the umbrella, shutting down suggestions that he'd been 'bullied' into it.

In a video posted on TikTok, he says: “I think I already ultimately made that decision before I walked into the room and you can see that when I started crying because ultimately I wasn’t going to put the decision of picking umbrella onto anyone else.”

The first five episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge are streaming on Netflix now. Episodes six through nine are expected to hit the platform on 29 November.