Squid Game: The Challenge player addresses claims about how much they were paid to go on the show

When Squid Game originally landed on Netflix back in 2021, I don’t think many of us imagined it could ever be turned into a real-life competition.

I mean, I’m still not over the shock from the moment it was revealed players would be shot for losing the games. But they did it. Squid Game: The Challenge is a thing - except no one dies, obviously.

Netflix viewers have been loving the show which sees a whopping 456 people take part.

But while their lives may not quite be on the line, it’s certainly not easy - with one lad gagging his way through the Dalgona game.

And the lucky contestant to be the winner after all those intense physical and mental challenges could bag a mega $4.56 million (£3.62 million) - the largest lump-sum jackpot in the history of reality TV.

With Squid Game: The Challenge being such a tough-looking show to take part in, you might wonder what’s in it for the contestants, other than a bit of a laugh.

Netflix

Well player 352, Radikha, has addressed claims about how much they were all paid to go on the Netflix show.

Responding to users on TikTok asking how much she’d earned from taking part, she said: “Zero. Zero GBP, zero USD, zero rupees, zero Yuan, zero Pesos. Zero. Literally zero!

“It was all or nothing. And we were really in there acting like that for nothing because the stakes were so high - it was 4.56 million.”

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But while she didn’t actually get any cash for playing, Radikha said the show covered all of the transport - including international flights.

The 27-year-old added: “So yeah, we went in there with the clothes they gave us, [and] a bum bag full of toiletries and essentials - like toothbrush, toothpaste, Vaseline.

TikTok/@radhikathedon

“And we left with group trauma. I’m just joking, we left with so many crazy, extreme, abstract memories.”

Radikha called it a ‘wild experience’ adding: “Would I do it again for free? 100 percent.”

But users joked taking part seemed like a ‘24/7 job’ and it’s ‘crazy’ they didn’t get anything.

One even put: “Girl join a union!!”

Another pointed out that if 457 people were paid per hour ‘there would be no prize’.

While someone else said: “It was a competition! That’s how competitions are.”

And another summed up: “Sounds like something fun to tell your friends even if you didn’t win. Cool ice breaker.”

Yeah, that would be quite the ice breaker.

Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, Money, TikTok

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_