Everything we know about 'Squid Game: The Challenge,' the reality show based on Netflix's hit Korean drama

In the original "Squid Game," 456 contestants sign up to take part in a mysterious challenge in order to win money to pay off their debts. However, when they get there, they discover they are also playing for their lives as failure results in their death.

When a player dies, 100 million won (Korean currency) is added to a prize pot so that whoever is left standing at the end will win 45.6 billion won (over $35 million in US dollars).

"Squid Game: The Challenge" follows this format, except contestants aren't killed, they're just taken out of the competition. They compete in a variety of games, and the last person standing will win $4.56 million. According to Deadline, that's the largest prize in reality TV history.

Like in "Squid Game," contestants in the game show are of different ages, sizes, and races.

The show was filmed in the UK.

"Squid Game: The Challenge" has replicated the sets and costumes from the original show.

According to the trailer for the series, they've even adapted certain games from the series, such as "Red Light, Green Light," "Sugar Honeycombs," "Marbles," and "Hopscotch."

In the trailer for the game show, contestants could also be seen playing battleships and playing with a claw machine.

In the original series, all the games were children's games that had been adapted to have a lethal element.

The series began filming in January 2023. Soon after filming began, The Sun reported that contestants had told them the set of the competition series felt "like a warzone" and that at least one contestant had been carried out on a stretcher while playing the game "Red Light, Green Light."

In a statement to Insider, Netflix and Studio Lambert, the production company behind the reality show, denied the report and said there were no serious injuries on set.

"We care deeply about the health and safety of our cast and crew, and invested in all the appropriate safety procedures," the statement read.

The spokesperson added: "While it was very cold on set — and participants were prepared for that — any claims of serious injury are untrue."

The BBC reported on January 25 that Netflix had confirmed that only three people had to be treated for "mild medical conditions."

Soon after, Variety, Rolling Stone, and Vice also put out reports where contestants, who were kept anonymous, claimed that the gameshow had been rigged and that conditions were a lot more rigorous than what they had signed up for.

"It was just the cruelest, meanest thing I've ever been through," one contestant told Rolling Stone. "We were a human horse race, and they were treating us like horses out in the cold racing and [the race] was fixed."  

Deadline also reported that a UK Health and Safety Executive conducted an independent safety assessment on the set following the numerous reports.

The executive said: "We contacted the programme producers after receiving concerns about their recent filming. We reviewed the responses from the producers and decided to take no further action. We did stress to them the importance of planning properly for any risks in future filming."

A spokesperson for Netflix denied in a statement to Deadline that the show had been rigged and said the show had done "everything required by the health and safety legislation."