Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 is finally here! The new season just premiered on Tuesday, Nov. 4, on Netflix.
Squid Game: The Challenge (the reality show) first aired in 2023, two years after the Squid Game (fictional) series premiere, and one year before the Squid Game season 2 premiere. The reality show proved to be a Netflix hit, thanks to the success of the original series. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 topped viewership in streaming with 1.42 billion minutes in the first week.
The original Squid Game's popularity continued to break international records after the first season. Forbes reports that although viewership declined with each season, the show as a whole still holds a place in the top 10 of all Netflix shows globally.
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 schedule
Netflix dropped four episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 for fans on Nov. 4, but the rest of the episodes aren't available yet.
The rest of the newpisodes will be rolled out in batches on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and Wednesday, Nov. 18. There are nine episodes in the second season.
Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 included 10 episodes, so there could be a potential for an unexpected finale or reunion episode the week of Thanksgiving.
How much will the Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 winner win?
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 starts with 456 players, but only half the amount of beds. Immediately, contestants pick up on the fact that half of them will go home after the very first challenge. The show includes a series of elimination challenges, many based on luck or hidden missions, causing mistrust and paranoia to run rampant among the contestants.
The key is to stay one step ahead of the game, either by forming alliances, exuding a likable personality, or being quick with game strategy. Though the challenges are often referred to as kids’ games, they are much more difficult under intense pressure from teammates. In the fiction series, players compete for survival (and money), many of them treasuring the money more than their own lives.
The reality competition is a game of pride, a social experiment on teamwork, and a chance to win a life-changing amount of money—in the millions! In the first two episodes alone, the pot grows to 3.5 million dollars.
With a total of nine episodes, the money will continue to reach almost $5 million. Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 awarded the winner $4.56 million—that’s 10,000 per player eliminated!
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2's notable players
A few memorable contestants from the first few episodes include a father and daughter duo, Curt and Zoe, who is also a Denver Broncos cheerleader. There are also two sets of twins who go head-to-head for power in the games, a Star Wars fanatic, Mark, a brother sister duo, and more eager contestants from around the world.
Notably, lives are literally on the line with a nurse and musician in the first challenge. Netflix's TUDUM provides a full list and bio of the 456 cast members. Many players refer to each other by their numbers, but a lot of them also start to build bonds with each other and use their first names.
Is Squid Game: The Challenge worth the hype?
If you enjoyed Squid Game, the horror show, you’ll want to binge the reality series as well. The challenges follow pretty closely with what is seen on the fictional show, but there are also some new ones to keep fans invested! Compared to Squid Game: The Challenge season 1, the new season brings similar engagement and a melting pot of personalities.
Not to mention, there are constant shocks and twists to the games, just like in the original series. Though Squid Game season 3 brought an end to the games in Korea, the ending teased an American spin-off of the series, so there is likely much more to come. Squid Game: The Challenge is a nice way to break up the suspense of waiting for a sequel with action and creative competition.
Squid Game: The Challenge is now streaming on Netflix.