![]() Plus, it is so satisfying to witness a reviled persona ’s downfall, while blithely ignoring the fact that reality TV characters are real people with multifaceted personalities. We cannot help but be glued to our screens as we watch contestants try to outwit, outlast and outplay each other.Įven touching scenes like participants pairing up for a picnic treat in Squid Game: The Challenge feel more poignant because we know there is a devious plot twist coming our way. Its outsize popularity is a somewhat uncomfortable reflection of viewers' penchant for voyeurism and schadenfreude. It garnered over 20 million views and 85.7 million hours of the show was streamed in its first week. Squid Game: The Challenge was the top ranked show on Netflix ’ s global list of most-watched television shows in English for the week of Nov 20 to 26. Yet, despite this unsavouriness, reality TV somehow continues to draw eyeballs. Time to take bets on which conniving Squid Game participant will become the next B-list star in Hollywood. More recently, Love Is Blind Season 2 participant Ahbishek "Shake" Chatterjee leaned into his annoying, male chauvinist "character" despite receiving plenty of online vitriol for his actions and is currently on another reality show called House of Villains. For example, Omarosa Manigault Newman, the contestant that everybody loved to hate in the original series that Donald Trump hosted, carved out a career as a political aide and subsequently appeared in other reality shows. This is why it is often the "villains" that have the greatest success in parlaying their infamy into other TV appearances and lucrative tie-ups. Besides a brief appearance, there are no clips of him in the show, perhaps proving the point that nice guys are just too "normal" for reality TV. Spoiler alert: He was eliminated in the first game. After all, viewers like rooting for the underdog.īut at the end of the day, the individuals who ham it up and evoke the most blatant caricatures of their personas tend to be the most unforgettable.Ĭertainly, congratulations are in order for the overnight millionaire of Squid Game: The Challenge for overcoming brutal challenges to earn this pot of gold.Īnd of course, there are times when reality television can be surprisingly wholesome, such as the interest that locals took in a 74-year-old retiree who was the only Singaporean to take part in the show just for the fun of it. Never mind the producers' attempts at humanising them by offering short snippets of the contestant backstories, which run the usual gamut from paying off debt to supporting their families. Case in point - 456 contestants showed up from around the world to stab each other in the backs for Squid Game: The Challenge.įrom this cynical viewer ’s perspective, it seems quite clear participants are on TV just for that rare shot at fame and fortune. Yet there appears to be no lack of willing participants signing up despite knowing they are going to be stretched to their physical - and often moral - limits. So, one could conclude that reality television producers can be even more opportunistic than the fictional characters of the original Squid Game series. ![]() Contestants of other shows have also revealed they are often paid well below the minimum wage. In 2022, cast members of dating show Love Is Blind sued Netflix and the producers for plying them with alcohol and providing insufficient food and water. That said, Squid Game: The Challenge is not the only reality competition series to come under fire for allegedly exploitative conditions. (Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone who has watched the original series - game players included.) The studio clarified it had taken " appropriate safety measures" and that it was clear with such a big prize up for grabs, the competition would be tough. This led to some competitors allegedly having to be carried out by medics or on a stretcher. For instance, in the first Red Light, Green Light challenge, contestants have to race to a finish line and freeze whenever a giant robot doll stops singing and turns around.īesides being extremely cold during filming, players said the shoot took multiple hours. The final episode of Netflix ’s Squid Game: The Challenge, which is based on the blockbuster South Korean drama, just dropped on Dec 6, revealing the ultimate winner who bested 455 other contestants to take home the US$4.56 million prize.īut what has also made headlines is how some contestants are suing the studio for injuries they suffered while taking part in the show. SINGAPORE: It appears the latest reality show has become the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.
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