Children’s games, death by ink and a multimillion jackpot: The world of the Squid Game reality TV show

Published

6 months ago

November 22, 2023

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Reality TV has undergone plenty of changes in the last decade – from the end of stalwart Noughties shows, the much-needed emphasis on duty of care towards participants, and the genre’s pipeline to social media influencing.

Now Squid Game: The Challenge has landed on our screens and turned trusted formats upside down again.

Some 456 contestants from across the globe compete in children’s games based on Netflix‘s smash-hit South Korean thriller for a $4.56m jackpot (£3.64m) – thought to be the largest single cash prize ever in a television show.

From the start, the show proved controversial after three contestants received medical treatment after the game Red Light, Green Light was filmed in Bedfordshire during a cold snap in January.

Executive producer Tim Harcourt, creative director at Studio Lambert, said the team had taken “all the appropriate measures” before filming.

“Some people anonymously were disgruntled and annoyed that they had spent a lot of time playing that game in the cold and then were eliminated. And that’s understandable.”

But he says the challenging conditions were to be expected with such a massive jackpot.

“It is $4.56 million and Netflix is never just going to give that away easily.”

And with such a massive prize comes massive responsibility for the producers.

John Hay, chief executive of The Garden production company, said the team was “absolutely scrupulous – doubly so, given the size of the prize, about judging who moved and who hadn’t [in the Red Light, Green Light game].

“We had a whole team of adjudicators behind the scenes,” he said.

“These were people independent of us from a different company, trained lawyers, who would check those movements and we had those people with us all the way through the entire series.”

Hay said the jackpot prize was one of the most significant decisions that Netflix made about the show because “it just flips the whole thing”.

“Instead of being driven by the fear of death, it’s driven by the sort of scale of this opportunity.

“It turns out that’s just as powerful a motor for stories as in the drama. The people who went into that set lived in these six soundstages. The ones who made it to the finals were there for 16 days.

“They were chasing this huge prize. It felt like the stakes felt suitably high. And I think that drove some of the reactions to it in the course of the game,” Hay said.

And those reactions were sometimes powerful. The show feels more extreme and more challenging than any recent reality show game. One contestant appeared to be close to vomiting from the pressure of making a decision that would ultimately lead to his elimination.

“We had to accept that that immersion [in the game] would put people under quite a lot of pressure and it could be stressful. And that’s something that we would talk about [with contestants],” Harcourt said.

“We really take care as they exit the game to chat to them and allow them to process everything that they felt and to realise that it’s all fine now and that was a game and they were playing under pressure.

“Those are conversations that continue with the contributors not just straight after the game, but six months after,” Harcourt said, adding that the show’s welfare team is in touch with the contestants now as the show is airing.

Squid Game remains the most popular Netflix series of all time and was streamed by 111 million users in the first 28 days after its release in September 2021.

Hay, whose company The Garden has created shows such as 24 Hours in A&E and Emergency, said Squid Game’s success was both a blessing and a burden.

“Starting from a drama as brilliant and as successful as Squid Game is a huge head start in that there’s already a huge number of people interested and it’s very unusual in being a drama that’s based around a game.

“It’s an ingeniously designed game. There’s a real singularity and originality of the vision in the drama. There’s a world [with] a very distinctive sort of tone and visual style.

“But in another sense, it sets the bar unbelievably high. We knew that we had to match the world. We had to play in the spirit of the game.”

The number of contestants was also a huge logistical challenge. More than 80,000 people applied to be on the show with Hay saying it was a “mammoth task” to whittle it down to just 456 contestants.

“Of course, without a script, we had to find ways of creating the conditions in which some of those dynamics [of the drama] could play out without being able to actually know who our heroes were from the start and then write their storylines,” Hay said.

Harcourt, who has produced other reality shows including The Traitors, The Circle and Naked Attraction, said filming the 456 contestants was “the biggest creative challenge” of the show.

Another challenge was how to eliminate people from the game. In the drama, contestants are immediately killed which led to some creative discussions as to how to adapt it for the reality TV show.

“Quite early on we came upon the idea of the dye pack, which is something that every contestant wore underneath their white t-shirt,” Harcourt said.

“We arrived at black ink. There was a taste issue with blood.”

“We went through a lot of testing to get the dye colour right, the type of dye right. Even the nozzle that sprays the ink out through their T-shirt had to have such a force that it would actually show on that T-shirt and also that they would actually feel it go off so that everybody knew that they were out of the game.”

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So is this new kind of supersized reality TV show with massive stakes the future? Maybe, Harcourt and Hay said.

“I definitely think there will be these big reality shows that broadcasters or streamers will undertake,” Harcourt said.

“Unscripted television is still cheaper to make than some dramas and it can call in just as big an audience when it’s done brilliantly and it’s successful and the audience love it.

“So I don’t think we’re about to see a spate of 100 of these shows being made. But I think that some of these shows that feel bigger in execution and maybe bigger in concept will become a trend.”

Squid Game: The Challenge is on Netflix from today

Entertainment

P Diddy: Stars react to video showing rapper attacking Cassie Ventura in hotel hallway

Published

11 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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P Diddy: Stars react to video showing rapper attacking Cassie Ventura in hotel hallway

Stars have hit out at rapper P Diddy following the release of CCTV footage showing him attacking singer Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.

Warning: This story includes images readers may find distressing

The video, which was obtained by CNN, was shot on 5 March eight years ago and shows the 54-year-old – whose real name is Sean Combs – shirtless and wearing just a white towel and brightly coloured socks, punching and kicking Ventura.

The R&B singer, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, was his protege and girlfriend at the time.

The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging her across the floor, as well as throwing a glass vase in her direction.

It closely resembles the description of an incident at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles described in a lawsuit filed by Cassie last year.

Commenting on the video on X, formerly known as Twitter, actress Emily Ratajkowski, wrote: “Monster”.

Fellow rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, shared the video, writing sarcastically: “Now I’m sure Puffy didn’t do it, he is innocent this proves nothing! This is what his lawyers are gonna say, God help us all.”

Jackson also re-posted a screenshot of a statement shared by Combs in December last year, denying allegations against him and accusing those making them of “looking for a quick payday”.

50 Cent wrote: “The lie detector test has determined this was a lie…”

He also shared a statement from LA police which called the footage “extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” but explained that it happened too long ago to be prosecuted.

California law has a one-year statute of limitations for assault.

The husband of Ventura, Alex Fine, shared a lengthy statement on Instagram titled “Letter to women and children,” calling out men who perpetrate violence against women.

‘Men who hurt women hate women’

He wrote: “Men who hit women aren’t men. Men who enable it and protect those people aren’t men…

“Hold the women in your life with the utmost regard. Men who hurt women hate women.”

The personal trainer also shared the number of a domestic abuse helpline, urging those who need help to call.

Meanwhile, lawyers representing Ventura branded Combs’s apology “pathetic,” after he shared a short video on social media on Sunday, saying he was “truly sorry,” and was “disgusted” by his own behaviour.

‘Disingenuous words’

Meredith Firetog, who is a partner at Wigdor LLP, said in a statement: “Combs’ most recent statement is more about himself than the many people he has hurt.

“When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday.

“That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”

‘Leave god and mercy out of this’

US singer and reality star Aubrey O’Day, who previously worked with Combs, also hit out at Combs’s apology video, writing on X: “Diddy did not apologize to Cassie. He apologized to the world for seeing what he did… Leave god and mercy out of this, they aren’t present here, and you know it.”

It is the first time Combs has responded directly to allegations of physical and sexual violence levelled at him in recent months.

Multiple claims

In March, his homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.

In April, Combs was named in a lawsuit that alleges his son sexually assaulted a woman working on a yacht chartered by his father.

Ventura, who began dating Combs a few years after meeting him in 2005, and split with him in 2019, sued him in November, alleging she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs and beaten by Combs over a 10-year period.

The lawsuit claimed he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them. The case was settled the day after it was filed.

Combs has previously denied the allegations in the lawsuits and his lawyers have said he denies any wrongdoing.

Entertainment

Sienna Miller walks the Cannes red carpet with daughter Marlowe

Published

12 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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Sienna Miller walks the Cannes red carpet with daughter Marlowe

Sienna Miller has walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival with her daughter Marlowe Ottoline Layng Sturridge.

The 42-year-old actress, who was born in the US but brought up in the UK, has been promoting her new film Horizon: An American Saga, directed by Kevin Costner.

Miller – who will appear in this film and its next instalment – plays East Coast settler Frances Kittredge, who moves to the Horizon settlement with her husband and two children.

Miller wore a pale blue floor-length gown, while 12-year-old Marlowe wore a white dress with a large pale pink bow around the waist for her red carpet debut.

Miller gave birth to Marlowe, whose father is The Sandman star Tom Sturridge, 38, in 2012.

She had a second daughter earlier this year with The Crown actor Oli Green, who also attended the premiere.

Miller and Green, 27, met at a Halloween party thrown by a mutual friend and have since moved to London together.

Costner – who not only directs the film but also co-wrote and stars in it too – had plenty of family support on the red carpet.

The 69-year-old Hollywood star brought five of his seven children – Annie, 40, Cayden, 17, Grace, 13, Lily, 37, and Hayes, 15. The latter makes his screen acting debut in the movie.

Horizon: An American Saga spans four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, and is described by the studio behind it, Warner Bros, as an “ambitious cinematic adventure” telling the story of the United States of America “through the lens of families, friends and foes”.

Brace yourself for a three-hour epic – and more to come

The two-part western – of which this is the first chapter – received a 10-minute standing ovation when it premiered on Sunday.

Costner also says he has scripts ready for two further instalments in the story, which would extend the epic to four parts if commissioned.

The Yellowstone star, who first pitched a version of the movie back in 1988, has plenty at stake in the project, and personally financed around $100m for the film and its sequel.

He will be hoping to emulate the success of his 1990 directorial debut Dances With Wolves, which he also starred in and produced. The movie was a box office hit, winning multiple Oscars including best picture and best director.

Horizon: An American Saga runs for over three hours and will come to UK cinemas at the end of June.

It also features Avatar star Sam Worthington, Donnie Darko actress Jena Malone and Owen Wilson’s brother Luke Wilson.

Entertainment

GB News show with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules, Ofcom finds

Published

15 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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GB News show with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules, Ofcom finds

GB News could face punishment after a programme with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules.

Regulator Ofcom said it was considering a “statutory sanction” after finding ‘People’s Forum: The Prime Minister’ breached impartiality guidelines.

GB News called it “an alarming development” that “strikes at the heart of democracy”.

The hour-long show, which aired on 12 February, saw members of the public put questions to the prime minister. However, it received 547 complaints.

Ofcom said in March that five other GB News programmes featuring politicians acting as presenters – including two hosted by Jacob Rees-Mogg – also broke impartiality rules.

The watchdog said the show featuring Mr Sunak was fine in principle, but “due weight” should have been given to an “appropriately wide range of significant views” other than the Tories’.

These should have happened during the programme itself or “in other clearly linked and timely programmes”.

It said Mr Sunak “had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK General Election”.

“We have therefore recorded a breach of rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code against GB News,” it added.

The channel was quick to hit back at the ruling and denied breaking the impartiality rules.

“The regulator’s threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own prime minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital,” it said.

“Our live programme gave an independently selected group of undecided voters the freedom to challenge the Prime Minister without interference,” added the channel.

It said neither producers nor the prime minister had seen the questions beforehand and Mr Sunak was kept “under constant pressure and covered a clearly diverse range of topics”.