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.
Image: Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge Pic: Netflix
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.
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“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.
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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.
Image: The Red Light, Green Light game Pic: Netflix
“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.
Image: The contestants’ dorm Pic: Netflix
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.
Image: A scene from Squid Game: The Challenge Pic: Netflix
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.
Image: Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge Pic: Netflix
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
Police will take no further action over alleged chants at a Bob Vylan concert in London.
Met Police had launched an investigation after allegations the singer, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, was heard in footage saying “death to the IDF (Israel Defence League)”.
The footage was filmed at a performance supporting Iggy Pop, 78, at Alexandra Palace in May.
In a video, Mr Robinson-Foster is also alleged to have said: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel.”
But the Met Police confirmed they are closing the investigation following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Image: The Glastonbury performance led to a police investigation. Pic: PA
‘No further action will be taken’
A spokesperson for the force said: “On Wednesday 2 July, officers became aware of footage that appeared to have been filmed at Alexandra Palace in London on 28 May. An investigation was launched into the language used in the footage.
“Early investigative advice was sought from the Crown Prosecution Service who considered a number of potential offences but determined that, based on the information and material available, there would likely be insufficient evidence to take the case forward.
“As a result, officers have decided that no further action will be taken. We recognise the concerns that the footage caused, particularly among many in London’s Jewish communities.
“It emerged during a period where we have seen a concerning rise in antisemitic hate crime.
“We continue to work closely with community representatives to understand those concerns, to ensure the safety and security of Jewish Londoners and to provide reassurance moving forward.”
It followed footage of Mr Robinson-Foster allegedly leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF” during a BBC live-streamed performance at Glastonbury Festival, in June earlier this year, leading to an investigation from Avon and Somerset Police.
A man, in his 30s, understood to be Mr Robinson-Foster, had voluntarily attended an interview on Monday in relation to the band’s Glastonbury performance, the force said.
Police added the individual was not arrested but an investigation is ongoing.
After the Glastonbury appearance, the group were dropped from a number of festivals.
Actor and director Samantha Morton has said councils who fail to prevent the deaths of children in care should face manslaughter charges.
Warning: This story contains references to suicide.
In a powerful interview with Sky News, the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning actor and director, who grew up in care, said Britain’s care system needs to be “completely rethought”.
It comes after a Sky News documentary, A Girl Called Nonita, told the story of 18-year-old Nonita Grabovskyte, who died in the care of the state following a catalogue of failures by those responsible for her care.
Nonita took her own life on railway tracks in December 2023, just two weeks after her birthday. She had previously told doctors and social workers that she intended to kill herself as soon as she turned 18. But nothing was done to prevent her death.
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44:43
Unseen: A girl called Nonita
“I was a child of the state, just like Nonita,” Morton told Sky News.
“I was put in care at birth until I got the letter to say I was no longer the council’s responsibility. I was kicked out at 16 and put into a homeless hostel.”
After spells of homelessness, she found a local TV actors’ workshop and managed to secure roles that would eventually lead to Hollywood.
But she says she has never forgotten her childhood, which saw her in and out of children’s homes and foster families.
“The lack of care historically is shocking,” she said. “But the lack of care today is worse. Back then, it felt like there was at least some comeuppance.
“The system now is not fit for purpose. It needs root and branch reform. It needs to be completely rethought.”
The young people who grew up in care who have died in England since 2020
2020: 40
2021: 30
2022: 60
2023: 90
2024: 80
Source: Department for Education
The data shows a sharp rise in deaths among care leavers – young adults who have aged out of the care system and are expected to live independently, often with little or no support.
The Department for Education only began collecting data for care leavers aged 22 to 25 in 2023, meaning the true scale of deaths over the past decade is likely to be far higher.
Morton says councils should be held more accountable for the deaths of children in their care, especially if local authority failings contributed to deaths.
Image: Pic: Invision/AP
‘State manslaughter’
“A failure to care has massive consequences,” she told Sky News. “And the consequences are that people like Nonita die. I believe that that is a kind of state manslaughter.
“And individuals who fail to do their job properly should be in a dock.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Sky News that deaths of care-experienced young people should “shame us all”.
All deaths of children in the care of the state must be reported to the government via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification Scheme.
But there are doubts as to whether all deaths are being reported.
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Phillipson: ‘Nonita was failed on so many levels’
‘Shames us as a country’
Ms Phillipson told Sky News she has asked officials to urgently review the process to check for underreporting.
“I’m concerned about serious incident notifications – about making sure we’re receiving all notifications of such incidents taking place,” she said.
“Because it’s only if we know what’s happening, if we fully understand what’s going on in the lives of children, that we as a government, as a country, can provide the support they need.”
Ms Phillipson added: “It shames us all as a country that we so badly fail many of the most vulnerable children who’ve experienced such appalling trauma and abuse in their early lives.
“I read every single notification personally – and it always stays with you. Every case is a child or young person who deserved better.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, help, and support is available. You can call Samaritans free on 116 123 anytime day or night. You can also email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find support online.
Sally Kirkland, a former model and Oscar nominated actress known for her roles in films such as Anna, The Sting and JFK has died aged 84.
Her representative, Michael Greene, said Kirkland died on Tuesday morning at a Palm Springs hospice.
Kirkland had been unwell and struggling to cover medical bills after she fractured six bones last year and developed two life-threatening infections. She had also been diagnosed with dementia.
A GoFundMePage that was set up by her friends to help pay for her ongoing treatment had raised over £45,000 ($60,000).
Image: Michael Douglas, left, and Sally Kirkland appear with their best actor Golden Globes for Wall Street and Anna. Pic: AP
Her biggest role was in the 1987 film Anna, as a fading Czech movie star remaking her life in the United States and mentoring a younger actor.
Kirkland won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination alongside Cher in Moonstruck, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Holly Hunter in Broadcast News and Meryl Streep in Ironweed.
Born in New York City, Kirkland was encouraged to start modelling at age five by her mother, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and Life magazines. Kirkland went on to graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1961.
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An early breakout for the star was appearing in Andy Warhol’s 13 Most Beautiful Women in 1964.
Image: Sally Kirkland in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Some of her earliest roles were playing Shakespeare parts, including Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Miranda in an off-Broadway production of The Tempest.
She once told the Los Angeles Times: “I don’t think any actor can really call him or herself an actor unless he or she puts in time with Shakespeare.”
Kirkland was also infamous for her nude scenes, often disrobing in films and for social causes. In particular, Kirkland volunteered and advocated for people with AIDS, the homeless and prisoners.