ENTERTAINMENT
‘Squid Game’, 456 people fought cold and hunger for 5.6 billion won
According to foreign media, filming for 'Squid Game' began on January 23rd, scheduled for 4 weeks. 456 participants from all over the world competed for 5.612 billion won ($4.56 million), the highest survival prize ever.
However, 'Squid Game' caused noise from the beginning and came under criticism. On the 4th (Korean time), Variety posted an article titled, ‘Netflix’s Squid Game Reality Show Is True Inside: Conditions Were Absolutely Inhumane.’
According to the article, 'Squid Game' was held at Cardington Studio, a renovated former air force airfield in Bedfordshire, eastern England, and all performers had to endure the extreme cold. An anonymous participant testified that four people collapsed on set because they could not stand the cold.
Participant A said, “If you had told me it would be that cold, no one would have tried it.” Another participant B said, “They said it would take 2 hours to play and film the game, but including preparation time, it took more than 8 hours.”
According to Variety, participants received a wake-up call at 3:30 a.m. to start moving and were told not to interact with other players. Smartphones were also confiscated. Considering the cold winter weather in the UK, coats were allowed to be worn over the 'Squid Game' sportswear, and there were heaters, but these were not enough.
The game started around 1-2 PM, and the instructions were that the challenge would take about 2 hours to complete, with poses lasting about 2 minutes at a time. However, as the game progressed, the situation changed completely. The coat had to be taken off, and fake blood had to spurt out from a device strapped to the chest. It was said that the pose that stopped after the doll turned its head should last about 2 minutes, but this was extended to 15 minutes, and some participants had to wait up to 26 minutes.
Another performer C claimed, "I've never been so cold in my life. I couldn't even go to the bathroom while playing the game, and even though I had breaks, I couldn't take my feet off the floor." Person A said, “I felt dizzy and had an extreme headache. I endured sub-zero temperatures wearing only sportswear and socks.”
Afterwards, according to the participants' claims, they were taken to a hotel without even having dinner, and pizza was ordered for them, but it was not enough. He said there were cold hamburgers and salads at the door.
The contestants strongly argued that the progress of 'Squid Game' was too inadequate, saying, "In order to manage 456 participants, more management personnel had to be mobilized and more thorough preparation was needed in advance."
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr
