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Coverage dated November 19, 2023 to November 21, 2023

The ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show’s Biggest Challenge: Faking Murder

Headline from Wall Street Journal, on the newest of 3 developments

A key feature of the original series: the hundreds of characters unceremoniously killed off. A new reality show based on it wasn’t going to do that—obviously.

Wall Street Journal's own description from its feed. We collect headlines and these descriptions, not full articles; read the original reporting below.

Developments in this update

3 dated developments, oldest first, newest marked. Each is named by one outlet's own headline; open its reports to see every outlet that covered it.

  1. Squid Game: The Challenge review – the most gripping reality TV since The Traitors

    Headline from The Guardian ·

  2. ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Review: Netflix Cashes in, and It’s Not Pretty

    Headline from The Hollywood Reporter ·

  3. Newest

    The ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show’s Biggest Challenge: Faking Murder

    Headline from Wall Street Journal ·

Read the reports

Reports & sources

12 articles, oldest first.

  1. The Guardian

    Squid Game: The Challenge review – the most gripping reality TV since The Traitors (opens The Guardian)

    Published

    The Guardian's feed description

    The real-life version of the Netflix drama is a grandiose, addictive spectacle that will have you shouting at your TV before the end of episode one. Expect treachery, hilarity and a $4.5m jackpot

  2. Entertainment Weekly

    Attention all players: The 'Squid Game' reality show is actually good (opens Entertainment Weekly)

    Published

    Entertainment Weekly's feed description

    Netflix's 'Squid Game' reality show serves up palpable suspense and authentic human drama without murdering a single contestant. Read our review.

  3. The Week

    Netflix's real-life Squid Game: 'reality epic' or 'shoddy knock-off'? (opens The Week)

    Published

    The Week's feed description

    456 players battle it out for the biggest prize pot in reality TV history

  4. The Hollywood Reporter

    ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Review: Netflix Cashes in, and It’s Not Pretty (opens The Hollywood Reporter)

    Published

    The Hollywood Reporter's feed description

    The anti-capitalist South Korean hit drama gets a reality-competition spinoff in which 496 contestants participate in children's games for the chance to win $4.96 million.

  5. Avclub

    Squid Game: The Challenge should not be a thing (opens Avclub)

    Published

    Avclub's feed description

    Netflix's competition takes all the wrong lessons from the South Korean hit that inspired it.

  6. Variety

    The ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show Is as Dystopian as It Sounds — and Impossible to Stop Watching: TV Review (opens Variety)

    Published

    Variety's feed description

    The reality show inspired by the wildly popular South Korean series is as gripping as it is darkly ironic.

  7. Wall Street Journal

    The ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show’s Biggest Challenge: Faking Murder (opens Wall Street Journal)

    Published

    Wall Street Journal's feed description

    A key feature of the original series: the hundreds of characters unceremoniously killed off. A new reality show based on it wasn’t going to do that—obviously.

  8. The Economist

    What “Squid Game: The Challenge” reveals about the state of TV (opens The Economist)

    Published

    The Economist's feed description

    Reality television is more important than you might think

  9. Newsweek

    Why Netflix wanted to make real people suffer through 'Squid Game' (opens Newsweek)

    Published

    Newsweek's feed description

    The new Netflix reality competition show, based on the hit Korean drama "Squid Game," sees contestants vying for an eye-watering $4.56 million.

  10. CNN

    ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ turns the dystopian drama into a super-sized ‘Big Brother’ (opens CNN)

    Published

    CNN's feed description

    Just producing a reality-competition show based on “Squid Game” is a pretty good way of signaling to the world that you didn’t really get “Squid Game.” Setting that aside, Netflix’s massive version of the South Korean series, dubbed “Squid Game: The Challenge,” logically morphs the concept into a su…

  11. New York Times

    The ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show Is More Depressing Than the Original (opens New York Times)

    Published

    New York Times's feed description

    “Squid Game: The Challenge” keeps the slick design of the dystopian drama but loses the point.

  12. The Hollywood Reporter

    ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Producers: No, Our Show Doesn’t Miss the Whole Point (opens The Hollywood Reporter)

    Published

    The Hollywood Reporter's feed description

    The team behind Netflix's 'Squid Game' reality show on complaints their show misses the anti-capitalist point of the drama series, why one familiar game was eliminated, and how they pulled off the most ambitious indoor reality competition ever made.

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