Who wins Squid Game: The Challenge?

Mai Whelan is the winner of Squid Game: The Challenge.

Squid Game: The Challenge is a British reality TV competition on Netflix. It is based on the South Korean survival thriller show Squid Games by Hwang Dong-hyuk. The show was released on November 22, 2023 on Netflix. Approximately 81000 people applied for the competition, and 456 players participated, which makes it the largest cast in the history of reality TV. The prize money for the winner of the competition was $4.56 million, which is the largest cash prize in reality TV history.

When Squid Game: The Challenge was released, it joined Netflix's top 10 list and received 1.42 billion minutes of viewing in the US in the 1st week of its release. The show was the number 1 English language show on Netflix for 2 weeks. The show became popular because of the nail-biting challenges, and the contestants had to make strategies for completing the challenges. Let's take a look at the contestant who won the show.

Who is the winner of Squid Game: The Challenge?

Mai Whelan, the contestant no. 287, is the winner of Squid Game: The Challenge. She is a 55-year-old woman from Virginia. She was born in Vietnam and worked various jobs, including serving in the Navy for two decades as an immigrant, before retiring. After winning the show, she was asked by the producers to sign an NDA. Her husband was the only person she could tell that she had won the show. It was difficult for her to not reveal the fact that she had won the competition to the rest of her family and friends for 10 months.

The show included many challenges including Green Light, Red Light, Phone test, Jack-in-the-box test, Glass Bridge, etc. In the first few episodes, Mai Whelan was not in the focus. Some challenges required physical strength, but it was Mai’s smartness and observing skills that helped her win the show, especially during the Circle of Trust game in the 9th episode. In the finale episode, only three contestants were remaining- Sam, Mai, and Phill. In the end, the winner was decided by the game of rock, paper, scissors, and Mai won the game.

Will there be a Season 2 of Squid Game: The Challenge?

Yes, there will be a Season 2 of Squid Game: The Challenge. After the success of Season 1, Netflix announced the 2nd season of the reality show competition on December 8, 2023. The Netflix VP of Nonfiction Series, Brandon Riegg, said, “There was no red light in our decision to green light Season 2 of Squid Game: The Challenge, the most ambitious unscripted show we’ve premiered at Netflix. We’re so excited to continue the franchise of Squid Game with our team in Korea, and producers at Studio Lambert and The Garden for this epic competition series.”

The casting for the next season is in the process, the next 456 contestants will be recruited from their casting website. The new season of the competition is likely to be inspired by the games in Squid Games Season 2, which will be released on December 26, 2024, just like the previous season.