The Three Worst People on 'Squid Games: The Challenge'

By Dustin Rowles | TV | November 30, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | November 30, 2023 |

I needed a place to vent, and here, underneath that title, is where I’ve decided to do so. Squid Games: The Challenge, as previously noted, is, unfortunately, watchable as hell, even if watching Squid Games: The Challenge makes us complicit in the success of a capitalistic American reality show based on an anti-capitalistic Korean series. It’s effective for many of the same reasons the series was effective: Simple games, impossible choices, and decent human drama that exploits the greed of 456 people, some of whom desperately need the money and some of whom just want more of it.

How willing are they to screw over someone else to collect $4.5 million? Honestly, that’s almost understandable because screwing over people is part of the game. So many decisions and pairings in this game are predicated on the illusion of trust when no one should ever trust a stranger when a fortune is at stake.

That brings us to Ashley (#278), responsible for arguably the most controversial play of the game. In the glass walkway game, where 20 players had to get across 17 steps, and each step had a 50/50 chance of dropping the player out of the game, all the players seemingly agreed to cooperate. Instead of making the players forced by chance to go early and confront a 50/50 chance of being eliminated on all 17 steps, all of the players decided that each player would only have to confront the 50/50 chance once. All the players except Ashley. After Trey (#301) survived his first 50/50 chance, Ashley refused to step in front of him, as previously players had, essentially forcing Trey to confront the 50/50 challenge a second time. He lost.

What made no sense about it was that Ashley still had to play the game. She merely postponed making a decision by one step. Once Trey was eliminated, she had to make the 50/50 choice anyway, so she accomplished nothing except to burn all her goodwill.

That almost came back to haunt her in the next game when Mai (#287) put Ashley at risk for elimination because Ashley was not a “team player.” What’s worse is that Ashley didn’t own up to it. She gaslit Mai into thinking that Mai was not being a team player when Mai only sought to punish Ashley for needlessly screwing over Trey.

The second worst human in the game revealed himself in the game of marbles. When an older man, Tim (#382), faced Jackie (#393) in the game of marbles, before deciding upon the rules of their match, they told each other why they wanted to win the money. Jackie said she wanted to win because she is deaf and wanted to provide that representation to other deaf people watching at home. Tim, for absolutely no reason other than paranoia and meanness, accused Jackie of lying about being deaf and making it up to elicit his sympathy. He refused to concede that Jackie was telling the truth; in fact, he was belligerent in his denial. Fortunately, after the two began playing, Jackie kicked his ass in their game of marbles.

Finally, there are players like Ashley who screw over others in an effort to further their own game. There are others like Tim, who at least believe that someone else is lying to advance their game. Then there is Dylan (#65), a guy so ridiculously stubborn that he is willing to eliminate another player out of spite and to no benefit to himself.

Dylan and Aurora (#399) were paired in the game of marbles. The two had 20 minutes to devise a game using their marbles in which the winner would advance, and the loser would be eliminated. Dylan insisted on a throwing game. Aurora insisted on a game of strategy, believing that Dylan had an advantage over her in a throwing game. They both stubbornly continued to hold out until there was almost no time remaining. At that point, Aurora relented and agreed to a throwing game: They dug a small hole in the dirt, and whoever threw the most marbles into the circle would win.

There was only one minute remaining. Aurora was the first to land a marble in the circle. However, Dylan managed to land one before the time ran out. They were tied. Aurora very reasonably suggested she should win because she landed a marble in the hole first. Dylan, who had no leg to stand on nor any reasonable argument for why he should advance, refused to agree. Time expired, and both players were eliminated.

Dylan forced Aurora’s elimination for no other reason than spite. Dylan sucks.