Telly Review: Squid Game: The Challenge gets straight to the reality-TV excess

"There are frat boys, a mother and son, a guy from Kentucky who reckons people will underestimate his intelligence because of his accent, there’s crying and high-fives. It’s like X Factor is back and stalking the land."

Squid Games: The Challenge.

SPOILER ALERT: They don’t shoot contestants when they are eliminated in Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix).

Instead, there is a popping sound and some black ink explodes inside their t-shirt. The lack of actual bullets doesn’t stop every eliminated contestant from ‘dropping dead’ on the spot which makes you think it must have been written into their contract – but then I suppose it’s hard, that moment when you suddenly learn you won’t be one winning the $4.56m prize.