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Movies & TV

11th Oct 2021

A real-life Squid Game is happening… presumably without all the murder

Dave Hanratty

Real life Squid Game

Do you dare?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Netflix survival thriller Squid Game is essentially the biggest TV event of 2021.

The show is a smash, breaking records for the streaming platform and capturing the hearts and minds of a global audience. It’s even resulted in a lawsuit because of a massive surge in online traffic.

Oh, and while you’re here, be sure to take our Squid Game quiz.

But what would a real Squid Game look like? Brutal, one presumes. But maybe not, so long as all the, y’know, murder stuff was set aside in the name of good, clean fun.

Fans of the show in Abu Dhabi will do their very best to recreate the series – again, within reason – this week.

On Tuesday, the Korean Cultural Centre in the United Arab Emirates will host a reenactment of several of Squid Game’s unique challenges for two teams of 15 people, including Red Light, Green Light and the Dalgona Candy games.

There’ll also be a marble-based challenge, one that will hopefully prove a touch less emotional than episode six of the show, which left many a viewer – hello! – reduced to a sobbing husk of a human being.

Clip via Netflix Asia

Oh, and that annoying-looking paper-flipping game that Seong Gi-hun plays by way of an audition will also feature.

The games will be played in two-hour tournament-style sessions. Anyone eliminated will be brutally killed without remorse able to watch and cheer on from the sidelines.

As for the prize money? There’s none. None at all! Just pride. And staying alive.

Speaking to the Khaleej Times, Korean Cultural Centre director Nam Chan-woo hailed the event as an opportunity to further highlight Korean culture.

“The games seem a bit brutal in the series to maximise the dramatic element,” he noted.

“However, all the games in the show are popular ones played by Korean children from past to present. Just as K-Pop gained worldwide popularity through YouTube in the 2010s, I think platforms such as Netflix would be a channel for the global spread of Korean video content such as dramas and movies.”

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