"BOOM! GAGGED!": Squid Game: The Challenge fans react to creators hiding marbles in picnic baskets

Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 aired five episodes on Wednesday, November 22, 2023. The first five segments saw 456 contestants enter the famous K-drama-inspired dormitory as they got ready to compete in various challenges that would bring them closer to the grand prize of $4.5 million.

While the show is only halfway through, most of the contestants have been eliminated and only 63 remain. This means that so far, the players have earned $3.9 million but only one of them will take home the prize. Episode 5 ended with the biggest twist and an even bigger cliffhanger as the cast found marbles at the bottom of their picnic baskets, indicating towards what's yet to come.

One person, @johanntimkang wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):

"I love the picnic twist. Disarmed the contestants to pair up with a person they like, then BOOM! GAGGED!"

Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 will air four new episodes next week, followed by a finale soon after.

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Squid Game: The Challenge fans react to cliffhanger twist at the end of episode 5

Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 aired the first five episodes of the K-drama-inspired reality competitive show on November 22, 2023. The first batch of episodes saw the contestants take part in multiple challenges and tasks. While some were directly out of the Squid Game playbook, others were innovative enough to keep the audience engaged.

Throughout the show, certain cast members were given the chance to earn advantages, treats, and the power to eliminate other players. These tasks, combined with the main challenges, resulted in the elimination of 939 contestants before the end of the fifth episode itself.

However, the biggest twist came when only 63 players were left in Squid Game: The Challenge. During episode 5, five volunteers were asked to do a chore which included squeezing orange juice. Upon completion, they were all awarded a picnic. The announcer told the cast to pair up with a player of their choice before the baskets were handed out.

Much like in Netflix's Original Squid Game, one player was left without a partner, but they were still given a basket. Once all the players received their baskets, they started enjoying the mini feast, unaware that something terrible was coming their way. Player 301 (Trey) told his partner to hand him the basket because he wanted to investigate and found the marbles at the bottom.

He immediately knew what it meant, and so did his partner, 302, who is also his mother. The pair kept quiet as the others began to discover the marbles in their baskets. As the announcer told them that only half of the players will pass the upcoming challenge, the cast member were emotional about possibly having to send people they were close to, home.

For the uninitiated, as per Fandom, the marble game requires players to take all the marbles from their fellow player, thus eliminating them.

Fans took to social media to react to the twist and called it "nasty."

Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 will air four new episodes next week, followed by a finale soon after.