Rock, Paper, Scissors was not the only option for Squid Game: The Challenge final task

Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 recently came to an end after Mai Whelan was elected as the winner. The Final Challenge, which included a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, proved to be a boon for Whelan simply because she had prepared for the game well in advance.

Showrunners/executive producers John Hay and Stephen Lambert have been divulging details about how season 1 came about and its conclusion in a range of interviews that they have recently given to Entertainment Weekly. One of the updates that came out was the fact that the challenge itself had a range of other contenders in the finale.

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Rock, Paper, Scissors was not the only option for Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 finale

While Hay and Lambert ended up choosing a challenge that was also part of the original series, the push-button task during the steak dinner was entirely new.

The two claimed the idea was to come up with something that remained true to the script without actually involving violence, as they couldn’t have people stabbing each other with steak knives.

“Well, we thought we'd avoid anyone stabbing anyone else with a steak knife, to start. But it's the same challenge we faced all the way through the series, really, which is to create something that felt true to the world and dynamics and atmosphere of what happened in the scripted show, but also worked in an unscripted context.”

While the original series had a range of violence-based games, the idea with Squid Game: The Challenge was to test the mental strength and resolve of the contestants. The series took a classic route, as the likes of Lambert and Hay revealed a range of other challenges that were also considered for the finale.

However, when asked about them, Hay claimed that there was still season 2 of the show, and they were saving them for the future. Hence, the two simply refused to divulge details about the potential alternatives.

“ We're saving them for other shows. And now we've got a season 2, we should definitely not disclose them.”

Asked about the reasons they stuck with Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lambert claimed that they knew a great deal of luck was involved in the game. However, when played over and over, skills kicked in as well, which he said was the intention:

“Some people are better at predicting what the other person is going to do, and that's what we got. Mai definitely did better than Phill, and that meant that she had more chances of picking a key and winning the money. We liked the fact that it was a classic game of luck, but the way we did it meant that there was also some skill.”

Hence, while the creators of the show considered a range of other challenges as well, they were adamant about including Rock, Paper, and Scissors for the reasons mentioned above.

All episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge season 1 are available to be streamed on Netflix. That is, of course, in addition to the fact that the showrunners will soon begin work on a season 2 of the Squid Game spinoff.