What is Mai Whelan’s job? Winner discusses Squid Game: The Challenge

Squid Game: The Challenge season aired its season finale on December 6, 2023. During the segment, the show found its first-ever winner, Mai Whelan. The 55-year-old Immigration Adjudicator, commonly known as Player 287 left Vietnam when she was just eight years old.

Throughout the competition, the cast member's backstory was gradually revealed. In episode 6, during Marbles when she went against Jada, she broke down while noting that her family didn't trust in her decisions.

Mai added,

"My family does not trust me, in my decisions...being in the military, or to be single parent at 19, it's hard, because I have nobody."

The winner recently spoke to Netflix's Tudum about her time on the show and after and noted that she's still the same person but "came out stronger."

Episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge are available to stream on Netflix.

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"Every day was fear": Squid Game: The Challenge winner recalls her Netflix journey

Mai Whelan became the first-ever winner of Squid Game: The Challenge, a game show inspired by the iconic Netflix Original, Squid Game. The reality competition started with 456 players and 55-year-old Mai took home the biggest prize in the history of reality television.

The winner has now settled back into everyday life and is spending time with family. She noted that she is relaxing at home with her husband and their two dogs and spending time with her 12-year-old granddaughter. The Squid Game: The Challenge contestant noted that it was a relief to go back to normal life and not worry about eliminations. Mai said she needed that after two and a half weeks of intense "emotional ups and downs."

"Every day was fear for me — fear of getting eliminated, or fear of getting picked on. It was a real fear coming from deep inside me," Player 287 added.

Speaking about her Squid Game: The Challenge journey, the finalist noted that it was hard to protect herself and process "every personality" she came across. She noted that every minute inside the dorms was spent waiting to either get eliminated or advance to the next game.

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"I stand by my decision": Mai chimes in about putting Ashley (Player 278) up for elimination

The top 20 players performed Glass Bridge for the audience in the second round of episodes. Instead of moving in numerical order, the competitors' tactic during the renowned Squid Game challenge was to only walk on one tile per person to guarantee that everyone had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

However, Player 278 did not agree and when it was her time to jump, refused to move. In the final edit, Mai expressed her disappointment and nominated Ashley for elimination in the next Dorm Test. While Mai understands the fear that takes over, she noted that she didn't regret nominating her.

She said,

"I stand by my decision."

Player 287 added that even though she was one of the few people who comforted her after Glass Bridge, she was disappointed because "she seemed like a very strong person." Mai concluded,

"For her to just stand still and not do anything [at first] made me feel like I couldn’t trust her in a team. So if I had to eliminate anybody, then yeah, it would be her."

Episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge are available to stream on Netflix.