‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Exclusive: This Contestant Blamed The Wrong Player For His Elimination For 10 Months!

Finale day has finally arrived for the inaugural season of Squid Game: The Challenge but we’re still unpacking all the jaw-dropping moments! Warning — if you haven’t watched yet there are spoilers ahead.

Roland Addresses Mai’s Circle Of Trust Betrayal On ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’

The Squid Game: The Challenge season finale streams on December 6 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT (December 7, 2am GMT), when the winner will receive a $4.56 million reward. BOSSIP chatted with a number of the show’s contestants ahead of the finale, including Tj Stukes, Bianca (Bee) Sarafian and Roland Hannigan, who were all among the top 15 players on the show.

Ultimately Hannigan would be sent home after the Circle of Trust game when he incorrectly guessed that Rose Mary Kah Gang Tangyle left the box on his desk. Viewers at home knew the actual culprit was finalist Mai Whelan, who had been so friendly with Roland she braided his hair during their time on the challenge.

“It was tough,” Hannigan told BOSSIP after being asked how he felt about Whelan’s betrayal. “I found out on the plane ride over here yesterday [November 29]. “I watched the episodes and I wasn’t expecting it at all. For the last ten months I was thinking it was Sam that put the box on my desk, because was picking between Sam and Rose and I settled on Rose and so I was like, ‘it had to be Sam.’ And then I found out it was Mai. I was like, ‘Dang that’s crazy. Definitely that one hurt. Yeah it hurt.”

Tj Stukes Was Hurt Watching Criticism On ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’

Tj Stukes is another standout player on Squid Game: The Challenge to feel the burn from watching the show after elimination. The gentle giant made a mark for himself during the competition by leading with compassion, often using personal mantras to motivate him during gameplay. While some players truly embraced Stukes leadership, others — including Mai Whelan, privately expressed their distrust for him.

“When I saw it, initially it hurt,” Stokes told BOSSIP. “Of course it hurt. Because I’m a human it hurt. However when you have strong integrity you don’t falter, you don’t waver. When I’m going to lead the way, I lead and if you want to follow you can, but if you don’t, get out the way. I wasn’t sad about it, the way I led because I was myself. So many people were trying to find themselves there, these games forced you to. I stood true to myself from the beginning until when I got eliminated.”

The Women Of ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Used Teamwork After Being Underestimated

While players like Tj and Bryton Constantin got a lot of screentime on Squid Game: The Challenge, Bee Sarafian told the show’s cameras she felt underestimated until she showed she was a force to be reckoned with in the Warship game. As numbers started to dwindle, Bee and several other female players implemented a strategy that would assure representation among the contestants that remained.

“I remember when I finished Warships with my lieutenant Amanda and we felt amazing and when we went back to the dorms and everyone was coming up and introducing themselves to me,” Bee recalled. “I realized that not just for them, but for myself, that I have quite a good stake in the competition. I can probably go quite far. I think when the women realized how outnumbered we were, not through targeting by the men just to be clear, it was just through how things had happened, and we all collectively realized that we all have amazing potential to make it far and even win this game. That teamwork that we had and the love for each other, I think taught me a lot about just having fellow women to talk to and to to be with because we’d all not really been together until that moment.”

Squid Game: The Challenge has ranked at #1 on Netflix’s Top 10 English TV list for the weeks of November 20 and 27, both weeks it was eligible. It also hit the Top 10 in 93 countries. Netflix announced Wednesday the streamer will be moving forward with a second season.

“There was no red light in our decision to greenlight season two of Squid Game: The Challenge, the most ambitious unscripted show we’ve premiered at Netflix,” said Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of Nonfiction Series. “We’re so excited to continue the franchise of Squid Game with our team in Korea, and producers at Studio Lambert and The Garden for this epic competition series.”

Recruitment for season two is open now at SquidGameCasting.com.

We’re dying to know what you thought of the first season? Who was your favorite player? Who do you think got robbed? Do you think there were villains in the game? Who was the worst?

Squid Game: The Challenge season finale streams on December 6 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT (December 7, 2am GMT) on Netflix!

Will you be watching?