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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
9
Mixed:
10
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews
Nov 4, 2025
Nov 22, 2023
Season 1 Review:
Along with the usual tension of the ticking clock, the tough task, the difficult decision — all very effective — participants are made uncomfortable on a moral level; one might be called upon to choose between acting nobly and metaphorically assassinating a competitor, in front of the crowd. They may be forced to face themselves. It’s clever that way. .... But in “Squid Game: The Challenge,” the only audience is, you know, the audience, make of us what you will.
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Nov 22, 2023
Season 1 Review:
Yet even with the distinctive design, down to the matching numbered sweatsuits and faceless “guards” monitoring the action, “Squid Game: The Challenge” perhaps inevitably falls back on traditional language and tropes of the reality-competition genre, a tale as old as “Survivor” and “Big Brother’s” invasion of the US almost a quarter-century ago.
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Nov 20, 2023
Season 1 Review:
The challenges are padded out with interviews, reaction shots, and dramatic pauses that go on long after all the tension has been released. Ultimately, these are squib games that provide enough noise and motion for a passable simulacrum of the original show’s devastating drama.
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The GuardianNov 4, 2025
Season 2 Review:
For a brief moment, I do consider whether Squid Game: The Challenge could be so bad that it is good, but I think that would be letting its makers off too lightly. The way many of its contestants conduct themselves is dreadful, but then again, this is a dreadful contest.
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SlashfilmNov 20, 2023
Season 1 Review:
All reality television is morally questionable to some degree because the audience is getting entertainment from the struggles and often the suffering of real people, but there's something about "Squid Game: The Challenge" that feels especially insidious. .... It's fairly well-made reality television, but at what cost?
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Nov 20, 2023
Season 1 Review:
The feuds and alliances will likely heat up as the competition gets tighter, and the possibility of other new challenges adds some intrigue. But that first batch of five episodes is kind of a snooze. Squid Game: The Challenge is no match for Squid Game itself — and in the annals of reality contest shows, it's no great shakes either.
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