This article contains spoilers for the first five episodes of Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge.
Many longtime Survivor fans spotted Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa on Squid Game: The Challenge. But, did her fellow contestants notice they had a reality competition veteran in the mix?
Netflix brought the South Korean scripted series Squid Game to life by pitting 456 contestants against each other in childhood games like “Red Light, Green Light” and “Warship.” And soon we’ll see one person emerge from the show with a historic $4.56 million check during the season finale, which is set to drop on the platform on December 6.
Unfortunately for Figgy, her second stab at winning a seven-figure check ended abruptly.
Figgy, known as player No. 033 on Squid Game: The Challenge, appeared on Survivor’s 33rd season, Millenials vs. Gen X, in 2016. As a 23-year-old bartender, she started her Fijian marooning as part of the “Millenials” tribe. But, after a tribe swap and 18 days competing on the show, Figgy was voted out via a classic blindside. She placed 15th overall and missed the merge by two rounds of play. That was the first and only time Figgy competed on the CBS flagship series.
Fast forward around seven years and the now-30-year-old had another opportunity to star in a reality competition show. She joined Squid Game: The Challenge’s cast as the only former Survivor US contestant. She survived the first two challenges, Red Light, Green Light and “Dalgona,” as well as a dormitory test, but misfortune hit when her ship was sunk during Warship.
The storyline we got from Figgy’s edit was centered around the mother-son duo of LeAnn and Trey Plutnicki (No. 302 and 301). Figgy had grown close to Trey, and he asked her to watch over his mom if he met his end before them. But, as history has it, it was Figgy who never returned to the dormitory after Warship.
Figgy was noticed by several contestants right at the start of Squid Game: The Challenge, but she said her reality TV fame didn’t hinder her game
Figgy spoke with Entertainment Weekly after Squid Game: The Challenge’s first five episodes were released on Netflix. Considering the crop of contestants likely featured Survivor fans, Figgy knew she’d probably be recognized when she arrived in England to film the show, and she told the outlet she wasn’t sure if it’d help or hurt her game.
She said she was recognized by some players from the get-go, even before Red Light, Green Light began, but all of her interactions were “positive.”
“But definitely in the dorms I could feel a subtle shift and certain players feeling like, “She was on another show,” and it seemed more threatening. Overall I think it was a very positive reaction, because people knew that I was there to play the game and I was strategic so they wanted to have conversations with me. There was a lot of tea time with me — people would come to me with information and it ended up being a very good thing.”
Apparently, it was Dash (the red-headed player donning No. 141) who noticed the Survivor alum first, and he approached her. “From there it spread like wildfire — not necessarily from Dash,” Figgy recounted. From there, several players conversed with her knowing she had more experience in the reality competition realm than them, which boaded well for Figgy as a sort of strategic and social pillar.
She also told Entertainment Weekly that she entered Squid Game: The Challenge with a level of confidence she didn’t have during Millenials vs. Gen X. Through the natural process of gaining experience through age, as well as lasting 17 days on Survivor, Figgy was “much more chill” her second go-around.
“Survivor helped me mentally prepare because any time you compete on a show for the first time, you do have the jitters and you have all the butterflies, and those were real for me, but I came in more confident this time and that was really awesome,” Figgy said.
Well, her time on Survivor and being recognized for it only helped so much, and she was eliminated without much ability to secure her own fate.
She stood in a five-person vessel during Warship, and it was ultimately sunk while Figgy could do nothing but watch. She said she “went with the flow” in terms of picking a boat, and her elimination was determined by an unlucky choice — unlike the skill-based challenges Red Light, Green Light and Dalgona.
Regardless, Figgy was excited to end her reality competition hiatus by joining Squid Game: The Challenge. “It reminds me of the GIF with the Titanic old lady that says, ‘It’s been 84 years,'” Figgy said. And it proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the former castaway who already conquered the goal of a Survivor marooning.
