This article contains spoilers for the first nine episodes of Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge.
Squid Game: The Challenge’s seventh and eighth episodes featured perhaps the most beloved game from its inspiration, Squid Game. But, did the contestants actually fall to their doom during Glass Bridge?
After another dormitory elimination test carved the number of contestants vying for the $4.56 million grand prize from 31 to 20, the players made their way to their next game. After determining an order from one through 20, the Game Hall’s doors opened up and the intimidating sight of Glass Bridge greeted them.
Seventeen sections of the bridge had to be traversed by competitors. Like the scripted Korean series, every section of the Glass Bridge had one real glass square and one false, meaning the trailblazer had a 50% chance of falling through the bridge and out of the running for the seven-figure payday.
Although a dozen players successfully crossed Glass Bridge, there were casualties. A handful of the season’s more notable names picked the wrong pane, specifically No. 301 Trey, No. 393 Jackie, No. 182 T.J., and No. 254 Mikie, and they were deleted from Netflix’s newest reality competition series.
We watched each of them drop from the bridge… Well, actually, we didn’t.
Executive producers John Hay and Stephen Lambert spoke with Entertainment Weekly about Glass Bridge, and he revealed that every person who fell into darkness was a stunt double, not the eliminated contestant. “The fall itself was done by a professional stunt person for the safety of the players,” Hay said. “Obviously, that’s paramount for us. There was a large airbag underneath, but that also needs to be done by professionals.”
He clarified that everything that transpired in the episodes was real besides the contestants plummeting to the ground. Squid Game: The Challenge’s production pre-selected each ill-fated square. “Their reactions and their peers’ reactions to stepping on a fail door and being eliminated are all real,” Hay continued. “And then, at the last minute, we swapped them out, and a stunt person did the fall.”
When asked how far the stunt doubles fell, Hay didn’t give a direct answer. But, he said it was a “safe distance” and the set was designed to make it seem like the drop was much further. But, the Glass Bridge was high in the air, Hay confirmed.
“That was important to us that the sensation of being high on a bridge was there, but obviously, the fall had to be a safe distance. There’s a large airbag underneath, that was all tested and checked. It was incredibly important to us that the gameplay was totally authentic. But we have, as Stephen says, made it look like they fall a little bit further than they do.”
Successfully working together to lessen the risk for each player at the front of the line, far more competitors made it through Squid Game: The Challenge’s Glass Bridge than Squid Games. Episode 10, the reality series’ finale, is set to drop on December 6 on Netflix, and the 12 players have already been whittled down to three.