If you’ve been watching the controversial yet popular reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge, then you’ve probably noticed player 278 (out of 456). Her name is Ashley Tolbert, and using wits and some sneaky gameplay, she’s been making some waves so far.
Obviously, there are some spoilers ahead. Tolbert really captured everyone’s attention when she refused to go along with the group during the Glass Bridge challenge and instead made Trey jump, leading to his elimination. Spicy!
That means she made it into the top nine, and if you’ve seen episode 9 you know what happens to her, which we’ll discuss at the end. First, let’s get to know Tolbert a little bit better.
Who is Ashley Tolbert (Player 278) from ‘Squid Game: The Challenge?’
In the real world, Tolbert, 30, is a civil rights advocate living in Atlanta. Specifically, she’s a HIPAA and civil rights investigator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights in Atlanta.
She previously worked as a graduate assistant at Emory University and the Moorehouse School of Medicine. In May 2022, she participated in the Cydney Gillon Peach Classic as a bodybuilder.
Perhaps due to her newfound popularity from the show, she’s also selling T-shirts with her face on them.
She also worked as an ESL teacher in Shanghai, China and speaks Mandarin fluently. That experience, she said, helped her to learn to maintain a tough outside shell to make sure she does what it takes to get ahead in the game.
That’s what’s helped her stick out in the game but also made her more infamous than anything else. After she refuses to work with everyone else in the Glass Bridge game and Trey is eliminated, Mai (278) wants to get her out by any means necessary.
She responded to people’s criticisms in a recent Instagram post:
“But you agreed to blah blah Team blah blah overtake blah blah blah” now can yall please stfu. I never agreed to shit, but I did get up there and do what worked for ME! These people are OBSESSED with me, they literally have to find my page to TELL me their opinion because what I think of their opinions matter so much!”
She comes close to elimination during the dice game, where players can nominate someone else to get eliminated if they roll a 6. While each player said they would nominate themselves, Mai surprised everyone and nominated Tolbert. She didn’t roll a 6, and Tolbert in turn nominated Mai for elimination. However, she didn’t roll a 6 either.
She is eliminated during the Circle of Trust game, when Phil correctly guessed who left the gift box on his desk.