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Real-life Squid Game players ‘scream for medic and stretchered off set’ in new Netflix show

Netflix’s new reality TV version of Squid Game has seen player’s ‘stretchered off set’  (Netflix)
Netflix’s new reality TV version of Squid Game has seen player’s ‘stretchered off set’ (Netflix)

Contestants in Netflix’s new real-life Squid Game contest are said to have screamed for medical help before being stretchered off the freezing set.

Players at the UK studios reportedly found it unbearable and brutal having to compete in temperatures that had plummeted to -3C for the reality TV version of the hit South Korean drama.

Netflix has been secretly filming the show based on the deadly fictional competition from the hit series.

Participants have been battling it out for £3.7million - the largest prize in TV history.

One player revealed: "Even if hypothermia kicked in then people were willing to stay for as long as possible because a lot of money was on the line.

The new reality version of the hit Netflix dystopian series, while not deadly, is proving brutal ((Alamy/PA))
The new reality version of the hit Netflix dystopian series, while not deadly, is proving brutal ((Alamy/PA))

"Too many were determined not to move so they stood there for far too long.

"There were people arriving thinking they were going to be millionaires but they left in tears."

They added to The Sun: "It was like a warzone. People were getting carried out by medics but we couldn’t say anything.

"If you talk then you’re out. Some people couldn’t move their feet because it was so cold."

"You could hear someone yell ‘medic’ and the crew would rush on. We ended up standing there for 30 minutes between takes.

Squid Game was centred around South Korea's most marginalised competing in traditional children's games for the chance to win 45.6 billion won (£30 million) (Netflix/AFP via Getty Images)
Squid Game was centred around South Korea's most marginalised competing in traditional children's games for the chance to win 45.6 billion won (£30 million) (Netflix/AFP via Getty Images)

"Some were crawling by the end. At least one was carried out on a stretcher."

Netflix has been contacted for comment.

A total of 456 players, the same as in the original series, flew in from all over the globe to compete on the show, which was being filmed at Cardington Studios, a former RAF base near Bedford.

It is said that some started to feel unwell during the first game, Red Light, Green Light and hundreds were eliminated in the first round and then stayed in bunk beds at the studios.

In the original series, hundreds of cash-strapped contestants accept an invitation to compete in children’s games for a life-changing monetary prize, but the stakes are literally deadly.

Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of unscripted and documentary series, previously said of the upcoming reality programme: "Squid Game took the world by storm with [director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s] captivating story and iconic imagery.

"We’re grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this massive competition and social experiment.

"Fans of the drama series are in for a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real world contestants navigate the biggest competition series ever, full of tension and twists, with the biggest-ever cash prize at the end."