Squid Game: The Challenge winner reveals they haven't received prize money yet
OMG. Squid Game: The Challenge has finally come to an end, and we now know who is the casual winner of $4.56million. Obvious spoilers ahead!
The final episode of Squid Game: The Challenge has now dropped on Netflix (Thursday 7th December), which saw players Mai, Phill and Sam compete in the final challenges. After seeing off their competition with games like Circle Of Trust and Glass Bridge, the first of the trio was eliminated by pure chance, when they were asked to press one of three buttons.
Sam was the first to be eliminated, after the three players were asked to choose a button to push each in any order: one that would eliminate them, one that gave the person who pressed it an opportunity to choose the person they’d face in the last challenge, and one that did nothing.
After Sam picked the elimination button, Mai and Phill played Rock, Paper, Scissors for a chance to win the keys which would unlock the safe with the money in. Mai successfully found the keys after many failed attempts, and won the $4.56million.
Where is Mai from Squid Game: The Challenge now?
According to Netflix, "besides the winnings, little else has changed" in Mai's quiet life after winning the show. The 55-year-old retired immigration adjudicator has been back at home in Fairfax County, Virginia, with her husband and their two dogs, spending time with their granddaughter, who's 12. Mai has two daughters - 36 and 34.
Has Mai from Squid Game: The Challenge received her winnings?
The show was filmed in January 2023 - over 10 months ago - but Mai says she hasn't actually had the prize money yet. An interview with The Times explained that despite winning the show in February, she hasn’t received a cent yet. She joked "I feel like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire. Show me the money!"
What is Mai from Squid Game: The Challenge doing with her winnings?
One thing she did buy was an intricately beaded, black velvet Ralph Lauren gown, which she plans to wear during for the Squid Game: The Challenge press tour. It’s a beautiful dress. "I couldn’t help it,” she told Neflix. "But that’s about as frivolous as I want to go."
For now, she's using the money to renovate their home ( ideally including building a small dock for a boat), but when she's finished, she hopes to use the money to help further afield. "I’m thinking about a retirement home somewhere,” she told The Times. “We don’t know where yet, and we are happy with where we are. We live on the water. It’s very peaceful.
"My heart is with people, animals, and climate change,” she says about how she plans to spend her winnings. "If we continue what we’re doing, there won’t be a future for all the little kids growing up right now."
Squid Game: The Challenge is now streaming on Netflix.
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