We played Squid Game: The Challenge – and learned how brutal it really is

Many people have watched a reality competition on the telly and thought to themselves, 'I could do that.' Radio Times writers David Craig and Laura Rutkowski are not among that group.

Nevertheless, they were sent to Reading's Shinfield Studios to see the real sets of Squid Game: The Challenge and take part in two devious game demos, which were nothing if not humbling.

Dragging their aching bodies home at the end of a long day, it was clear that the tournament is physically draining – and that's to say nothing of the psychological stress added by that eye-popping $4.56 million jackpot.

As immersive as it was, David and Laura didn't have any cash on the line during their grand day out, but the risk of humiliation in front of one's peers did loom large – and quickly became a reality.

This is their story.

Welcome to Squid Game

Laura Rutkowski: Nothing really could have prepared me for walking into the dorm, and my mouth falls open in shock. It’s as massive as you would imagine to accommodate 456 beds for 456 players. I quickly claim a bottom bunk, thinking it’s easier to hop out of in a hurry!

I'm player 255, kitted out with my tracksuit (which was in fact made in Korea – I checked) and thermals on underneath; white slip-ons; a water bottle and a black bag (with a toothbrush and toothpaste labelled 255 inside). There's a gigantic red 'X' and blue 'O' on the ground, which was used in the drama for players to indicate whether they wanted to stop or continue the games.

Very quickly, I can see cliques forming into little groups dotted around the dorm, alliances already developing from the offset.

Before our games begin, I'm served curry and rice by the intimidating guards in pink. I thank them, in case politeness is rewarded. Naturally, they don't respond, and it makes me question my relationship to authority figures. My inclination is very much to obey them and stay on their good side, but it probably won't make a difference in Squid Game. Just keep a low profile, I think!

It's surreal walking up and down the pastel-coloured staircases that are meant to lead to the games, but these ones lead... nowhere, but that is, of course, where the TV magic comes in.

David Craig: Entering the Squid Game dorm as my all-time favourite player Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun), my initial plan is to embody the loveably deranged rapper for the duration of our visit.

But after an hour of spouting egomaniacal nonsense to anyone that would listen, I realise that – for better or worse – the unpredictable 'alpha' qualities of the pill-popping performer don't exactly come naturally to me.

Overwhelmed by the scale of my surroundings – not to mention, a flood of influencers and reality stars eagerly (read: loudly) putting on a show for the cameras – I realise that spray-on hair dye is not a substitute for a personality.

It strikes me that, were we competing in the deadly version, these would be the true Thanos-style figures, and I would probably be one of their grovelling followers. Oh well.

Game 1: Six-Legged Pentathlon

Laura: If I ever thought that reality TV series were easy to compete in, I don't think that anymore after this game.

For the six-legged pentathlon, taken from Squid Game season 2, five players have their legs tied together and must complete five different minigames within five minutes, competing against another team of five. These include: Ball in a Cup, Flying Stone, Gonggi, House of Cards, and Jegi, and we receive a demonstration of each one.

My team are very supportive, but I choose one of the harder games, Gonggi (Korean jacks). Full disclosure – I have never played this before, nor had I practised beforehand, but I can imagine that the players in The Challenge would have smartly thought to try it out before competing in the reality series.

I'm sweating and feeling the pressure – especially with my team relying on me and cameras in my face. In the end, all that matters is beating the other team, which we manage to do, crossing that rainbow finish line for VICTORY!

David: "Purple hair, do care (a lot, actually)."

This is my ethos going into our first game, Six Legs, where I am determined to wow my fellow players with a never-before-realised aptitude for Korean playground games.

True to the drama series, I am chained by the ankles to four random participants (a lovely way to get to know someone, FYI), and we nervously prepare to march to our fate.

Of the five stations, each with a different challenge assigned to a single player, I leap at the chance to play Gonggi; an intricate game of throwing and catching that looks mesmerising on screen.

Very quickly, I realise I've made a huge mistake.

Seven excruciating minutes later, the producer tells me to stop and move on. I am shaking and feel as if I have been playing for hours.

Set visit: Mingle

Laura: Mingle is a seriously impressive set that looks identical to the one in the drama. It's a joyous, warm, colourful, bow-ridden space with a giant carousel platform in the middle. It lurches into action, spinning us all around.

In Squid Game season 2, when the carousel stops, a number is called out and the players must form groups of that number and enter the surrounding rooms, then close the door.

As soon as the catchy Korean children's song, 'Round and Round', starts playing, it's impossible not to think of the 'Mingle dance,' made famous by the character Thanos (played by K-pop star T.O.P aka Choi Seung-hyun).

David is obviously a great stand-in for him, so there's only one thing left to do, and that's link arms and twirl around, exactly as Thanos (RIP) would have wanted!

David: From the pentathlon chamber, we are thrust immediately onto the Mingle set – not to play the game (a health and safety nightmare, I assume), but to observe. This is why I studied journalism.

Truthfully, I feel unable to muster the same enthusiasm as the real Thanos once did, not because it doesn't look the part – it certainly does – but because I am, to use the clinical term, f**king knackered.

My brave RT comrade Laura initiates the customary arm-in-arm dance – made iconic by Thanos and his (even more) disturbed accomplice Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won) – but my heart isn't in it.

I want to sit down, or better yet, curl up in the foetal position. May the real players of Squid Game: The Challenge be blessed with stronger stamina than I.

Game 2: Slides and Ladders

Laura: While Slides and Ladders is new for The Challenge, it's still an innocent game with a sinister twist – which is what makes it inherently Squid Game.

Players are put in pairs and roll a die to progress on the board. If they land on a ladder, they go up, and if they land on the dual slide, one transports them further down the board, while the other eliminates them. There are also 'twist' cards to choose from that reveal either an advantage or a disadvantage, with only six teams able to progress.

I'm on the purple team with my teammate Ayo and we start strong. David and his teammate pick a card where they can bring up one team to where they are, which is almost at the finish line at the top, and they choose us!

We're feeling incredibly smug... for a brief moment.

Ayo and I then have to choose a card and it says to move forward one space where we're faced with the double slide. Ayo takes one for the team and chooses one at random after I win a game of rock, paper, scissors (in an ode to Squid Game), but it shoots him out of the game!

I go down the other giant metal slide, which is surprisingly high and fast, and let out a warbled scream as I come out much further down the board back to where I started. Oh, it's a cruel game…

David: Still lamenting my failure to seize glory in Six Legs, we begin our final game of this Squid Game: The Challenge set visit – an extravagant new spin on snakes and ladders.

Change is in the air. You see, it soon becomes clear that what I indisputably lack in skill, I can make up for here in random luck (the great equaliser!).

Stepping onto an industrial-sized expansion of the quintessential children's board game, my partner (People's Gabrielle Rockson) and I have no choice but to leave our destinies to dice rolls and card draws. Fate smiles kindly upon us.

In a slightly anticlimactic fashion, we speed to the top in a matter of minutes, finishing first and basking in… well, not much, as we aren't playing for money.

But still, it's glorious to end the day on a positive note, after some considerable ego bruising at the start. (Quietly, I am disappointed to be deprived of a go on one of the slides.)

Death Comes for Us All

Laura: Nothing prepares me for when the 'squib', as it's called, actually goes off. There's a quick spurt and then a pooling of black ink on my chest, which has a very distinct and sickly sweet smell.

I fall immediately to the floor, milking this moment as much as I can. Despite my fake death, which is all part of the experience, I manage to make it out alive, exhilarated, but utterly convinced I would not last long on The Challenge.

I have actually seen a few of my fellow players since, and we're now forever bonded (trauma bonded?) as Squid Game survivors.

David: I witness my teammates experience 'death' one-by-one. That is, the triggering of an inky explosion from the squibs strapped across their chests.

I count my blessings that I am last in line for eruption, feeling this is my chance to launch the acting career that, deep down, I always thought of as my true calling.

I anxiously brace for my moment, and when it comes, I emit a shrieking wail that seems fittingly dramatic for the moment.

"Yes! Surely I will not regret this when the footage is shared with me nine months from now," I think to myself.

Moments later, the rancid scent of the fake blood hits my nostrils, and brings me firmly back to reality. The Academy Award slips from my fingers.

Squid Game: The Challenge is available to stream on Netflix.

Add Squid Game: The Challenge to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.