‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Finalists on What Got Them Into Top 5 & ‘Epic’ Finale Ahead
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And then there were five. The second batch of new episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge featured some truly colorful new games that saw the pool of remaining contestants whittled down to just five: Vanessa Clements (Player 017), Perla Figuereo (072), Steven Jones (183), Dajah Graham (302), and Trinity Parriman (398).
Each of these players have been tested throughout the season in various ways, but their strength of play in the physical and social aspects of the games, along with some sheer luck, got them into the Top 5 and heading off to a nice dinner together in formal wear.
Before the finale for Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 arrives on Tuesday, November 18, to reveal which lucky player is going home $4.56 million richer, TV Insider caught up with each of them to find out which moments in the games were the most important for their success and more.
Vanessa (017)
“For me, it was in Mingle. We’ve all seen the run. I was out. I accepted it. I was unzipping my jacket. I wanted my squib to show good, and then next thing you know, on the other side of the room, ‘We need one more,” Vanessa remembered. “I don’t remember the moment. I just remember hearing steps behind me and me trying to race out other people. And I had to watch it back to believe it myself, but that moment goes down in history for me.”
As for what’s ahead, she said, “You’re going to see those interpersonal connections come to a head. Our connection determines the results of the game.” Plus, “We look fire in our tuxes!”
Perla (072)
“I think, for me, was when I passed Slides and Ladders. I was like, ‘Yo, I feel invincible right now.’ So I was like, ‘I’m about to go off!’ Yeah, I was field. The adrenaline rush when I opened those doors, and I went down the stairs to go back to the dorm, I was like, electric, and it just gave me all the ammo I needed,” Perla told us.
She had one of the most difficult emotional arcs of the season after having to eliminate her own brother in a game of Marbles. Of that, she said, “I think once my brother left the competition, I was like, ‘Now, it’s only me fighting for our family, for our lineages, so it was another reason, more ammo for me to keep going and not lose faith.”
Of the final five moments ahead, she added, “It’s a celebration, I think. We were all proud of ourselves.”
Steven (183)
“Mine was probably Marbles because it actually didn’t show, but Emily was just piecing me up. She was beating me by like, three marbles, and we did best out of 10, and I had to get, like, it was three or four of them in a row. So in my mind, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’m about to lose,’ and then I just got the next three in a row and ended up beating her. And I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa. This is crazy,'” Steven said.
He did face some heavy resistance in Circle of Trust from fellow Top 5-er Dajah, who correctly read him as the one putting boxes on multiple desks. “Yeah, I was ready for it, to be honest. ‘Cause after Kevin was gone, I was ready to go home. Because I just felt uncomfortable. He was my guy. So I was just kind of coming for everyone. I thought I was for sure gonna lose that game. I can’t believe I made it,” he said.
Of the finale, he promised, “It’s going to be epic.”
Dajah (302)
“I think for me, the moment was Circle of Trust — just confirming my intuition, confirming that, ‘Just stick with your gut, girl, and you got this,’ just going through with it,” Dajah explained.
She also found herself focusing on the task at hand throughout instead of her usual style routine. “In Squid Game, I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m here to play, I don’t care how I look.’ I caught a glimpse of myself, and I’m like, ‘Who is that person?!'” She was particularly miffed by her headshot. “I literally told them, I’m like, I’m not gonna announce that I’m on Squid Game unless you change pictures!”
Of what’s still ahead, she teased that at least one major pain point from earlier in the season is resolved. “We have orange juice!”
Trinity (398)
“Skipping two games!” Trinity said of his recipe for reaching the Top 5 before pointing to, “Slides and Latters and Circle of Trust because I didn’t know what was going on!”
Though he didn’t have to do the hard part in Circle of Trust, he told us, “If I had to put a box on anyone’s desk, I was going to target Perla… We didn’t have the strongest connection, and I was like, ‘This might be my best bet.”
Sitting alongside his fellow players as the games play out on Netflix months after they were filmed, Trinity said, “It’s a little weird seeing everybody in their normal clothes.”
Squid Game: The Challenge, Season 2 Finale, November 18, Netflix
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