Marc Charles Williams, better known as Mars Williams, the front-and-center saxophonist of ’80s New Wave bands The Waitresses and The Psychedelic Furs, died Nov. 20 of the rare and aggressive ampullary cancer in a Chicago hospice facility. He was 68.
06.12.2023 - 18:11 / ok.co.uk
Netflix has announced Squid Game The Challenge will return for a second series - with the winner of the season one just hours away from being revealed. The finale of the first series will land on the streaming giant in the UK at 2am on Thursday (7 December) - when the victor will get the $4.56 million reward.
The game show - inspired by the smash-hit dystopian Korean series Squid Game - has proved to be a huge success, being ranked at the top of Netflix’s Top 10 English TV list for two weeks in November. It also hit the Top 10 in 93 countries around the world so bosses at the streaming platform have already decided to commission it for another season.
Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of Nonfiction Series, said: "There was no red light in our decision to greenlight season two of Squid Game: The Challenge, the most ambitious unscripted show we've premiered at Netflix. We're so excited to continue the franchise of Squid Game with our team in Korea, and producers at Studio Lambert and The Garden for this epic competition series." Just like in the fictional series, Squid Game The Challenge has seen a total of 456 contestants battle it out for the mind-blowing grand prize of $4.56 million – the biggest cash prize in reality TV history, according to Netflix.
And like the scripted show, the competitors have been taking on the same nail-biting challenges, albeit without the deadly consequences for failure. Eagle-eyed viewers spotted a former 90s Gladiators legend taking part in season one.
Created by the same people who made The Traitors and Race Across the World, Studio Lambert, the games in the series include Red Light, Green Light, Honeycombs, Marbles and Hopscotch. Sets were built to mimic those from the original show down to the
.Marc Charles Williams, better known as Mars Williams, the front-and-center saxophonist of ’80s New Wave bands The Waitresses and The Psychedelic Furs, died Nov. 20 of the rare and aggressive ampullary cancer in a Chicago hospice facility. He was 68.
The November streaming slump finally ended during the week of Thanksgiving, as audiences in the U.S. had some extra time to catch up on film and TV.
While Lena Dunham seems to have found her footing again as a feature director, with 2022’s dual films “Sharp Stick” and “Catherine Called Birdy,” it seems as if the filmmaker is still not done with TV work. You see, even though she had a lengthy break from feature filmmaking, she’s never really left TV since her hit series “Girls” debuted in 2012.
Lena Dunham and her husband Luis Felber have co-created a romantic comedy series titled “Too Much” for Netflix. Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe are set to star. “Too Much” follows Jessica (Stalter), a New York workaholic in her mid-30s who is reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating everyone she knows.
EXCLUSIVE: Squid Game: The Challenge producer Studio Lambert has promoted a trio of senior execs as drama boss Sue Hogg steps back from the day to day.
A dad from Salford has revealed what it’s like to compete on a hit Netflix game show. Anthony Taylor was player number 039 on Squid Game: The Challenge.
Caution: spoilers aheadThe winner of the first season of Squid Game: The Challenge has revealed that they are yet to receive any of their $4.56million prize.READ MORE:‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ review: give this game show spin-off the green lightSeason one of the spin-off game show came to a dramatic conclusion in the final episode, which was released onto Netflix on Wednesday (December 6).Adapted from the hit Netflix K-drama Squid Game, the new game show saw 456 contestants whittled down to a final three: Phillip Cain, Mai Whelan and Samuel Wells, who were competing for the jackpot sum of $4.56m (£3.57m) – the biggest cash prize in TV history.Just like the K-drama, The Challenge saw the contestants compete in a number of simple children’s games, with multiple players being eliminted in each round.The climactic episode saw contestants Mai and Phillip progress to the final challenge, which saw them play Rock, Paper, Scissors for a chance to win the keys to the safe containing the massive jackpot.After winning the game and successfully opening the vault, Mai was crowned the show’s first-ever winner and recipient of the enormous cash prize.“Today just validates that anything is possible,” Vietnamese-born 55-year-old Mai Whelan said after winning. “Even when you feel down and afraid, you have to pick yourself up, be a strong person and focus.”In a new interview with The Times, Whelan has confirmed that she has not received a “cent” of her winnings.“I feel like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.
Squid Game: The Challenge season one came to a dramatic conclusion on Wednesday (6 December), with the show crowning its first-ever winner.Spoilers aheadAdapted from the hit Netflix K-drama Squid Game, the new game show saw 456 contestants whittled down to a final three: Phillip Cain, Mai Whelan and Samuel Wells, who were competing for the jackpot sum of $4.56m (£3.57m) – the biggest cash prize in TV history.Just like the K-drama, The Challenge saw the contestants compete in a number of simple children’s games, with multiple players being eliminted in each round.After Sam was eliminated, Mai and Phillip progressed to the final round. The last challenge saw them play Rock, Paper, Scissors for a chance to win the keys to the safe containing the massive jackpot.Furious viewers soon took to X (formely Twitter) to mock the show’s final challenge, with many in utter disbelief that such a simple game was about to determine the winner of the biggest jackpot in TV history.“I don’t know what i was expecting but rock paper scissors for 4.5 million dollars was… a choice,” wrote one person.“Y’all made us wait a week just for the winner of $4.5 MILLION to be determined by a random button push and a game of rock paper scissors?!?! GAGGED,” said another.A third added: “Playing rock paper scissors to win 4 million dollars.
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is on the verge of greenlighting French and German versions of reality format Surviving Paradise from Squid Game: The Challenge producer Studio Lambert and Raw TV, as it steps up its strategy in the premium unscripted space.
Netflix has announced that Squid Game: The Challenge has been renewed for season 2, just hours ahead of the season 1 finale.
Jordan Moreau Start practicing your Red Light, Green Light because “Squid Game: The Challenge” is coming back for another season. Netflix renewed the reality show on Wednesday morning ahead of the Season 1 finale, where one person will win $4.56 million. After nine episodes of nail-biting games, forged and broken alliances and shocking betrayals, only three contestants remain after 453 have been eliminated: Mai, who is Player 287; Phil, Player 451; and Sam, Player 016.
One of Sam Lantz, Mai Whelan and Phill Cain will be crowned champion of Squid Game: The Challenge later today and walk away with $4.56M, the largest prize in reality TV history.
Squid Game: The Challenge has revealed how much they were paid for featuring in the reality TV series.The show is based on the hit 2021 K-drama Netflix series Squid Game and follows contestants battling it out for a prize sum of $4.56million (£3.55million).The reality show was filmed in the UK over the course of 16 days and features participants from all over the world.Squid Game: The Challenge player 352, Radhika, has now shared exactly how much she was paid for appearing on the show.The 27-year-old from the UK was asked on TikTok how much she earned for being on the show, replying: “Zero. Zero GBP, zero USD, zero rupees, zero Yuan, zero Pesos.
There was no changing of the guard for Netflix‘s Top 10 this week.
Squid Game: The Challenge is almost over, with just one more episode left!
Squid Game: The Challenge contestant 065 has defended his actions in the marble game after being branded a “villain” and “shitty” by viewers.The new Netflix gameshow, which is based on the hit K-drama, sees real-life contestants compete in a number of children’s games in pursuit of a $4.56 million cash prize.However, with some contestants playing the game honestly and others employing dirty tactics — just like in the K-drama itself — players are being labelled by viewers as either heroes or villains.Dylan, aka Player 065, fell into the latter category due to his questionable actions in episode six, where he and Player 399 (Aurora) competed in marble-based game.The game requires pairs of players to devise and play a game of marbles within 20 minutes, with the loser being eliminated. However, if a pair fails to pick a winner by the end of the time limit, both players are eliminated.This was the case for Player 065 and 399.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes.Directed by Francis Lawrence, the prequel is set 64 years prior to the first film and depicts the events that led Coriolanus Snow (originally played by Donald Sutherland) to become the tyrannical leader of Panem.Tom Blyth plays the young Snow, who is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the 10th Hunger Games.It’s the fifth film in series, following 2012’s The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One and Part Two.There are currently no announced plans for another film in the franchise. Producer Nina Jacobson, who has overseen all five Hunger Games films, has said she is uninterested in making another instalment unless author Suzanne Collins writes another story.“If [Collins] had a story in this world with something she wanted to talk about, something to explore, then great,” Jacobson told Polygon in summer 2023.
Squid Game: The Challenge has become the most-watched show on the platform this week.This is according to data from Netflix’s official most-watched list, which tracks the platforms most popular content based on a metric called “views”, based on “the total hours viewed divided by the total runtime”. For the week of November 20 to 26 – also the show week of debut – Squid Game: The Challengelogged about 20.1million views.The unscripted survival series draws from the games depicted in Netflix hit 2021 K-drama series Squid Game.
Squid Game: The Challenge appears to have launched with a splash in the UK.
EXCLUSIVE: Squid Game: The Challenge has piqued the interest of quite a few spectators.