Squid Game: The Challenge Confirms What We Suspected About The Piggy Bank Money

Netflix's "Squid Game: The Challenge" pits real-life contestants against one another in games based on the streaming service's mega-hit drama series "Squid Game." Producing "Squid Game: The Challenge" meant recreating the setting of its progenitor as closely as possible, including a massive piggy bank that contains the sum of money awarded to its victor. In "Squid Game," the winner receives around $38 million, which hangs above contestants' beds in that piggy bank prior to the game's conclusion. In "The Challenge," meanwhile, its winner receives $4.56 million. That prize, however, isn't actually hanging over its competitors.

A behind-the-scenes blog post that Netflix shared in conjunction with the series' release revealed that the piggy bank bills in the reality show are not, in fact, the genuine article. Executive producer Tim Harcourt did clarify, however, that a security guard watched over the fake money all the same to prevent a hypothetical thief from attempting to pass it off as real currency. "Even when you have that amount of what is effectively fake money, it has to be guarded by a security firm, by [UK] law," Harcourt said.

So, while "The Challenge" closely resembles its predecessor in as many ways as were feasible, hanging an exorbitant sum of money over its contestants' heads was simply a risk the show's producers decided not to take.

As soon as Netflix announced "Squid Game: The Challenge," critics began pointing out the fact that the competition in the original "Squid Game" is painted in a decidedly negative light. In an interview with some of the show's producers, The Hollywood Reporter asked Tim Harcourt outright about the fact the show recreates this competition for entertainment purposes. In response, he highlighted another key difference regarding how the reality TV series approaches the prize at the end of the competition compared to how it was done in the original.

"The drama was about people fending off their desperate circumstances to win a huge prize," he said. "Our show isn't about people in need. It's about people being presented with an opportunity. So we flip that on its head."

Between its large piggy bank not actually holding the cash prize awarded to its winner, and this purposeful lack of emphasis on its competitors' need for that money, the manner in which the prize money is awarded may be the single biggest difference between "The Challenge" and the original "Squid Game."